Junior Ma’Syiah Brawner, freshman Jasmine Jackson, sophomore Cinniya Robinson and junior Olivia Okaro combined for 91 points and the Winslow girls made a compelling case for themselves as the best team in South Jersey history and perhaps the best public school team ever assembled in New Jersey.
Winslow scored 129 points in the state Group 3 meet in Somerset Friday and Saturday, breaking the Group 3 meet record of 115, set by the 2013 Winslow team.The Eagles won their 10th state title, tied for 3rd-most in state history and most ever by a South Jersey team.
No other New Jersey public school has won 10 state titles.
Winslow also won state titles in Group 4 in 2004, Group 3 each year from 2013 through 2019 (tying with Northern Highlands in 2015) as well as 2024. There was no meet in 2020, so Winslow has won Group 3 nine times the last 12 years it was contested.
Only parochial schools Notre Dame and Pope John XXIII have won more state titles than Winslow. Union Catholic has also won 10. Next-most among public schools is Haddonfield’s nine.
Winslow more than tripled 2nd-place Ocean City, who score 40 points. Ramapo was 3rd, but Absegami [30], Moorestown [28], Northern Burlington [22] and Timber Creek [20] placed 4th through 7th.
The tireless Brawner won the triple jump with a season-best 40-3 and the high jump at 5-4 and placed 4th in the long jump with a 17-6 ½ and the hurdles at 14.78. She’s now a five-time state champion, including indoor and outdoor meets.
Jackson piled up 26 points in her first outdoor state meet with a win in the hurdles with a wind-legal 13.94 and 2nd-place finishes in the 400 hurdles [1:01.08] and 200 [25.07].
Robinson doubled the intermediates in 1:01.01 and the 400 in 56.98, and Okaro ran 2nd in the 100 [12.18], 3rd in the 400 [57.80] and tied for 4th in the 200 [25.30].
Winslow also scored 28 points in the relays, winning the two sprint relays and taking 2nd in the 4-by-8.
Freshman Amariah Arango, sophomore Skyhe Seamon, junior Chantina Walker and junior Leeya Joseph won the 400-meter relay in 47.89, with Ocean City taking 2nd with a fast 48.81 with freshman Julianne Goodman, sophomore Ella Miller, sophomore Alana Clevenger and senior Naomi Nnewihe.
Arango, sophomore Tristan Hughes, Okaro and senior Ava Millner ran 3:53.16 to win the 4-by-4, and freshman Adaiah Arango, Amariah Arango, Hughes and Millner ran 9:19.84 to take 2nd behind Ocean City in the 4-by-8.
Senior Brook-lynn Roberts threw the discus 134-5 for 2nd place and junior Leeya Joseph long jumped 17-5 ½ for 5th place.
Ocean City won the 4-by-8, with senior Chloe Care, senior Maeve Smith, freshman Riley Tolson and sophomore Carly Godfrey running 9:14.20, with Godfrey anchoring in 2:11.52. Moorestown ran 9:23.31 for a 1-2-3 South Jersey sweep with senior Sarah Brown, sophomore Sophia DeFiore and freshmen Payton Derer and Hope Edwards.
Godfrey was also 3rd in the 800 in 2:11.25 – 4th-fastest in South Jersey history – with Edwards 5th in that rae in 2:13.65.
Timber Creek senior Ryan Jennings had another speedy double, winning the 100 in 11.45 and the 200 in 23.93. She broke the Group 3 meet record of 11.61 set by Lakewood’s Shavon Greaves at the 2007 meet at South Plainfield.
Northern Burlington senior Liliah Gordon won the 1,600 in 4:59.99 and the 3,200 in 10:35.67 to become the first Northern girl ever to double at states. Ocean City’s Smith [5:01.21] and Moorestown’s Derer [5:02.45] made the 1,600 a 1-2-3 South Jersey sweep.
Delsea junior Hannah Nuhfer PR’d with a 161-4 bomb to win the discus. That’s the No. 7 throw in state history and No. 3 in South Jersey history.
Absegami had two individual winners, with Jaidah Garrett winning the long jump at 18-10 ½, which makes her the top seed at the Meet of Champions, and senior Josephine Buxton PR”ing at 138-8 in the javelin.
And Moorestown senior Hannah Byrd-Leitner joined Hannah Nuhfer as the second South Jersey Hannah to win a state title this weekend. She cleared 12-8, breaking her own Group 3 meet record of 12-7 set last year.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 