The 2020 National Scholastic Championships are off.

After initially exploring a move from Greensboro, N.C. – the meet’s home since 2006 – to Sioux Falls, S.D., meet officials on Monday decided to cancel the event entirely as COVID-19 cases in South Dakota increased.

Meet officials had promised to announce a decision on the meet’s fate by Monday but it never happened. However, the news was reported Monday evening by Newsday running reporter Jordan Lauterbach.

https://twitter.com/jlauterbach1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1272689983623704577&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fny.milesplit.com%2Farticles%2F281833%2Fnsaf-pulls-plan-for-late-july-national-meet-in-south-dakota

As of Tuesday morning, five hours after Lauterbach’s tweet, the NSAF still showed the meet on as scheduled, running from July 30 through Aug. 2.

Nationals have been held at Aggie Stadium in Greensboro on the campus of North Carolina A&T& University since moving across North Carolina from Raleigh after the 2005 meet.

But North Carolina AT&T’s campus is closed through at least the end of August, so the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, which operates the meet, announced last month that if the meet were held it would move to the 10,000-seat Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, which obviously would have eliminated – or severely curtailed – New Jersey participation.

The NSAF does not currently have a sponsor for outdoor nationals. The meet in the past has been sponsored by Nike, Foot Locker, American Airlines, adidas and until recently New Balance. 

New Balance withdrew its sponsorship earlier this spring and announced that it would hold a national high school championship meet of its own starting in 2021.

The Haddonfield girls have held the South Jersey four-mile relay record for 20 years now, and nobody has gotten close.

Haddonfield’s Mary Mulholland, Erin O’Donnell, Holly Cosnett and Erin Donohue teamed up to run 20:48.7 in 2000, breaking the South Jerey record of 21:50.9 set in 1995 by Bishop Eustace – by more than a minute!

Haddonfield didn’t break the record at East Coast Relays or Nationals. They actually did it at the Ike Willie Open at Rowan University in Glassboro, and they led two other teams under 21:45. Cherokee ran 21:24.1 [with Lauren Jones, Erin Chiarulli, Melissa Razo and Michelle Bilicki] and Wilson ran 21:43.9 for second and third, and those marks to this day are No. 3 and No. 8 in South Jersey history.

Eustace’s previous South Jersey record was actually set the first weekend of the 1995 season, with Adrianne del Sol, Roxanne Hughes, Kathleen Linck and Ann Clock
at the Camden-Gloucester County Relays on April 8, 1995, at Farnham Park in Camden and winning by more than three minutes!

It’s a tough event to run fast because it’s hard to find good competition, good conditions and four people who run well on the same day.

But this year’s Haddonfield girls team sure seemed like it had a very good chance to break the record after Allison Colflesh [5:03.82], Sarah Naticchia [5:04.24], Payton Weiner [5:06.12] and Lindsay Colflesh [5:19.64 full mile in January but 2:15.31 in March] totaled sub-20:34 indoors.

Their PR’s – 5:03.82 for Allison Colflesh, 4:55.90 for Naticchia, 5:03.53 for Weiner and 5:17.79 (converted from full mile) for Linday Colflesh – add up to 20:12.27, which would be No. 2 in state history (behind Roxbury’s 19:50.87 in 2006). And based on that 2:15.31 and a very early 5:17, you know Lindsay Colflesh would have been right there with the other girls in a big late-season mile.

But all four girls are back next year and hopefully will get a shot at that mark. For now, here’s the all-time list!

All-Time S.J. Girls 6,400-Meter Relay Top 50

20:48.7h … Haddonfield, 2000
21:07.81y … Shawnee, 2014
21:24.1h … Cherokee, 2000
21:24.30y … Bishop Eustace, 2010
21:32.24 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
21:35.0h … Lenape, 2012
21:36.25 … Haddonfield, 2007
21:43.9h … Woodrow Wilson, 2000
21:44.25 … Kingsway, 2019
21:44.7h … Cherry Hill East, 2006

