From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Sophomore Ma’Syiah Brawner picked up a win, a 2nd and two 3rds for 30 points and sophomore Olivia Okaro, senior Dominique Clement, junior Brook-lynn Roberts and freshman Cinniya Robinson all made huge contributions as the mighty Winslow Township girls won their 11th sectional title the last 12 times the meet has been contested.

Winslow outscored Timber Creek 129-102 to win the South Jersey Group 3 sectionals this weekend at Delsea in a battle of two of New Jersey’s deepest and most talented teams, with Ocean City 3rd with 80 points.

Winslow won eight straight South Jersey Group 3 titles from 2013 through 2021 – there was no meet in 2020 – before Timber Creek won in 2022. Winslow has now won the last two. The Eagles also won Group 4 in 2004 and 2005, and the school’s former incarnation, Edgewood, won Group 3 in 1979 and Group 4 in 1983 and 1985.

Even without counting the four Edgewood championships, Winslow’s 12 sectional titles are 2nd-most in sectional history behind Haddonfield’s 21.

State-wide, only Haddonfield, Columbia [17], Metuchen [17], Ridgewood [15] and New Providence [14] have won more titles than Winslow. If you include the Edgewood championships, only Haddonfield, Columbia and Metuchen have more.

Brawner won the high jmp at 5-4, tying her PR, placed 2nd in the long jump at 18-10, just 1 ½ inches off her outdoor PR (she’s gone 19-3 ½ indoors), took 3rd in the triple jump at 38-10 and also placed 3rd in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.06, not far from her PR of 14.93.

She’s tied for top seed in the high jump at states, No. 3 seed in both horizontal jumps and No. 7 seed in the hurdles.

Okaro had a huge weekend in the sprints, PR’ing with 12.07 for 3rd in the 100, PR’ing with a 56.30 for 3rd in the 400 and running 25.34 for 4th in the 200. She’s seeded 4th, 7th and 3rd at states.

Clement PR’d with a 14.45 in the hurdles and placed 2nd, took 3rd in the 200 in 25.13 and ran 5th in the intermediates in 1:04.44. She’s seeded 3rd at states in the highs, 4th in the 200 and 7th in the intermediates.

Junior Brook-lynn Roberts won the discus with a PR 147-7, the best South Jersey sectional mark in any group in 11 years, since Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard won Group 4 in 2013 in 168-0. It’s No. 7 in South Jersey history and only 8 ½ feet off the SJ-3 meet record of 156-1 set in 2003 by Delsea’s Jocelyn White. She also placed 3rd in the shot with a 41-2 ¼ throw, also a PR.

Robinson ran a big 400 PR of 55.76 in the 400, which makes her the No. 2 seed at states, and took 4th in the intermediaters in 1:03.16 and will be the No. 5 seed at states. Her 55.76 is No. 3 among all groups and makes her the 4th-fastest freshman in New Jersey in the last 20 years, behind Sianni Wynn [54.01 last year], Olympic gold medalist and 400IH world record holder Sydney McLaughlin [54.08 in 2014] and Columbia’s Olivia Baker [54.96 in 2011]. Her 1:03.16 is fastest by a New Jersey freshman since Rancocas Valley’s Anabella Chin ran 1:03.10 in 2019.

Junior Ava Millner placed 3rd in the 800 with a PR 2:18.86, sophomore Chantina Walker picked up 5ths in both the high jump at 5-0 and triple jump at 36-4, senior Sierra Handy PR’d in the 100 with a 12.70 for 6th and freshman Skyhe Seamon PR’d in the 400 with a 57.83, which makes her the 6th-fastest freshman in New Jersey this year.

Winslow also picked up 24 big points in the relays, with a win in the 4-by-4 in 3:58.16, a 2nd in the 4-by-2 in 48.70 and a 3rd in the 4-by-8 in 9:55.08.

Accoording to lineups listed in the official results, Handy, Seamon, sophomore Jahrya Jackson and Walker ran on the 4-by-1, Clement, senior Djassi Dean, freshman Tristan Hughes and Millner on the 4-by-4 and Dean, Hughes, Millner and Robinson on the 4-by-8.

