It had been 29 years since the Rancocas Valley girls won a state championship, and this one was very similar to the first one.

In 1987, Tonya Lee scored all of RV’s points in the state indoor Group 3 meet at Jadwin Gym, with wins in the 400 (59.88) and high jump (5-6) and a second-place in the 55-meter hurdles.

Under the old scoring system – 6-4-3-2-1 – that amounted to 16 points and was enough for the Vince Phillips-coached Red Devils to win the team title.

Lee went on to multiple All-America honors at Tennessee and reached the finals of the 1992 Olympic Trials in the 400-meter hurdles.

This year, nearly three decades later and on the other side of the state, it was Aliyah Taylor’s turn to lead the Red Devils to a state championship. Taylor had a hand in all but one of RV’s 29 points as the Red Devils won their second state title.

Taylor won the 400 in 56.76, set a PR and broke her own school record with a 7.01 for second to Williamstown’s Bria Mack in the 55 and teamed up with sophomores Darynn Minus-Vincent and Shauna Nuss and senior Sydne Nance to run a New Jersey No. 3 and school-record 3:58.11 to win the 1,600-meter relay.

The 3:58.11 is an indoor and overall school record for Rancocas Valley. The previous overall mark of 3:59.34 was set by Janaia Sledge-Maith, Morgan Gordon Marcia McCord and Allison Hawkey at the 2007 Central Jersey Group 4 sectionals at Hillsborough.

The only point R.V. scored that Taylor did not have a hand in was a sixth place by Nance in the high jump with a 5-2 clearance.

Rancocas Valley finished with a three-point margin of victory over South Brunswick, winning 29-26.

Absegami’s Ford Palmer helped the New Jersey/New York Track Club break the world best in the indoor four-mile relay Friday at the Armory. Palmer split 3:59, and the quarter ran 16:12.81, breaking the mark of 16:16.67 set in 1993 by the New York Athletic Club.

Racing at the Artie O’Connor Invitational, Olympian and former Princeton star Donn Cabral led off with a 4:05.2 and Palmer followed with his 3:59.8 split. North Carolina State alum Graham Crawford, a late replacement for ailing Colby Alexander, split 4:08.6 in his first race of the year, and former Columbia star Kyle Merber anchored in 3:59.3.

The quartet was hoping to run sub-16 before Alexander was forced to drop out, but they still shattered the indoor world best time in an event that admittedly is not run very often. Because the four-mile relay is not an official IAAF event, the time is considered a world-best as opposed to a world record.

Interestingly, Artie O’Connor was the coach at Fordham when the Rams won the four-mile relay at the Penn Relays in 1963.

Palmer, who ran collegiately at Monmouth, has a mile PR of 3:56.79, fastest ever by a South Jersey native.

The NJ/NY Track Club is coached by legendary coach Frank Gagliano, and it’s not the first world record by one of his relay teams. And the last one included a South Jersey runner as well.

At the 1987 Penn Relays, coach Gags’ Georgetown distance medley team ran 9:20.96 at Franklin Field, the fastest time ever run. The 400 runner on that team was Lenape graduate Darron Outler, who split 46.9.

That mark is no longer the world record or even the college record but it remains No. 2 in college history behind Arkansas’ 9:20.10 two years later at Penn.

The NYAC’s record was set  by Brad Horton, Jeff Smith, Brad Schlapak and Princeton star Bill Burke, who anchored in 3:59.4, at the 1993 Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, N.H.

The overall world record in the four-mile relay is 15:49.08, set in 1985 in Dublin by the Irish team of Eamonn Coghlan, current Villanova coach Marcus O’Sullivan, Frank O’Mara and Ray Flynn.

The U.S. best time – with all four runners being U.S. citizens – is 16:08.54, set by an Athletics West team in 1984 in Eugene by Dan Alrdige, Doug Padilla, Tom Smith and Chuck Aragon.

Williamstown senior Bria Mack moved into the No. 4 spot on the all-time South Jersey 55-meter dash list and the No. 10 spot on the all-time state list Friday with her blistering 6.95 to win the state Group 4 title at the Bubble in Toms River.