21:45.26y … Bishop Eustace, 2019
21:45.63 … Lenape, 2010
21:46.23 … Haddonfield, 2019
21:48.31 … Cherokee, 2004
21:50.31 … Bishop Eustace, 2009
21:50.40y … Lenape, 2006
21:50.9h … Bishop Eustace, 1995
21:51.47 … Washington Twp., 2009
21:52.05 … Washington Twp., 2012
21:52.70 … Shawnee, 2002

21:55.72 … Kingsway, 2017
21:57.91 … Shawnee, 1998
22:02.42 … Washington Twp., 2011
22:02.95 … Moorestown, 2002
22:03.9h … Haddonfield, 2008
22:05.0h … Moorestown, 2000
22:05.2y … Paul VI, 1983
22:06.67 … Ocean City, 2004
22:07.68 … Clearview, 2002
22:07.9y … Paul VI, 1992

22:09.12 … Cherokee, 2007
22:09.87y … Highland, 2003
22:10.47y … Ocean City, 2003
22:13.2h … Haddonfield, 2006
22:14.83 … Moorestown, 2001
22:16.58 … Lenape, 2014
22:18.74 … Lenape, 2011
22:19.20 … Seneca, 2017
22:22.0h … Shawnee, 2001
22:25.3h … Shawnee, 1994

22:25.79 … Rancocas Valley, 2011
22:28.86 … Haddonfield, 2017
22:29.11 … Lenape, 2008
22:30.43 … Clearview, 2017
22:30.5h … Bishop Eustace, 1996
22:32.5h … Eastern, 2008
22:33.3h … Washington Twp., 2006
22:37.34 … West Deptford, 2008
22:38.49 … Triton, 2010
22:40.3h … Moorestown, 2005

22:40.44 … Kingsway, 2014

The super sprint medley was still in its infancy in 2003, when the Willingboro girls ran 1:44.06 at nationals with the team of Halimah Bashir, Kim Allen, Rhea Mann and Okechi Ogbuokiri.

The event was new, but the record lasted 15 years!

A little history:

The super sprint medley – two 100s, a 200 and a 400 – had been contested in Florida and California since the 1980s but didn’t go national until 2002.

That’s when it was first contested at nationals in Greensboro and added to a few South Jersey meets as well.

Woodrow Wilson set the initial South Jersey record in the spring of 2002, capped by a 1:46.46 with a fifth place at nationals in Raleigh with the team of Jamillah Nock, Latoya Carmichael, Latoya Benson and Taneesha Pittman, also at nationals.

Willingboro claimed the state and South Jersey record of 1:44.06 at outdoor nationals a year later, finishing second to William Penn of Philadelphia, which ran 1:40.95.

That stood as the state record until 2009, when Columbia ran 1:43.33 to win outdoor nationals. It remains No. 5 in state history.

And it held up as the South Jersey record until two years ago, when the Rancocas Valley girls placed second at nationals in Raleigh with a 1:43.19, finishing behind only Nansemond River High of Suffolk, Va., which ran 1:42.53. 

R.V.’s Kristina Tossas and Breacain and McClenahan ran the 100 and Darynn Minus-Vincent the 200, setting up Aliyah Taylor, who anchored in 53.5, fastest anchor in the field, and moved the Red Devils up from fifth in the final to second.

That time is No. 2 in state history.

Here’s our story from two years ago on R.V.’s historic race at nationals: https://sjtrackblog.com/2018/06/17/rancocas-valley-girls-take-2nd-in-super-sprint-medley-at-nationals-and-shatter-south-jersey-record/

And here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey top-50, with six schools – Winslow, Rancocas Valley, Lenape, Camden, Willingboro and Woodrow Wilson – accounting for 30 of the top 50 times. And as a bonus, I added an all-time New Jersey top-10 below it!

As always, send errors and additions to me in the comment’s section!

