Senior Dominic Bassey and junior KaRon Ali combined to score 40 points and lead the Winslow Township boys to their first state title in 21 years.
Winslow won its three previous state titles consecutively in Group 4 in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The Eagles finished 30 points ahead of Burlington Township and Colts Neck, who tied for 2nd with 44 points.
Bassey won the 400-meter hurdles in 53.85 and was 3rd in the 400 {49.69] and 800 [1:56.26], and Ali won the 400 in 48.48 and was 2nd to Burlington Township junior Quayd Hendryx in the 200 [21.76].
Ali and Bassey also contributed legs to Winslow’s 1st-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:19.53. Junior Prince Owusu-Twum and sophomore Jeremiah Neal also ran on the 4-by-4 for the Eagles, with Clearview 2nd in 3:22.25.
Senior Kristopher Jackson and senior Artrill Evans both picked up 2nd-places, Jackson in the javelin and Evans in the triple jump. Jackson threw 177-5 and took 2nd to Burlington Township senior Dylan Fitzpatrick, who won with a 182-2, with Cumberland Regional junior Richard Pierce [172-9] making it a 1-2-3 South Jersey sweep. And Evans went 46-0 in the triple jump for his 2nd place.
Winslow’s other individual scorer was junior Elijah Deanley, who placed 5th in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.46.
Winslow also scored in the 400- and 3,200-meter relays. Ali, freshman Sa’hid Chambers, sophomore Jibril Hammond and junior Nyqir Helton ran 42.25 for 4th in the 4-by-1, and junior Vincent Perri, Owusu-Twum and seniors Eric Brown and David Duran ran 8:05.92 for 5th in the 4-by-8.
Burlington Township also won the 400-meter relay in 41.30, smashing the meet record and Burlington County record. I wrote about that on Friday here.
Junior Quayd Hendryx not only anchored that record-setting 4-by-1, he doubled the 100 and 200 with legal wind, running 10.71 [-0.2] and 21.52 [0.0].
Fitzpatrick became Burlington Township’s first state champion ever in the javelin or any throwing event. And Hendryx is Township’s first double winner since Louis Smith won the Group 1 100 and 200 in 1998.
Hammonton senior Anthony Liakhnovich won the shot put at 61-8 ¾, with seniors Jonathan Harris of Delsea [58-2 ¼], Jayson Ross of Timber Creek [57-11] and Christina Medina of Hammonton [55-0 ¾] scoring in a 1-2-3-4 South Jersey sweep.
And Deptford senior Marcus Hood cleared 15-0 on his 1st attempt to win his first state pole vault title.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 