Senior Nicole Clifford and junior Kelsey Niglio ran on four winning teams and senior Alison Cooke and junior Kelsey Niglio ran on three apiece Saturday as the Cherokee girls won the first state relays championship in the program’s history.

Clifford and Niglio ran legs on the Chiefs’ winning distance medley, 4-by-800, sprint medley and 4-by-4, and Cherokee outscored 2nd-place Rancocas Valley 52-32 in the Group 4 meet at the Bubble in Toms River. Kingsway finished third with 23 points.

It’s the first 1-2-3 South Jersey Group 4 finish ever in the meet’s 55-year history.

Cherokee’s 52 points are the highest winning score since district rival Lenape scored 56 to win the 2012 title. It’s also the 4th-most points ever scored in Group 4. The meet has been held since 1966 with the current 10-8-6-4-2-1 system in place since 1992:

59 … Southern, 2009
56 … Lenape, 2012
53 … Lenape, 2008
52 … Cherokee, 2022
50 … Trenton, 2001
50 … Willingboro, 1992

Clifford, Cooke, Niglio and freshman Megan Niglio opened the meet by winning the distance medley in 12:12.72, finishing 150 meters ahead of Kingsway. Their time is No. 1 in New Jersey this year, bumping Kent Place of Summit, which ran 12:25.17 at the Parochial A state relays on the same track on Friday.

Niglio, sophomore Kerry O’Day, freshman Megan Niglio and Clifford then won the 3,200-meter relay in 9:41.87, this time over Middletown South, which finished 90 meters back in 9:58.84. Kingsway was third at 10:07.32. Cherokee ran a New Jersey No. 1 9:23.85 in Lynchburg, Va., last week.

Cherokee won the sprint medley with sophomore Madison Van Haren, Clifford, Cooke and Kelsey Niglio running 4:10.45 – also No. 1 in New Jersey this year. The Chiefs finished 80 meters ahead of Kingsway, which was second in 4:22.75. Cherokee was previously No. 1 in New Jersey in the sprint medley with its 4:18.22 at a SJTCA meet at the Bubble earlier this month.

With the team title already locked up, Cherokee won the 4-by-400 by 9-100ths of a second over Rancocas Valley in a season-best 4:07.10, which is No. 6 in the state. R.V., which ran 4:04.98 at the Millrose Trials at the Armory, was second in 4:07.19. Clifford, Cooke, Kelsey Niglio and O’Day ran on the 4-by-4.

Cherokee also placed third in the 800-meter relay in 1:50.78 with senior Jillian Strauss, Cooke, Van Haren and junior Erin St. John and in the pole vault with Strauss clearing 9-0 and senior Isabella Kadar 7-0.

This is the second state championship in two months for Mark Jarvis’s Cherokee girls program. Clifford, O’Day and the Niglios ran on the Cherokee cross country team that won the state Group 4 and Meet of Champions titles and went on to win the Nike Northeast Regional championship in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Rancocas Valley won the 800-meter relay in 1:47.33 with senior Annabella Chin, junior Kennedy Garcia, senior Sanai Jenkins and senior Jya Marshall in the lineup.

The Red Devils also won the shot put relay with senior Ravin Hood throwing 35-3 and senior Faith Allen 33-7 for a combined 68-10. They won by nearly four feet over Elizabeth, which combined for 64-10 1/2.

The top three individual throws were from South Jersey athletes. Williamstown junior Ciara Demarest (37-5), Atlantic County Tech senior Tey’ana Ames (35-4) and Hood.

R.V.’s 1,600-meter relay team included Chin, Marshall, sophomore Leah Howe and junior Kasey White. The Red Devils also placed fourth in the pole vault relay, senior Mia Paolone clearing 7-6 and junior Ashlin Williams 7-0.

For Kingsway, Nicole Lipieta, Aubrey Pierontoni, Faith Bill and Haley Brown ran on the 2nd-place DMR, Pierontoni, Lipieta, Cassidy Dunk and Rosemary Shay on the 3rd-place 4-by-8 and Lipieta, Pierontoni, Jordyn Scott and Sumayyah Turner on the 2nd-place SMR.

Washington Township placed second in the high jump relay with sophomore Dahlia Beasley clearing 5-0 and freshman Ashley Lopez 4-6.

Eastern placed third in the shot put relay with junior Savana Dodd (33-2 1/2) and and sophomore Aniyah Smith (30-6 3/4).

Cherry Hill East placed fifth in the DMR with Kiley Walsh, Aleix Tepper, Michelle Bary and Madison McNiff running 13:04.87.

Millville took sixth in the shuttle hurdles in 35.89 with junior Leah Ellis, Anniyah Goolsby, Tanya Smith and Nina Watts.