All-Time South Jersey Girls Super Sprint Medley Top-50

1:43.19 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
1:44.06 … Willingboro, 2003
1:44.31 … Camden, 2006
1:45.07 … Winslow Twp., 2004
1:45.17 … Winslow Twp., 2019
1:45.56 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
1:45.61 … Camden, 2005
1:45.78 … Woodrow Wilson, 2006
1:45.78 … Winslow Twp., 2018
1:46.43 … Winslow Twp., 2017
1:46.97 … Woodrow Wilson, 2007
1:46.99 … Winslow Twp., 2019
1:47.07 … Pennsauken, 2014
1:47.21 … Willingboro, 2009
1:47.29 … Lenape, 2015
1:47.33 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
1:47.55 … Cherokee, 2012
1:47.66 … Willingboro, 2008
1:48.18 … Willingboro, 2007
1:48.34 … Camden, 2009
1:48.37 … Winslow Twp., 2013
1:48.60 … Oakcrest, 2009
1:48.74 … Lenape, 2010
1:48.76 … Camden, 2008
1:48.79 … Woodrow Wilson, 2008
1:48.79 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
1:48.92 … Pennsauken, 2015
1:49.03 … Mainland Regional, 2018
1:49.04 … Haddonfield, 2007
1:49.57 … Paul VI, 2017
1:49.62 … Lenape, 2011
1:49.74 … Oakcrest, 2008
1:49.78 … Lenape, 2014
1:49.79 … Rancocas Valley, 2007
1:49.79 … Eastern, 2012
1:49.99 … Timber Creek, 2010
1:50.04 … Cherokee, 2007
1:50.09 … Lenape, 2008
1:50.30 … Pennsauken, 2019
1:50.50 … Paul VI, 2016
1:50.52 … Cherokee, 2016
1:50.59 … Clearview, 2016
1:50.60 … Winslow Twp., 2012
1:50.81 … Millvile, 2009
1:50.95 … Woodrow Wilson, 2008
1:51.04 … Bridgeton, 2010
1:51.09 … Rancocas Valley, 2009
1:51.26 … Paul VI, 2019
1:51.31 … Woodbury, 2010

All-Time New Jersey Girls Super Sprint Medley Top-10

1:41.98 … Columbia, 2010
1:43.19 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
1:43.33 … Columbia, 2009
1:43.76 … Union Catholic, 2016
1:44.06 … Willingboro, 2003
1:44.31 … Camden, 2006
1:44.78 … Summit, 2017
1:45.07 … Winslow Twp., 2004
1:45.17 … Winslow Twp., 2019
1:45.19 … Paul John XXIII, 2012

We’ve really experienced the glory days of the girls distance medley since the turn of the century, with Lenape, Ocean City and Haddonfield combining for 17 of the top 24 times in South Jersey history since 2000.

Unlike most events, you won’t see any marks from the 1980s on the all-time girls outdoor DMR top-40.

Until Ocean City’s 12:06.73 for sixth place at the 1994 Penn Relays with the team of Shelly Solheim [3:46.48], Kellie Adams [1:00.53], Janine Minehan [2:22.48] and Megan Hartman [4:57.24], the South Jersey record was 12:27.9, set in 1982 by Paul VI’s Dawn Hillman, Sue O’Toole, Lois Lucente, Dawn Cody and matched by the Shawnee team of Sue Thompson, Kris Tate, Michelle DiMuro and Deanna Germano at the 1984 Woodbury Relays.

(One note about Paul VI’s 12:27.9 …  I can’t for the life of me find out where they ran that, and all my usual research methods have come up empty! It wasn’t at Penn [which didn’t have a girls DMR yet], it wasn’t at Woodbury, it wasn’t at the Jersey Relays … what other meets even had a girls DMR that year? Help me out, someone!]

Ocean City’s 12:06.73 stood as the South Jersey record until 2000, when Haddonfield ran 12:02.34. Ocean City reclaimed the record with its 12:00.64 in 2004.

That stood for eight years, until Lenape – with the team of Camille Franklin, Ana de las Heras, Emily McGee and Natalia Ocasio – became the first and so far only South Jersey school to crack the 12-minute barrier with a remarkable 11:53.15 at New Balance Nationals in Greensboro in 2012.

(By the way … before 1982, the South Jersey record was 12:57.5 by Holy Cross at the Holmdel Relays in 1980!)

 

The same weekend, as you can see in the New Brunswick Home News, Lenape also ran 9:05.62 at nationals, which also remains the South Jersey record and which we wrote about yesterday.

Since 2012, nobody has come within nine seconds of Lenape’s S.J. record!