Mack entered the meet with a PR of 7.08 at sectionals last week and ran a 7.00 in the trials on Saturday followed by her 6.95 in the final. And she needed every bit of that 6.95 to hold off Rancocas Valley junior Aliyah Taylor, who was second in 7.01 – a personal-best of her own and also an all-time South Jersey top-10 performance.

The individual state title was the seventh of Mack’s career at 55 meters indoors or 100 meters or 200 meters outdoors.

Mack’s 6.95 is No. 1 in New Jersey this year and fastest by a New Jersey girl in five years, since Myasia Jacobs of Paramus Catholic ran 6.84 in 2012. It’s been seven years since a South Jersey girl ran faster – 2016 Olympic 4-by-1 gold medalist English Gardner of Eastern ran 6.91 in 2010.

Mack’s time is No. 8 in the U.S. this year.

The only girl to ever run faster than Mack at the Bubble since it opened is Dominique Booker of Immaculate Conception, who went 6.92 at the 2009 Meet of Champions. Tori Robinson also had a 6.95 at the Bubble, in the 2014 Meet of Champions final.

Here is the all-time New Jersey list, with every girl who’s run 7.00 or faster:

• 6.73 … Michelle Glover (Willingboro), 1981
• 6.79 … Wendy Vereen (Trenton), 1984
• 6.84 … Myasia Jacobs (Paramus Catholic), 2012
• 6.87 … Aleah Williams (Montclair), 1998
• 6.88 … Patti Dunlap (Camden), 1979
• 6.91 … English Gardner (Eastern), 2010
• 6.92 … Dominique Booker (Immaculate Conception), 2010
• 6.93 … Ogechi Nwaneri (Chatham), 2008
• 6.94 … Stephanie Saleem (Neptune), 1985
• 6.95 … Bria Mack (Williamstown), 2017
• 6.95 … Torie Robinson (Winslow Twp.), 2014
• 6.95 … Denise Mitchell (Edgewood), 1983
• 6.97 … Melisa barber (Montclair), 1998
• 6.97 … Jenna Harris (Franklin), 2003
• 7.00 … Amandi Rhett (Moorestown), 2000
• 7.00 … Haisha Bisiolu (Union), 2015

And here’s a much deeper all-time South Jersey list that puts some perspective on the performances this year of South Jersey’s sprinters. Mack, Taylor and Iyanli Kollock of Our Lady of Mercy are now at No. 4, No. 8 and No. 9 in South Jersey history.

Hopefully, they all meet in the Meet of Champions final, at Easterns and a bunch of times this spring!

• 6.73 … Michelle Glover (Willingboro), 1981
• 6.88 … Patti Dunlap (Camden), 1979
• 6.91 … English Gardner (Eastern), 2010
• 6.95 … Bria Mack (Williamstown), 2017
• 6.95 … Torie Robinson (Winslow Twp.), 2014
• 6.95 … Denise Mitchell (Edgewood), 1983
• 7.00 … Amandi Rhett (Moorestown), 2000
• 7.01 … Aliyah Taylor (Rancocas Valley), 2017
• 7.03 … Iyanli Kollock (Our Lady of Mercy), 2017
• 7.05 … Dana Burnett (Williamstown), 1996
• 7.07 … Annie Johnson (Shawnee), 2012
• 7.07 … Audrey Wilson (Deptford), 2009
• 7.07 … Magenta Taylor (Willingboro), 1999
• 7.07 … Angela Clyburn (Egg Harbor Twp.), 1991
• 7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil (Winslow Twp.), 2012
• 7.09 … Emily Carson (Haddonfield), 2013
• 7.11 … Jamie Walker (Haddon Hts.), 2006
• 7.12 … Assante Johnson (Camden), 2009
• 7.14 … Shonda Burroughs (Vineland), 1999
• 7.17 … Nia Lawrence (Pemberton), 2013
• 7.17 … Kiara Lester (Deptford), 2014
• 7.17 … Krystal Cantey (Winslow Twp.), 2006
• 7.18 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville), 1997
• 7.19 … Latoya Benson (Washington Twp.), 2001
• 7.19 … Adia Starnes (Timber Creek), 2017
• 7.20 … Medina Salaam (Camden), 1974
• 7.20 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville), 2006
• 7.20 … Fametta Lewis (Wilson), 2007
• 7.20 … Tacquaya Tobias (Our Lady of Mercy), 2010
• 7.20 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow Twp.), 2013
• 7.20 … Gabrielle Farquharson (Williamstown), 2011