Williamstown placed sixth in the shot put relay with Demarest and freshman Evangeline Brad, who was competing in her first high school meet.

Camden Catholic won the sprint medley by 16 meters Friday at the Parochial A state relays

The team of senior Billy Clewell, senior Cristian Moore, senior James Toles and sophomore Nate Watson ran 3:42.18, finishing 2 1/2 seconds ahead of Christian Brothers Academy, which ran 3:44.33.

The official results list that order, but we’re going to assume Clewell anchored considering Clewell is a 1:58 half-miler and Watson is a sprinter.

In the girls meet, junior Kamryn Cieslik and sophomore Bridget Gotilla of Paul VI teamed up to win the high jump relay, Cieslik clearing 4-10 and Gottilla 4-6 for a combined 9-4. Union Catholic was second at 9-2.

Paul VI also placed fifth in the distance medley with Danielle Russell, Jocelyn Duquette, Sunni Cromwell and Shaelan McNally running 13:59.47.

The Willingboro boys won four events on the way to their fifth consecutive state Group 1 relays championship Thursday at the Bubble.

The state relays title is Willingboro’s 19th overall, fifth in a row and seventh in the last 10 years. The meet was not held last year.

Most impressive performance of the day came from senior C.J. Johnson, who bombed a PR 55-5 1/2 in the shot put and teamed up with freshman Jaleen Johnson to win the shot put relay. Johnson also  a personal best.

Johnson’s 55-5 1/2 broke his indoor PR of 53-7 1/2, which he set at the Bubble last week, and also his overall PR of 55-0 1/4 set outdoors in June when he won the state Group 1 title at Pennsauken. His throw is No. 5 in the state this year and No. 2 in South Jersey, behind Delsea’s Jason Nwosu, who threw 57-10 last month at the Bubble (or next door at Toms River Intermediate School East).

Final team scoring hasn’t been posted yet, but going through event-by-event Willingboro clearly had enough points to win.

The Chimeras got started Thursday night at the Bennett Center in Toms River with senior Anaias Hughes and junior Xavier Tollver teaming up to win the high jump relay, Hughes clearing 5-10 and Tollver 5-4.

Up next was the shuttle hurdles, and the Boro won easily, by more than a second, over Audubon, with Hughes, Eric Foster, Tollver and Kedaar Wilson running 33.62.

The Chimeras also won the 800-meter relay, with Miles Allen, Geordan Collins, Jaylen Young and Jackson Murry finishing more than 4 1/2 seconds ahead of second-place New Milford with a time of 1:34.11. That’s not too far off the meet record of 1:33.30 set in 2019 by Camden.

Boro finished the meet off with another win over Audubon, this time in the 1,600-meter relay. Allen, Collins, Young and Wilson ran 3:36.39.

Willingboro’s streak of five straight state relays titles ties the 5th-longest streak in meet history. Asbury Park (1988-95) and CBA (1981-88) won eight straight and CBA also won six straight twice (2008-13, 2015-00). Asbury also won five straight (1981-85).

Their 19 total titles is most ever by a public school and second-most overall behind CBA’s 28.

Here’s a look at Willingboro’s 19 state relays championships:

1982 [Group 4]
1983 [Group 4]
1985 [Group 3]
1986 [Group 3]
1987 [Group 3]
1990 [Group 4]
1996 [Group 4]
2000 [Group 3]
2001 [Group 3]
2002 [Group 3]
2003 [Group 3]
2005 [Group 3]
2012 [Group 3]
2015 [Group 1]
2017 [Group 1]
2018 [Group 1]
2019 [Group 1]
2020 [Group 1]
2022 [Group 1]

Including 13 indoor state titles and 13 outdoor state titles, the Willingboro boys have now won 45 state championships. The girls have won 21, giving the combined program 66 total state indoor and outdoor championships.

Big day for Winslow senior Jaia James Wednesday with a 55-meter dash PR and a lane in the 55-meter dash at the prestigious Millrose Games.

James ran 7.21 at the Millrose Games Trials at the Armory, finishing first of 38 sprinters and earning an automatic bid for the invitational 55 at the 114th annual Millrose Games on the same track on Jan. 29.

James’ previous PR was a 7.32 in December at the Bishop Loughlin Games at Ocean Breeze. She ran 7.33 to lead all qualifiers on Wednesday evening before running away with the final.

Ashley Fulton, a sophomore at Elmont (N.Y.) High, placed second in 7.35. James’ Winslow teammate, junior Briyel Brown. ran 7.66 for sixth place after a PR 7.52 in the trials.

James and Brown both also ran on Winslow’s 1,600-meter relay team, which won the suburban 4-by-4 in 4:01.29 and also qualified for Millrose.