All-Time Outdoor Girls S.J. DMR Top-50

11:53.15 … Lenape, 2012
12:00.64 … Ocean City, 2004
12:02.34 … Haddonfield 2000
12:02.37 … Haddonfield, 2014
12:04.39 … Lenape, 2010
12:05.39 … Ocean City 2005
12:05.98 … Sterling, 2017
12:06.73 … Ocean City 1994
12:07.21 … Lenape 2008
12:08.61 … Ocean City, 2014
12:10.75 … Sterling, 2016
12:10.76 … Lenape, 2017
12:12.24 … Millville, 2009
12:13.16 … Bishop Eustace, 2011
12:14.05 … Cherry Hill East, 2007
12:14.24 … Highland, 2004
12:14.61 … Lenape, 2013
12:15.42 … Ocean City, 2015
12:16.79 … Lenape, 2015
12:18.27 … Bishop Eustace, 1995
12:18.29 … Shawnee, 2012
12:19.26 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
12:19.41 … Rancocas Valley, 2011
12:19.46 … Ocean City, 2013
12:19.60 … Shawnee, 2015
12:19.79 … Haddonfield, 2015
12:21.22 … Haddonfield, 2017
12:21.45 … Haddonfield, 1998
12:21.87 … Cherokee, 2012
12:22.01 … Moorestown, 2002
12:22.29 … Moorestown, 2007
12:22.94 … Shawnee, 1997
12:23.26 … Haddonfield, 1999
12:23.33 … Delsea, 2011
12:23.5h … Millville, 2008
12:24.26 … Lenape, 2007
12:24.64 … Woodrow Wilson, 2000
12:25.21 … Cherokee, 2000
12:26.31 … Shawnee, 2017
12:26.93 … Delsea, 2009
12:27.03 … Shawnee, 2014
12:27.14 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
12:27.21 … Lenape, 2011
12:27.96 … Cherokee, 2010
12:27.9h … Paul VI, 1982
12:26.9h … Shawnee, 1984
12:28.7h … Paul VI, 1983
12:29.03 … Bishop Eustace, 1996
12:29.72 … Washington Twp., 2012
12:29.9h … Haddonfield, 2008

A truly astonishing weekend at nationals for Lenape in 2012 with two South Jersey records that still stand today!

We’ll get to the DMR in the next day or two (and Lenape earned all-America status in four events that weekend!), but today the focus is on the 4-by-800, with Lenape and Haddonfield taking 12 of the top 16 spots

Eight years ago, Lenape – with the team of Camille Franklin, Emily McGee, Amanda Restivo and Natalia Ocasio – placed fourth at nationals in Greensboro in the 4-by-8 with a time of 9:05.62.

That broke Lenape’s own South Jersey mark of 9:05.83 set four years earlier with Moira Cunningham, Miya Johnson, Brianna Beddall and Caitlin Orr at the Lenox Fast Times Relays at Warwick Valley High in Warwick, N.Y.

Those two marks, set by the same school four years apart with completely different lineups, are still No. 1 and 2 in South Jersey history!

Incredibly, five schools are responsible for the 16-fastest times in South Jersey history: Haddonfield [7], Lenape [5], Seneca [2], Ocean City [1] and Kingsway [1].

