From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Camden’s crew of sophomore sprinters scored accounted for 68 points in the 100, 200, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay, and the Panthers edged Willingboro by two points to win their first sectional title in 15 years.

Camden only had seven athletes score and only scored in five events but won the South Jersey Group 2 title 78-76 over Willingboro at Delsea.

Jaiden Steele won the 100 and 200 with PRs of 10.73 and 22.16, Jawan Brownlee was 2nd in the 100 in 10.96 [after a PR 10.82 in the trials] and Ibn Muhammad was 4th in the 100 in a PR 11.08. Christian Braxton and Brownlee were 2nd and 3rd in the 200 with PRs of 22.26 and 22.27.

The all-soph quartet of Braxton, Brownlee, Muhammad and Steele also won the 400-meter relay in 42.30, and the all-soph quartet of Brownlee, Jeremiah Steeley, Chase Robinson and Braxton won the 1,600-meter relay in 3:23.86.

Camden’s 42.30 broke the meet record of 42.41 set by Deptford in 2016.

Steele, Brownlee and Muhammad were seeded 11th, 5th and 12th in the 200 and Steele, Braxton and Brownlee were seeded 3rd, 11th and 4th in the 200.

So in the two short sprints, they scored 46 points when they would have scored 12 if the seedings went to form.

Steele is the first Camden sprinter to win a sectional 100 title since Sherron Bullock in 2004 and the first to sweep the 100 and 200 since Bullock in 2003.

This is Camden’s 9th sectional title but first since the Panthers won Group 2 in 2009. Camden also won Group 4 in 1970, 1986, 1995 and 1997, Group 3 in 2001, 2004 and 2005 and Group 2 in 2009.

As recently as 2022, Camden scored just two points at sectionals – Israel Clark-White ran 11.09 for 5th in the 100. So this is a remarkable turnaround for the Camden program.

Other than the two short sprints and the two short relays Camden only scored in one event – senior Teron Murray was one of six high jumpers to clear 6-2 but the only one to clear it on his first attempt. If he cleared it on his 3rd attempt, Camden would not have won the championshp.

Willingboro senior Eric Foster won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.00, placed 4th in the 200 in 22.42 and also led off the Chimeras’ 2nd-place 400-meter relay team, which ran 42.81. Rae-Juan Gayle, Somad Iyiola and Christopher Jones also ran.

The Boro scored big points in the weights – 30 in the shot and disc. Senior Derrick Swain won the discus at 154-7 and was 3rd in the shot with a 51-2 ¼, senior Julian Williams won the shot with a PR 56-4 ¼ and took 5th in the disc at 139-5 and junior Jaleen Johnson picked up two points with a 5th in the shot put at 48-1 ¾.

Senior Tra’San Adams and junior Zaire Wormley both cleared 6-2 for 4th and 6th in the high jump and Jones jumped 42-5 for 6th in the triple jump.

Willingboro also took 3rd in the 4-by-8 with Christian Bryant, Nasier Fields, Justin Green and Terrance Wesley running 8:25.24 And Willingboro placed 4th in the 4-by-4 in 3:26.81 with a listed lineup of Iyiola, Jones, Jackson Murry and Gayle.

Eight other schools picked up at least one win, but only Camden, Willingboro and Delran had multiple individual winners. For Delran, junior Emir Canli PR’d with a 22-7 ½ to win the long jump, and junior Dylan Husband threw 163-7 to win the javelin. He’s Delran’s sectional javelin winer since Andre Fisher in 1991.

Also:

⮕ Cedar Creek senior Matthew Winterbottom won the 800 in 1:57.76 and became Cedar Creek’s first sectional champ on the track since Gary Melton in the 100 in 2013.

⮕ Seneca senior Jason Sheairs PR’d in the 400-meter hurdles with a 56.23 and became Seneca’s first sectional champ on the track since Drew Kanz won the 110-meter hurdles in 2009.

⮕ Sophomore Jacob Wickersham continued Cinnaminson’s tremendous distance tradition with a 9:32.77 win in the 3,200. Previous Cinnaminson sectional winners in the 3,200 are Steve Stanley in 1990, Bill Mason in 1999, Jon Anderson in 2004, Steve Grabowski in 2005, Matt Poskus in 2007 and Todd Campbell in 2008 and 2009.

⮕ Sterling senior Justice Gamble became the first repeat winner in the South Jersey Group 2 triple jump since the event was added in 2003. Gamble won last year with a 44-10 ¾ and this year at 44-9 ¼. Calvin Gunning in 2004, Dan Milani in 2006 and Jaden Johnson in 2022 make it five Sterling triple jump wins at sectionals.

⮕ Pleasantville junior Jermaine Nelson PR’d with a 49.47 to win the 400. Pleasantville has won the South Jersey Group 2 400 five of the last seven times it’s been contested with Tarence Walker in 2017, Sahmir Jones in 2018, Xander Roberts-Bogin in 2022 and 2023 and Nelson this year. The meet wasn’t held in 2020.

⮕ Senior Bennett Wright of Haddonfield joined Eric Bonnette [1996, 1997], Chris Platt [2001], Michael Burke [2006], Colin Baker [2008, 2009], Matt Nussbaum [2010], Ben Potts [2011], Greg Pelose [2015, 2016] and Seth Clevenger [2022] as the 12th Haddonfield 1,600 winner in the last 28 years. Wright ran 4:25.99.

⮕ Sophomore Luke Andresen, senior Liam Dougherty, senior Reid Gervasi and junior Case Hurly ran 8:13.43 to win the 4-by-8 for the 8th time the last 11 times it’s been contested.

⮕ Oakcrest senior Ryan Merlino, the Meet of Champions winner indoors and 5th at Armory Nationals, cleared 15-6 to win the pole vault, breaking the Group 2 meet record of 15-0 set by Cinnaminson’s Matt Mancini in 2006 and matched in 2019 by both Nico Morales and Marco Morales of Delsea.