Her 7.21 is No. 2 in New Jersey this year behind senior Christiana Nwachuku of Kent Place School in Summit, who ran 7.19 at the Spiked Shoe Holiday Festival at the Armory last month.

James’ time is No. 5 in Winslow history and fastest in eight years, since Torie Robinson ran 6.95 at the 2014 Meet of Champions at the Bubble. It’s also No. 16 in Camden County history

6.95 … Torie Robinson, 2014
7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil, 2012
7.17 … Krystal Cantey, 2006
7.20 … Cidae’a Woods, 2013
7.22 … Janeya Hammond, 2020
7.23 … Tionna Tobias, 2019

The Winslow Township and Rancocas Valley girls both qualified Wednesday for the Suburban 1,600-meter relay at the prestigious Millrose Games.

Winslow ran 4:01.29 and R.V. 4:04.98 to lead all qualifiers at the Millrose Games Trials at the Armory in Manhattan.

They will join Ramapo (4:06.53), Suffern, N.Y. (4:08.05), Bronxville, N.Y. (4:12.35) and Lakeland/Panas, N.Y. (4:15.43) in the suburban 1,600-meter relay at the 114th annual Millrose Games at the Armory on Jan. 29.

Winslow and R.V. posted the two-fastest times in New Jersey this year.

For Winslow, junior Briyel Brown led off with a 61.4 split, followed by senior Jaia James (59.8), junior Kamryn Holness (1:00.5) and junior Janelle Marshall (59.8).

Rancocas Valley raced with senior Sanai Jenkins (1:01.3), sophomore Leah Howe (61.6), senior Jya Marshall (62.2) and junior Kasey White (60.1).

Kingsway and Willingboro locked up in a hot 800-meter relay over the weekend that resulted in the top two times in South Jersey so far this winter.

Kingsway ran 1:31.63 and Willingboro 1:31.91 to take the top two spots in the 4-by-200 at the Hispanic Games at the Armory.

Those times rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the state this year, behind Elizabeth, which ran 1:31.62 at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival late last month. In the trials, Willingboro ran 1:32.56 and Kingsway ran 1:33.19.

Junior Damon Dukes, sophomore Benny Liles Jr., junior Matthis Alexander and senior Evan Corcoran ran for Kingsway, and seniors Miles Allen, Jaylen Young and Geordan Collins and sophomore Jackson Murry ran for Willingboro.

On the MileSplit U.S. list, Kingsway is No. 18 and Boro No. 22, but it appears that there are some club teams listed ahead of them and they should be ineligible for any in-season high school lists.

Kingsway’s 1:31.63 is a school record, and it appears that the previous record was just 1:34.32 set at the Bubble last month. Before this year, the fastest Kingsway known time was a 1:35.15 in 2016 at the Group 4 state relays, also at the Bubble.

Willingboro’s school record is a 1:30.63 from 2007, and this 1:31.91 is the Chimeras’ fastest since 2012, when they ran a series of fast 4-by-8s, including a 1:30.58 at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on the same Armory track (in December of 2011).

The Cherokee girls added the 3,200-meter relay to their array of U.S. No. 1 performances Saturday morning in Virginia.

The team of senior Nikki Clifford, junior Kelsey Niglio, sophomore Kerry O’Day and freshman Megan Niglio, who all ran on Cherokee’s Meet of Champions-winning XC team this past fall, ran 9:23.85 to win the 4-by-8 at the Liberty Premier Invitational in Lynchburg.

That performance bumped Cicero North of Syracuse out of the top spot nationally on the MileSplit U.S. performance list. Cicero North ran 9:24.71 at the George Constantino Memorial P.M. Session last month ta Onondaga Community College in Syracuse.

Kelsey Niglio led off with a 2:17.79 split, O’Day ran 2:25.93 and Megan Niglio 2:23.72 to set up Clifford’s 2:16.29 anchor.

Cherokee’s time is No. 11 in South Jersey history indoors and No. 7 in Burlington County history and shattered the indoor school record of 9:37.11 Cherokee ran at Eastern’s at the Armory in 2012 with the team of Jess Wright, Alexa Chiarelli, Sarah Robbie and Megan Lacy.

Cherokee won by about 150 meters over Marvin Ridge High of Waxhaw, N.C., who ran 9:53.83 for second place.

The Cherokee girls also rank No. 1 nationally so far this indoor season in the sprint medley (4:18.22) and distance medley (12:30.94), with Clifford and Kelsey Niglio running on all three teams.

The only faster time in school history came outdoors this past spring on Cherokee’s own track. The team of Clifford, Kelsey Niglio, Meghan Carroll and Erin Jackson ran 9:20.24 in the same race the Haddonfield girls ran a U.S. No. 1 9:04.72 at the Cherokee Relays.