All-time S.J. girls outdoor 3,200-Meter Relay Top-50

9:05.62 … Lenape, 2012
9:05.83 … Lenape, 2008
9:06.30 … Haddonfield, 2008
9:10.32 … Haddonfield, 2000
9:12.30 … Haddonfield, 2019
9:15.61 … Ocean City, 2014
9:15.19 … Lenape, 2007
9:15.92 … Haddonfield, 2015
9:16.57 … Seneca, 2017
9:16.79 … Haddonfield, 1999
9:18.22 … Kingsway, 2016
9:18.37 … Haddonfield, 2019
9:18.57 … Seneca, 2018
9:18.71 … Lenape, 2011
9:18.93 … Haddonfield, 2018
9:18.94 … Lenape, 2006
9:19.15 … Wilson, 2002
9:19.68 … Kingsway, 2017
9:20.39 … Sterling, 2017
9:20.39 … Haddonfield, 2014
9:20.39 … Sterling, 2017
9:20.55 … Seneca, 2008
9:21.7h … Ocean City, 1994
9:22.37 … Egg Harbor Township, 2013
9:22.83 … Haddonfield, 2016
9:23.00 … Lenape, 2007
9:23.06 … Ocean City, 2004
9:23.29 … Ocean City, 1995
9:23.53 … Seneca, 2016
9:23.67 … Shawnee, 2014
9:23.84 … Ocean City, 2015
9:24.44 … Shawnee, 2017
9:25.83 … Lenape, 2010
9:26.32 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
9:26.77 … Cherokee, 2011
9:27.09 … Washington Twp., 2012
9:27.78 … Sterling, 2016
9:28.5h … Holy Cross, 1981
9:28.91 … Willingboro, 1997
9:28.94 … Shawnee, 2016
9:29.05 … Kingsway, 2019
9:29.13 … Highland, 2005
9:29.65 … Lenape, 2005
9:30.28 … Woodrow Wilson, 1999
9:30.51 … Millville, 2013
9:30.72 … Lenape, 2015
9:30.93 … Seneca, 2013
9:30.95 … Millville, 2012
9:31.28 … Millville, 2014
9:31.31 … Delsea, 2011

The 2020 National Scholastic Championships – until recently the New Balance Outdoor Championships – are tentatively scheduled for late July and early August, but if they are held it won’t be in Greensboro.

The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation announced Thursday that if the meet is held on its new date – the weekend of July 30-Aug. 2 – it will be in South Dakota.

The meet has been held at Aggie Stadium in Greensboro on the campus of North Carolina A&T& University since moving across North Carolina from Raleigh after the 2005 meet.

But North Carolina AT&T’s campus is closed through the end of August at the earliest because of COVID-19 concerns so the stadium is unavailable. 

Meet officials said Thursday a decision on whether to hold the meet will be made by June 15, which is a week from Monday.

If it is held, it will be at 10,000-seat Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, which is currently expected to be available under local and state guidelines.

Obviously, the move 1,300 miles northwest from Greensboro to Sioux Falls would eliminate most if not all of the South Jersey entries that were still considering competing if the meet is held.

The NSAF doesn’t currently have a sponsor for outdoor nationals. The meet in the past has been sponsored by Nike, Foot Locker, American Airlines, adidas and until recently New Balance.   

Willingboro senior Tamia Welch, a sectional champ in two events and a state relay champ, has had a busy spring. 

Even without track.

Although COVID-19 wiped out the spring track season in New Jersey, Welch was very busy and very productive this past weekend with something far more important.

Welch-Smith organized a peaceful march through Willingboro Tuesday that drew over 1,000 men, women and children to protest the killing last week of George Floyd while unarmed and in policy custody in Minneapolis.

What a amazing job by Tamia organizing the march and the rally!

Great story in the Burlington County Times about the event: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20200602/watch-peaceful-protestors-call-for-change-in-willingboro

Smith was a sectional champ this past winter, winning the Central Jersey Group 1 400-meter dash with an indoor PR of 1:00.33 before placing second at states at 1:00.79. Welch-Smith also placed second in the 55-meter high hurdles in 8.78 before taking third at states in a PR 8.74. She was also a 5-2 high jumper. She also ran on Willingboro’s first-place 1,600-meter relay team. The Willingboro girls won team titles at both indoor sectionals and states.

At the state relays, she was on Willingboro’s winning shuttle hurdles and 1,600-meter relay teams, and Willingboro won the team title.

Last spring, Welch won the CJ-1 sectional title in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at 1:05.39 as the Chimeras won the team title, and she also placed third at states. She also medaled in the 400 at both sectionals and states. 

Welch will attend St. Peter’s University in Newark and compete for the Peacocks.

A strange story about the South Jersey sprint medley record.

No South Jersey school had broken four minutes for a sprint medley, but Willingboro was loaded in 2003 and at the inaugural Eastern Regional Relay Classic on its home track, the Chimeras took a shot at the South Jersey record of 4:00.71, which they had set a year earlier at adidas Outdoor Nationals.

There was no question pretty early that Boro would win. But would they go under 4?

