What a weekend for Schalick junior David Stewart! Stewart turned in a rare sectional quad win this weekend in the South Jersey Group 1 meet at Lenape.
It was only the 6th quad win – individual events only – in South Jersey sectional history and the 2nd by an underclassman. He was the only New Jersey boy to win four individual events this weekend in any sectional.
Let’s take a look at Stewart’s weekend:
He started out Friday in the 400, dropping his PR from 49.10 from a meet last May at Delsea, down to 48.64, 3rd-fastest all-time by a Salem County quarter-miler behind Penns Grove’s Tim Reed, who ran 47.8 hand-timed at the 1984 Delaware Valley Meet of Champions at Franklin Field, and Penns Grove’s Jaymes Dennison, who ran 48.33 at the 2013 state Group 1 meet at Egg Harbor. Stewart’s time is fastest this year in Group 1, so he’ll go into the state meet as the No. 1 seed.
His second event Friday was the 400-meter hurdles, which Stewart won with a 55.33. His 54.91 from the Salem County meet last month at Pennsville is fastest this year by a Group 1 runner, and his 55.33 makes him the top seed at states. Salem County record is 53.50 by Schalick’s Chris Mesiano at the 2015 state Group 1 meet at Egg Harbor. Mesiano went on to earn all-America honors for Rowan.
In the long jump, Stewart jumped a lifetime-best 22-8 ½ with a legal 0.0 wind, finishing 8 ¼ inches ahead of junior William Roy of Penns Grove, who jumped a PR 22-0 ¼ for 2nd. Stewart’s previous long jump PR was a 22-3 ¾. Stewart will be the No. 2 seed at states behind Ilario Badalamenti of Kinnelon, who jumped 22-10 ½ at the North Jersey Section 1 Group 1 meet at Livingston.
Stewart finished his remarkable weekend by winning the triple jump Saturday with a final-attempt PR 48-7 ¼ with a legal 1.4 tailwind, No. 6 in South Jersey history, a Salem County record and again best in Group this year, making him the top seed in the triple as well. It’s the best jump by a New Jersey Group 1 triple jumper in 16 years, since Devin Jones of Boonton went 49-11 ½ (with no wind gauge) at the 2010 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield. Overall, Stewart is No. 2 in New Jersey this year behind only Northern Valley’s Brendan Alef, who jumped 49-3 ½ at a meet last month at Hasbrouck Heights (also with no wind gauge). Alef’s best legal jump this year is a 48-2 ½ at North 1 Group 2 sectionals at Vernon Township.
Here’s a look at the five previous South Jersey boys who’ve recorded an individual quad at sectionals:
ROYCE REED, BRIDGETON, 1995: Competing in Group 3 on his home track, Reed won the 200 in 21.9, the 400 in 48.4, the 400 intermediates in a then-meet record 53.3 and the javelin with a throw of 203-3. Reed won the javelin, intermediates and 400 easily, but in the 200 he edged Egg Harbor’s Khari Reynolds by 1-10th of a second.
NICK BROWN, BRIDGETON, 1999: Another Bridgeton great. In Group 2 at Buena four years after Reed’s quad, Brown won the 200 in 22.0, the 400 with a meet-record 47.6, the long jump with a 23-5 and the high hurdles in 13.9. It was not an easy quad. In the 400, Pleasantville’s Devon Matthews also ran 47.6, with the hand timers giving Brown the edge. Brown edged Matthews in the 200 as well (22.0 to 22.2).
REUBEN MCCOY, WINSLOW TWP., 2004: McCoy was dominant at Egg Harbor in the only South Jersey Group 4 quad. He ran 21.53 to win the 200 by more than half a second, ran 47.38 to beat a very good quarter-miler from Vineland, Marcus Lee, by more than a second (Lee ran 48.61), out-raced teammate Robert Penn to win the 110 highs 14.09 to 14.29 and edged Lee in a very fast intermediates race, McCoy winning in 52.24 and Lee running 52.59.
ANTHONY AVERETT, WOODBURY, 2012: In Group 1 at Egg Harbor, Averett won the 100 in 10.91, the 200 in 22.66 (why did they run trials in a FAT-timed 200?), the long jump with a 23-7 3/4 and the high jump with a 6-4 clearance. Averett, a cornerback, played football at Alabama, and was the Ravens’ 2018 4th-round draft pick. He spent five years in the NFL, starting 27 of 51 games.
TERMEIR HILL, CLAYTON, 2021: In the Group 1 meet at Washington Township, Hill won the 100 in 10.86, triple jump at 44-6 ¾, 200 in 22.59 and long jump at 23-6 ½, leading Clayton to the Group 1 team title by nine points over Audubon. Hill went on to win the long jump at states with a 22-11, take 2nd in the 100 at states [behind Burlington’s Malachi James], 5th in the 200 at 22.87 and 6th in the triple jump with a 42-9 ¼.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 