The Timber Creek boys are headed to states after a remarkable performance at the South Jersey Group 3 meet.
What made it remarkable is that Timber Creek didn’t have a single runner in the top 16 in the race but packed its five scorers in just 18.40 seconds, all in the top 30. It was the smallest gap of any team in any of the South Jersey sectional races.
Fantastic pack running earned Timber Creek 3rd place with 116 points, behind only Ocean City’s 25 and Highland’s 84. The top five schools in each race advance to states Saturday at Holmdel County Park.
Senior Matthew Chambers led Timber Creek in 17th place in 17:04.80, senior Blair Duckrey-Furbert was 19th in 17:07.06, junior Michael Zechman 21st in 17:08.00, senior Ryan Pancoast 29th in 17:22.70 and junior Leandro Santiago 30th in 17:23.20.
This will be Timber Creek’s first trip to states since 2019, when they placed 5th in South Jersey Group 3. They placed 4th in South Jersey Group 3 in 2020 but the state meet wasn’t held that year because of COVID.
Other South Jersey schools with a 1-through-5 gap under a minute Saturday: Gloucester County Tech [36.77 seconds], Ocean City [54.61], Cherokee [57.47] and Highland [58.96]. In the parochial race, Paul VI had an 18.41-second gap.
Reaching states has to be especially sweet for Duckrey, Poancoast and Chambers, who were all in the lineup two years ago when Timber Creek placed 6th in the 2023 Group 3 race and missed advancing to states by one point.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 