Here’s a look at all the South Jersey indoor sub-9:30 performances: 

9:04.66 … Lenape, 2013
9:09.71 … Lenape, 2012
9:11.94 … Lenape, 2008
9:12.91 … Haddonfield, 2021
9:19.01 … Lenape, 2011
9:19.35 … Wilson, 2002
9:21.38 … Buena, 1999
9:22.18 … Haddonfield, 2020
9:22.30 … Lenape, 2010
9:23.71 … Lenape, 2009
9:23.85 … Cherokee, 2022
9:24.68 … Seneca, 2017
9:26.65 … Kingsway, 2020
9:26.67 … Lenape, 2007
9:27.22 … Lenape, 2014
9:28.7 ….. Willingboro, 2003
9:28.90 … Haddonfield, 2019

Highland graduate Ben Woodward, a senior at Rider, PR’d at 3,000 meters Friday at Ocean Breeze.

Woodard ran 8:30.94, finishing third and less than two seconds behind winner Mohlouwa Kool Molutsi of Monroe College at the Wagner Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island.

Molutsi won the race in 8:29.07, with Bentivegna second in 8:30.59 and Woodward third. Those three ran the entire race together, and Woodard split 1:42.9 for the first 600, then 2:19.7, 2:17.0 and 2:11.3 for his last three 800s.  

Woodard came up just over a second shy of the all-time Rider top-10, a list that already has three South Jersey runners on it. Lance Hess of Bridgeton is No. 4 at 8:25.0 from 1991, Anthony Dentino from Washington Township is No. 7 with an 8:27.47 from 2013 and Dave DeJong from Shawnee is No. 8 with his 8:28.42 from 2002.

Woodard’s previous PR for 3,000 meters was 8:34.64 outdoors from a Rider-Monmouth dual meet in Lawrenceville this past May. His previous indoor 3,000 PR was 8:40.45 from the NYC Gotham Cup two years ago this month, also at Ocean Breeze.

At Highland, Woodward was the 2017 South Jersey Group 3 cross country champion and ran 4:15.62 for 1,600 meters at the 2018 Group 3 outdoor states at Central Regional in Bayville.

Rider junior Leo Zaccaria, a North Wildwood native who attended Cape May Tech and ran for Wildwood, ran a big mile PR Friday at Ocean Breeze.

Zaccaria ran 4:16.48 and placed third in the mile at the Wagner Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island, N.Y.

Zaccaria finished behind William Cuthbertson of Wagner [4:12.38] and Karim Belmahdi of Monroe College [4:15.64].

In his only previous college race, Zaccaria ran a 4:36.10 mile in Albany last February, so that was his official previous mile PR. He ran 4:29.39 for fourth place in the 1,600 meters at the state Group 1 meet at the Bubble in the winter of 2019. 

He does have an outdoor 1,500 PR of 3:56.19 from the Metro Atlantic Outdoor Championships this past May in Lawrenceville, which converts to a 4:15.09 mile. 

At least based on the his TFRRS page, this is the first indoor race he has ever run at any distance in college.

The fastest indoor milers in Rider history from South Jersey are Terrance Armstrong of Camden (4:09.11 in 1994) and Tom Long of Cinnaminson (4:13.68 in 2000).

On Friday, Zaccaria came through 400 meters in 61.6 and the 800 in 2:06.5 before closing in 64.7 and 65.5.

The Cherokee girls took over the No. 1 spot in the U.S. in the sprint medley Wednesday with a 4:18.22 at the Bubble in Toms River.

Junior Kelsey Niglio and senior Nicole Clifford from Cherokee’s Meet of Champions-winning XC team ran the two long legs for the Chiefs, whose time is their fastest in eight years, since the 2013 team ran 4;13.00 at New Balance Nationals  at the Armory.

Fayetteville-Manlius of Manlius in Onondaga County, N.Y., outside Syracuse, previously held the top spot on the MileSplit U.S. ranking at 4:19.29 at the Section 3 Mohawk Valley Team Relays at Utica (N.Y.) College last month.

Seniors Jill Strauss and Alli Cook ran the 200s for Cherokee, Niglio split 60.4 and Clifford anchored in 2:21.4.

Niglio and Clifford ran on Cherokee’s U.S.. #1 12:30.94 DMR on the same track on Dec. 29 along with freshman Megan Niglio and sophomore Kerry O’Day.

Kingsway placed second in the sprint medley Wednesday in 4:23.37, which is No. 2 in the state this year and No. 5 nationally very early in the indoor season.

Junior Nicole Lipieta, senior Sumayyah Turner, senior Jordyn Scott and junior Aubrey Pierontoni ran for Kingsway.