Senior Naa’lrah Andrews popped a lifetime-best 35-8 ½ triple jump on her 5th attempt to move from 7th place to 3rd and give the Willingboro girls the points they needed in the final event of the day to win their 9th sectional title and first in South Jersey in 25 years.
With only the 1,600-meter relay and triple jump remaining in the South Jersey Group 2 Sectional Champiunships at Delsea,
Going into the 4-by-4, Haddonfield led Willingboro 128-123.
Willingboro won the relay with Sunny Oyibo, Jaden Murry, Jade Pinder and Kaila Speight running 3:58.78, but Haddonfield was 2nd in 4:00.41 [with junior Audrey Adams, senior Chloe Kamp, senior Anna Stolarick and junior Molly Minor], so with only the triple jump remaining, Haddonfield led, 136-133.
And through five jumps in the triple jump, Willingboro’s Andrews – the No. 6 seed – was sitting in 7th place after jumps of 33-3, 33-1 ½, 33-8 ½ and a foul.
Andrews came into the meet with a PR of 34-7 ¼ from the Crusader Field Meet two weeks ago at Delsea and for Willingboro to move past Haddonfield she had to finish in the top four, which meant she had to PR on one of her final two jumps.
And she did.
Andrews’ 35-8 ½ moved her into 3rd and when the event ended moments later her six points gave Willingboro a dramatic 139-136 edge over an outstanding Haddonfield team.
Willingboro ended Haddonfield’s streak of five consecutive South Jersey Group 2 titles – 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The Willingboro girls also won South Jersey Group 4 in 1980, 1981 and 1992; South Jersey Group 3 in 1984, 1985 and 1999; Central Jersey Group 3 in 2004; and Central Jersey Group 1 in 2019.
It was a back-and-forth meet all weekend between Willingboro and Haddonfield, who have been among of the strongest programs in the state for decades.
Willingboro scored 62 of a possible 72 points in the 100, 200 and 400, with amazing Nester Wea winning all three in her first meet of the year. Wea hadn’t raced since indoor Nationals in Boston because of an injury. But she won the 100 in 12.04, the 200 in 24.80 and the 400 in 56.70 as well as anchoring the Chimeras’ 2nd-place 4-by-1.
The Boro swept the 200 with Wea, freshman Maya Bolden and sophomore Kaila Speight going 1-2-3, went 1-3-5 in the 100 with Wea 1st, Bolden 3rd and Speight 5th and 1-2-4 in the 400 with Bolden running 57.
Bolden ran three PRs – 12.25, 24.96 and 57.10, and Speight ran 12.45, 25.31 and a PR 57.73.
The versatile Andrews also won the high jump with a 5-2, placed 3rd in the javelin at 99-0 and took 6th in the shot put at 100-7. The old triple jump / high jump / javelin / shot put quad.
Two other Willingboro high jumpers placed– sophomore Briannah Gunning-Brown and freshman Trinity Brapoh tied for 5th at 4-10. And senior Marnae Coleman-Rudolph also medaled in the javelin with a 6th place at 87-1.
The Chimeras added 10 points in the 400-meter hurdles, with sophomore Jaden Murry 3rd in 1:06.43 and junior Sunny Obiyo 4th in 1:07.12.
Only a 10th of a second separated a Willingboro hurdler and two Haddonfield hurdlers in the 100-meter highs. Junior Sunny Obiyo was 2nd in 15.73 and Haddonfield juniors Audrey Adams [15.75] and Nicolette Pinkerton [15.80] took 3rd and 4th. Adams was also 6th in the 400IH in 1:08.25.
Willingboro went 3-6 in the shot, junior Yaramari Torres throwing 32-0 ¼ for 3rd and junior Chloe Worthy 30-10 ¾ for 6th.
Willingboro was 2nd in the 4-by-1 with Bolden, Trinity Brapoh, Jaden Murry and Wea running 48.38.
Haddonfield scored 49 points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
Senior Anna Stolarick won the 800 in 2:18.34, with senior Sarah Fetter 5th in 2:24.95 and junior Tylin Regan 6th in 2:26.09. Senior Ava Thomas [5:01.83] led a 1-2-5 finish in the 1,600 with Stolarick [5:10.18] and freshman Madison Kelsey [5:25.45] and Thomas also won the 3,200 [10:52.99] with freshman Devon Gervasi 3rd [11:31.24].
Haddonfield senior Rebecca Hoover cleared 12-5 on her 3rd attempt to win the pole vault, with senior Mia Bompesa [9-6] and senior Fiona Mamas [8-6] in 3rd and 5th, and junior Nicolette Pinkerton jumped 17-9 to win the long jump
Haddofield also won the 400-meter relay in 48.33 with Chloe Kamp, Molly Minor, Ava Peifer and Pinkerton, and the 4-by-8 with Solarick, Thomas, Regan and Fetter running 9:46.12.
Junior Maeve Hurly took 2nd in the high jump for Haddonfield at 5-2 and Adams was 4th at 5-0, and junior Emalie Stanilla threw the discus 103-5 for 3rd place.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 