From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

It was a huge weekend for Willingboro junior Trinity Brapoh, who became only the second girl in the long, storied history of Willingboro track to win three individual events at a state championship meet.

In the Group 2 meet at Northern Burlington in Mansfield Township, Brapoh won the 100-meter hurdles with a PR of 14.04, No. 2 in Burlington County history and No. 15 on the all-time New Jersey list, she won the long jump at 18-5 and was 1^st in the triple jump with a PR 38-5 ¾.

Brapoh was one of only four girls state-wide in all six state meets to win three individual events. In Group 4, Natalie Dumas won the 400, 800 and intermediates, in Group 3 Jasmine Jackson won the 200 and both hurdles and in the Parochial B meet Stella Blanchard of the Wilberforce School in Plainsboro won the 400, 800 and 1,600.

The only other Willingboro girl to triple is Brapoh’s former teammate, Nester Wea, who won the 100, 200 and 400 in Group 2 in both 2023 and 2025.

Brapoh goes into the Meet of Champions Wednesday as the No. 5 seed in the hurdles, No. 5 in the long jump and No. 7 in the triple jump.

In all, South Jersey has produced 33 individual triple winners. This is only the third time three girls have done it in the same year. In 1984, Dana Roberts of Holy Cross, Denise Liles of Kingsway and Lillian Rivera of Pemberton had triples, and in 2015 Deptford’s Kiera Lester, Haddonfield’s Briana Gess and Winslow Township’s Gabrielle Bennett did it.

Here’s a look at all the South Jersey triples since the inception of the girls state meet in 1973:

**Jasmine Jackson [Winslow Twp.], 2026 Group 3 [200, HH, IH]
Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2026 Group 4 [400, 800, IH]
*Trinity Brapoh [Willingboro], 2026 Group 2 [HH, LJ, TJ]
Nester Wea [Willingboro] 2025 Group 2 [100, 200, 400]
*Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025 Group 4 [400, 800, IH]
**Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 2024 Group 4 [100, 200, 400]
**Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2023 Group 2 [100, 200, 400]
*Sophia Curtis [Ocean City], 2023 Group 3 [400, 400IH, TJ]
Arianna Sharpe [Clayton], 2022 Group 1 [100, 200, 400]
Dennisha Page [Wilson], 2019 Group 3 [100, 200, 400]
**Shakirah Dancy [Winslow Twp.], 2016 Group 3 [100, 200, 400]
*Kiera Lester [Deptford], 2015 Group 2 [100, 200, 400]
**Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2015 Group 2 [800, 1,600, 3,200]
Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015 Group 3 [100HH, HJ, LJ]
*Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2013 Group 3 [100, 200, 100HH, 400IH]
**Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2012 Group 3 [100, 200, 100HH, 400IH]
Tacquaya Tobias [Our Lady of Mercy], 2011 Parochial B [100, 200, LJ]
Rajeana Marigna [Palmyra], 2008 Group 1 [100, 200, 400]
*Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2005 Group 4 [200, 400, 100HH, 400IH]
Shameka Speed [Bridgeton], 2003 Group 2 [100, 200, 400, LJ]
*Shameka Speed [Bridgeton], 2002 Group 2 [100, 200, 400, LJ]
***Shameka Speed [Bridgeton], 2000 Group 2 [200, 400, LJ]
*Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2000 Group 2 [800, 1,600, 3,200, Jav]
**Erin Donohue [Haddonfield],1999 Group 2 [800, 1,600, 3,200, Jav]
***Erin Donohue [Haddonfield],1999 Group 2 [800, 1,600, 3,200]
Candyce DeLoatch [Schalick], 1996 Group 1 [100, 200, 400]
Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996 Group 3 [100, 200, 400]
Tamika Nelson [Buena], 1993 Group 2 [100, 200, 400]
Ivy Foster [Haddon Heights], 1991 Group 1 [100, 200, 400]
Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], 1987 Group 3 [100HH, 400IH, LJ, HJ]
Kelli James [Bishop Eustace], 1987 Parochial B [100HH, HJ, LJ]
Ruth Lockbaum [Glassboro], 1986 Group 1 [800, 1,600, 3,200]
Dana Roberts [Holy Cross], 1984 Parochial A [100, 200, LJ]
Denise Liles [Kingsway], 1984 Group 1 [100, 200, 100HH]
Lillian Rivera [Pemberton], 1984 Group 4 [SP, Di, Jav]
*Denise Liles [Kingsway], 1983 Group 1 [100, 200, 100HH]
Tina Walls [Williamstown], 1982 [100HH, 400IH, LJ]
Kathy Rankins [Haddon Heights], 1980 [100, 200, LJ]
Lori Lewis [Woodbury], 1978 [100, 200, 400]