The team of Chanel Hamilton, Rasheda Spratley, Rhea Mann and Okechi Ogbuokiri wound up running 3:59.6.

I know that’s what they ran because I was standing at the finish line with a stopwatch. My watch and all the officials’ watches agreed. So did Boro coach Tosca Bynoe, who was standing next to me and whose watch had a similar time.

The time was No. 4 in state history, behind only Columbia’s then-national record 3:55.8 (converted from 3:57.0 full mile) at the 1980 New York Relays at Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island and 3:58.56 at the 1995 East Coast Relays at Morristown and Shabazz’s 3:58.59 at the 1986 Jersey Relays at Plainfield. 

There’s only one problem.

The clerk who was recording times on a card and bringing them to the timing tent scribbled 3:59.6 in such a way that the “6” looked like a “0.”

I explained to the timing people that Boro’s time was actually 3:59.6 and not 3:59.0. They went to the timer at the finish line and asked her what she had on her watch, but by then she had cleared it and said she didn’t remember.

This is a South Jersey record we’re talking about here. And the time was No. 15 in U.S. history!

And she didn’t remember.

The timing people had no choice but to go with what they saw on the card, which really did look like 3:59.0.

To this day that mark is listed in all the record books as 3:59.0, but we know better! So the correct time is listed here!

And 17 years later, it remains a South Jersey record, and it’s still No. 13 in state history.

It’s fast! Just not quite as fast as everyone thinks!

All-Time S.J. Girls Outdoor Sprint Medley Top-50

3:59.6h … Willingboro, 2003
4:00.34 … Willingboro, 2006
4:00.71 … Willingboro, 2002
4:01.07 … Lenape, 2015
4:02.60 … Sterling, 2017
4:02.69 … Willingboro, 2004
4:02.89 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
4:03.04 … Camden, 1995
4:03.42 … Millville, 2008
4:03.54 … Lenape, 2006
4:04.44 … Millville, 2013
4:04.86 … Woodrow Wilson, 2009
4:05.2h … Winslow Twp., 2003
4:05.36 … Willingboro, 2010
4:05.38 … Millville, 2019
4:05.70 … Ocean City, 2004
4:06.06 … Ocean City, 2005
4:06.36 … Millville, 2011
4:06.56 … Rancocas Valley, 2007
4:07.16 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2015
4:08.08 … Kingsway, 2017
4:08.16 … Lenape, 2017
4:08.23 … Timber Creek, 2011
4:08.27 … Washington Twp., 2007
4:08.64 … Woodrow  Wilson, 2003
4:08.76 … Willingboro, 1998
4:08.81 … Cherokee, 2011
4:09.23 … Pennsauken, 2014
4:09.42 … Ocean City, 2014
4:09.47 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
4:10.12 … Lenape, 2007
4:10.0h … Williamstown, 1979
4:10.0h … Camden, 2003
4:10.30 … Holy Spirit, 2011
4:10.39 … Holy Spirit, 2012
4:10.44 … Highland, 1998
4:10.5h … Woodrow Wilson, 2005
4:10.69 … Cherokee, 2016
4:10.74 … Highland, 2003
4:10.74 … Pennauken, 2015
4:10.8h … Haddon Heights, 1980
4:10.9h … Willingboro, 2005
4:11.15 … Buena, 1998
4:11.31 … Seneca, 2008
4:11.2h … Haddonfield, 2009
4:11.5h … Camden, 1994
4:11.5h … Buena, 2000
4:11.73 … Shawnee, 2017
4:11.76 … Washington Twp., 1999
4:11.91 … Timber Creek, 2010
4:11.8h … Overbrook, 2000

I’m going to need your help on this one.

In 2001, the Willingboro girls ran 3:43.94 for third place in the 1,600-meter relay at the adidas Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro.

That broke the South Jersey record of 3:45.41 set six years earlier by Camden in the South Jersey race at Penn and was 3rd-fastest in state history, behind only Montclair’s 3:41.03 at Penn in 1998 and Plainfield’s 3:43.3 at the 1981 Meet of Champions. It remains No. 5 in state history.