Northern Burlington Regional senior Kayla Jackson recorded an impressive double sprint win at the Central Jersey Group 3 meet over the weekend at the Bubble, winning the 55 in a PR 7.40 and the 400 with an indoor PR 58.59.

Jackson won the 400 by 10 meters over Maria Amalfitano of Freehold Boro, who placed second in 1:00.25. Jackson’s time broke her indoor PR of 1:00.55, set earlier this season at a SJTCA meet at the Bubble. She ran her outdoor PR of 57.17 at outdoor Group 3 states at South Plainfield in May of 2015.

In the 55, Jackson ran 7.45 in the trials and followed that with a PR 7.40 to win the final by a stride and a half over Jaela Thomas of Brick Memorial, who ran 7.51 for second. Her PR had been 7.42 at the Bubble last month.

With Jackson’s two wins and a fifth-place by Alivia Scott in the 55, Northern finished fifth in team scoring with 22 points.

The only other New Jersey girls to run as fast as Jackson — 7.40 for the 55 and sub-59 for the 400 — are Aliyah Taylor of Rancocas Valley (7.03, 56.32), Flora Ahiarakwe of Winslow (7.23, 58.34), Katie DiFranceso of St. John Vianney (7.37, 57.98) and Shakira Dancy of Winslow (7.28, 58.19).

Going into states Saturday at the Bubble, Jackson ranks tied for ninth in South Jersey this year in the 55 and fourth in the 400. Jackson, Ahiarakwe and Dancy will all clash in both the 55 and the 400 at states Saturday.

Jackson is Northern’s first indoor sectional double-winner ever and NBC’s first sectional double winner indoors or outdoors since Erica Davis won the shot (40-2 1/2) and discus (131-8) at the outdoor Group 2 meet in 2003.

The last Northern Burlington double sectional winner on the track was Colleen Sunderland in the Group 2 1,600 and 3,200 in 1995 (5:09.3, 10:56.5).

 

You could tell from the prelims the final was going to be close. But this close? Nobody could have imagined that.

It was the 55-meter dash at the South Jersey Group 2 meet at the Bubble on Friday, and it resulted in the closest four-man finish anybody can remember.

In the 55 prelims, Haddonfield soph Luke Colehower ran 6.73 in the first of six heats and then the first five finishers in the final heat of the trials all ran between 6.68 and 6.79.

Each 100th of a second is worth a little less than 0.1 meters, so seven qualifiers in the span of 0.11 seconds projects to about a 30-inch difference between first and seventh.

But the final was even closer than that.

First of all, here’s how the trials shaped up:

6.68 … Mar-Quel Davis [Deptford]
6.72 … Myles Davis [Deptford]
6.73 … **Luke Colehower [Haddonfield]
6.76 … **Tyriq Bundy [Deptford]
6.77 … ***Hakeem Evans [Camden]
6.78 … **Marques Miller [Oakcrest]
6.79 … *Nicolo Adorno [Barnegat Twp.]
6.84 … Tariq Ali [Manchester Twp.]

In the final, the Deptford duo ran to their top two seeds, but Camden freshman Hakeem Evans – fifth in qualifying – moved up to third, edging ace Haddonfield quarter-miler Luke Colehower.

And all three finished in the span of 3-100ths of a second. That means about 11 inches separated four sprinters at the finish line.