As we wrote about over the weekend, Timber Creek sprinters junior Ryan Jennings and senior Naylah Jones ran the two-fastest 100-meter dashes in New Jersey history, Jennings winning in 11.33 and Jones 2nd in 11.38. Jones won the 200 in 24.19 and Jennings was 2nd in 24.27. Jones also won the 400 in 55.53.

Timber Creek also shattered the South Jersey record in the 4-by-1, which we wrote about on Friday.

⮕ Absegami junior Jaidah Garrett, who only hit 18 feet for the first time a month ago, became the 16th member of the South Jersey 19-foot club with a 19-2 on her 5th jump, the best jump of any athlete in any group in any sectional meet this weekend.

Garrett is now No. 11 in South Jersey history and only ¾ of an inch off the Atlantic County record of 19-2 ¾, set by Holy Spirit’s Asia Young at 2016 South Jersey Group 3 sectionals at Central Regional in Bayville. She was only half an inch off the Group 3 meet record of 19-2 ½ set in 2015 in Bayville.

⮕ Ocean City senior Sophia Curtis had another big day, winning the triple jump at 40-4, the best mark in New Jersey this year, as well as the 400-meter hurdles in 1:01.28, fastest time in Group 3 this year. She was also 3rd in the long jump with a lifetime-best 17-11 ¾ and 4th in the 400 at 56.69. Curtis will be top seed at states in the triple jump and intermediates, No. 5 seed in the long jump and No. 4 seed in the 400.

⮕ Mainland Regional junior Sofia Day won the 800 with an outdoor-PR 2:13.61, the fastest winning time since Renee Tomlin of Ocean City won the 2005 race in a hand-timed 2:10.5. Absegami soph Samia Ghazaz was 2nd in 2:16.86, a nearly three-second PR.

⮕ Moorestown junior Hannah Byrd-Leitner PR’d in the pole vault, winning with a 12-2, the top mark in Group 3 over the weekend.

⮕ Timber Creek senior Guerlande Pierre won the 100-meter highs in a PR 14.32, fastest winning time in South Jersey Group 3 since Winslow’s Cidae’a Woods ran 14.15 in 2014. Pierre’s 14.32 is fastest of any sectional hurdles race this weekend.

⮕ Ocean City juniors Maeve Smith and Chloe Care went 1-2 in the 3,200 in 11:03.10 and 11:08.50.

⮕ Ocean City, with a listed lineup of Smith, Care, Frankie Ritzel and Carly Godfrey, won the 4-by-8 in 9:28.82, fastest time of all the sectionals this weekend. Godfrey is listed with a 2:18.89 anchor. Ocean City’s time is fastest in New Jersey this year and fastest time by a Cape May school since Ocean City ran 9:23.84 at the 2015 state Group 3 meet at South Plainfield with Devon Grisbaum, Emma Bergman, Michaela Baker and Rachel Stremme.

⮕ Absegami junior Josephine Buxton won the javelin with a 113-8, not far off her PR of 116-4 from South Jersey Elite at Delsea.

All-Time South Jersey Long Jump List
21-7 ¾ …… Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1980
20-0 ½ ….. Teneacia Smith [Cherry Hill East], 1992
19-11 ½ … Kathy Rankins [Haddon Heights], 1980
19-11 ½ …. Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2018
19-9 ¼ ….. Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2013
19-7 ½ ….. Helen Wilks [Bridgeton], 1993
19-4 ¾ …… Gabrielle Farquharson [Williamstown], 2011
19-4 ………. Emily Carson [Haddonfield], 2012
19-2 ¾ …….Asia Young [Holy Spirit], 2016
19-2 ½ ….…Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015
19-2 ………. Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], 2018
19-2 ………. Robin Taylor [Deptford], 1980
19-2 ………. Jaidah Garrett [Absegami], 2024
19-1 ……….. Nena Moore [Cherry Hill West], 1995
19-1 ………. Yvonne Wolef [Middle Twp.], 2012
19-0 ¼ …… Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2016