I can’t find the official results anywhere, but the Chimeras’ lineup was probably Halimah Bashir, Rhea Mann, Danielle Myricks and Okechi Ogbuokiri. (The lineup was actually Halimah, Chanel Hamilton, Danielle and Okechi … and Myricks split a 53!).  I should know because I was there, but … I don’t. And my old newspaper tragically deleted its entire on-line archive so I can’t even look up my old story. And the Newspaper.com archive doesn’t show any other local papers acknowledging the performance.

So, sadly, this incredible performance has been lost to time.

So if that lineup is incorrect … please let me know!

But it was a remarkable race. That 3:43.94 means Willingboro’s four legs averaged sub-56 in the same race. And that performance has stood as the South Jersey record for 19 years!

The next year, the Chimeras ran 3:44.64 at the Meet of Champions in South Brunswick – I believe with the team of Rhea Mann, Channel Hamilton, Bashir and Ogbuokiri (please correct me if I’m wrong). And nobody has come within 2 1/2 seconds of the Chimeras’ 4×4 record since.

Anyway, this is the all-time South Jersey girls outdoor 1,600-meter relay top-50.

Incredibly, only 14 high schools are represented on here, with Willingboro [14] and Camden [9] accounting for 23 times – nearly half the top 50!

Lenape [4], Eastern [3], Rancocas Valley [2] and Millville [2] each have multiple teams on the list as well, leaving just four other spots.

Please send any additions and corrections to me in the comment’s section!

All-Time S.J. Girls Outdoor 1,600-Meter Relay Top-50

3:43.94 … Willingboro, 2001
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
3:46.67 … Winslow Twp., 2018
3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
3:47.30 … Willingboro, 2003
3:47.41 … Winslow Twp., 2017
3:47.4h … Camden, 1978
3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
3:48.00 … Wilson, 2001
3:48.17 … Wilson, 2006
3:48.6y … Camden,, 1978
3:48.78 … Lenape, 2014
3:48.7h … Washington Twp., 1999
3:48.87 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
3:48.91 … Penns Grove, 2013
3:49.25 … Lenape, 2015
3:49.2y … Camden, 1979
3:49.30 … Winslow Twp., 2004
3:49.43 … Willingboro, 1997
3:49.53 … Willingboro, 1998
3:49.63 … Winslow Twp., 2016
3:49.93 … Willingboro, 2009
3:50.10 … Millville, 2008
3:50.21 … Winslow Twp., 2003
3:50.24 … Willingboro, 2009
3:50.27 … Lenape, 2017
3:50.31 … Eastern, 2002
3:50.36 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
3:50.46 … Woodrow Wilson, 2005
3:50.49 … Willingboro, 2010
3:50.56 … Winslow Twp., 2019
3:51.0h … Willingboro, 1982
3:51.18 … Eastern, 2003
3:51.22 … Camden, 2008
3:51.32 … Willingboro, 2000
3:51.43 … Lenape, 2012
3:51.44 … Willingboro, 1994
3:51.51 … Woodrow Wilson, 2007
3:51.68 … Millville, 2007
3:51.70 … Camden, 2010
3:51.6h … Highland, 1992
3:51.85 … Woodrow Wilson, 2000
3:51.91 … Camden, 2005
3:51.8h … Camden, 1979
3:51.9h … Willingboro, 1993
3:52.15 … Pennsauken, 2014
3:52.49 … Paul VI, 2018

For the second year in a row, Kingsway’s Samuel Allen is the recipient of the Bruce MacDonald Athlete of the Year award given annually to the nation’s top high school race walker.

Although there was no outdoor track season, Allen won the award based on his indoor season, when he was the top-ranked high school racewalker in three events – the 1,500, mile and 3,000. According to a story on hsrw.net – a site devoted to high school race walking – Allen ranks No. 4, No. 10 and No. 12 in U.S. history in those three events.

Allen, also an honors student at Kingsway, also competes for Kingsway’s XC team and this past fall was sixth man on the team that placed third at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals with a time of 16:51 at Delsea.

Last spring, Allen placed second at the USATF Under-20 Championships in Miramar, Fla., in the 10,000-meter race walk with a time of 54:08.19. He also won the 3,000 at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro in 13:31.53.