Here’s what the final looked like:

6.66 … Mar-Quel Davis [Deptford]
6.67 … Myles Davis [Deptford]
6.68 … ***Hakeem Evans [Camden]
6.68 … **Luke Colehower [Haddonfield]
6.76 … Tyriq Bundy [Deptford]
6.78 … *Marques Miller [Oakcrest]
6.81 … *Nicolo Adorno [Barnegat Twp.]
6.82 … Tariq Ali [Manchester Twp.]

 

Junior Flora Ahiarakwe’s sub-57 second leg gave Winslow the lead for good and the Eagles won the suburban girls 1,600-meter relay Saturday at the 110th annual Millrose Games at the 168th Street Armory.

Senior  Iyianna Williams led off for Winslow with a 59.34 leg and handed off to Ahiarakwe about two steps behind North Rockland. But Ahiarakwe took the lead, and freshman Janeya and junior Shakira Dancy held it with carries of 58.92 and 57.08.

North Rockland finished second in 3:53.92.

Winslow’s time is No. 10 in the U.S. this year and North Rockland is No. 12. The former indoor school record was a 3:57.05 last year at New Balance nationals.

Overall, Winslow’s time from Millrose is No. 14 in state history and No. 4 in South Jersey history, fastest by a South Jersey school in 14 years — since Willingboro ran 3:45.57 in 2003. That stood as the state record for 10 years.

Winslow’s time also breaks the Camden County record of 3:52.55, set by Woodrow Wilson in 2006.

Here’s the all-time indoor state performance list for the 1,600-meter relay:

3:40.28 … Union Catholic, 2016
3:42.03 … Columbia, 2013
3:45.57 … Willingboro, 2003
3:46.42 … Columbia, 2014
3:47.03 … Union Catholic, 2015
3:47.95 … Willingboro, 2002
3:48.9h … Plainfield, 1980
3:49.07 … Camden, 1995
3:49.50 … East Orange, 2006
3:49.9h … Plainfield, 1981
3:50.8h … Snyder, 1981
3:51.17 … Columbia, 2015
3:51.37 … Columbia, 2010
3:52.17 … Winslow, 2017
3:52.2h … Columbia, 1982
3:52.37 … Willingboro, 2000
3:52.48 … Columbia, 2011
3:52.55 … Wilson, 2006
3:53.46 … Columbia, 1995
3:53.51 … Franklin, 2004
3:53.6h … Willingboro, 1999
3:53.61 … Willingboro, 1998
3:53.9h … Shabazz, 1986
3:53.99 … Columbia, 2009

After 10 events and a full day of Winslow and Timber Creek battling on the track and in the field, it came down to one point.

Timber Creek had edged Winslow in the Group 3 state relays last month, but this time it was Winslow coming out in front by a 66.2-65.2 score with Seneca 20 points behind at 46.2.

So dominant were Timber Creek and Winslow that they combined for 131.4 of a possible 310 points. In other words, these two schools combined for 42 percent of all available points in the meet.

Timber Creek scored in every track race and matched Winslow’s scoring in the field and still fell a point shy.

What a tremendous rivalry! These two Camden County high schools, located about eight miles apart from each other, just hammer each other every time they’re on the track together!

While Timber Creek scored almost everywhere at sectionals, the Eagles piled up tons of points in a smaller number of events.

Juniors Shakira Dancy and Flora Ahiarakwe went 1-2 in the 400 and then reversed that finish with another 1-2 in the 55. Dancy and Ahiarakwe teamed up with senior Iyianna Williams and freshman Janeya Hammond to win the 1,600-meter relay with a 3:58.18.

That’s 46 points in three events.

Junior Ciarra Johnson added 10 big points with a nearly four-foot win in the shot put, and the rest of Winslow’s points came courtesy of sophomore Tionna Tobias, who was third in the 55 hurdles and tied for second with four other girls in the high jump, which is why everybody’s team score ends in .2. (Five girls sharing 21 points = 4.2 points per person).

Timber Creek got big scoring from freshman Tierra Hooker, who won the high jump and was fifth in the hurdles, and senior Alyssa Condell, who was second in 1,600 with an indoor PR 5:04.69 and third in 3,200.

Senior Janiyah Davis-Hines ran second in the high hurdles, Kia Starnes was part of that high jump tie and also ran fifth in the 400, senior Adia Starnes picked up a third in the 400 and a fourth in the 55, freshman Alexandra Hauer ran fourth in the 3,200 and senior Alexa Clark added a fifth in the 1,600 and a sixth in the 800.

Timber Creek was also second in the 1,600 relay, with the Starnes twins, Hooker and Davis-Hines.

This rivalry isn’t over yet. We’ll see everybody at states. And outdoors!

Two years ago, Haddonfield and Lenape locked up in a historic distance medley at the Varsity Classic, with the Bulldogs and Indians recording the No. 7 and No. 9 DMR times in South Jersey indoor history.

Haddonfield and Lenape met up again at this year’s Varsity Classic this week, and although the times weren’t quite as fast, they were certainly fast enough to take notice – No. 8 and No. 14 nationally.

Haddonfield ran 12:11.7 and Lenape 12:17.4, the top two times by South Jersey schools this year and No. 2 and 3 performances by New Jersey schools so far this season. As you can see by the all-time South Jersey indoor DMR list below, the times are No. 10 and No. 15 in South Jersey history indoors.

North Rockland won in 11:51.0 with North Hunterdon second in 12:09.1, fastest by a New Jersey school this year.

The race produced the No. 2, 6, 8, 14, 20, 22, 23, 27 times in the country this year.

For Haddonfield, Kaitlyn Bonnet, Gianna Cucinotta, Lauren Lynch and Briana Gess ran, and for Lenape it was Alexa Woltjen, Dana Duffield, Shannon Lambert and Megan Quimby.

• 11:43.94 … Haddonfield, 2014
• 11:54.63 … Lenape, 2013, Easterns
• 11:55.90 … Lenape, 2012, Varsity Classic
• 11:58.92 … Lenape, 2010, Easterns
• 12:02.51 … Ocean City, 2014, New Balance Indoors
• 12:03.4 ….. Haddonfield, 2015, Varsity Classic
• 12:04.45 … Haddonfield, 2009, National Scholastic Indoors
• 12:04.9 ….. Lenape, 2015, Varsity Classic
• 12:11.7 ….. Haddonfield, 2017, Varsity Classic
• 12:12.22 … Ocean City, 2005, Nike Indoor Nationals
• 12:13.46 … Washington Twp., 2011, Easterns
• 12:14.48 … Haddonfield, 2013, Easterns
• 12:15.60 … Lenape, 2014, Varsity Classic
• 12:17.4 ….. Lenape, 2017, Varsity Classic
• 12:19.81 … Lenape, 2009, Nike Indoor Nationals

As you can see from the list, Lenape and Haddonfield have dominated the DMR indoors for years.

Of the 15 sub-12:20 times, seven belong to Lenape, five belong to Haddonfield with Ocean City appearing twice and Washington Township once.

Texas senior Derrell Manhertz, a former state champion at Kingsway, ran an indoor PR of 1:50.49 recently at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational at Kentucky Nutter Fieldhouse in Lexington, Ky.

Manhertz’s previous college indoor PR was a 1:52.22 in the Power Five Invite last January in Birmingham Ala. His overall indoor PR was 1:51.80 when he placed second to Isaac Clark of Pleasantville in the 2013 Meet of Champions at the Bubble.

Manhertz ran 1:49.38 at the Texas Invitational in April of 2015, which stands as his overall PR.

Next for Manhertz is the Tyson Invitational this weekend in Fayetteville.

TCNJ’s Jake Lindacher won the 55-meter high hurdles in a dual meet with Rider on Friday with the No. 3 time in the country this year in NCAA Division 3.

Lindacher, a graduate of Egg Harbor Township and now a senior at The College of New Jersey, ran 7.48, finishing 7-100ths of a second ahead of Rider freshman Nate Bowie.

Lindacher’s 7.48 breaks Lindacher’s 55 PR set in the same dual meet two years ago and converts to a 8.06 for the more conventional college distance of 60 meters. Lindacher’s 60-meter hurdles PR is an 8.21 from the Villanova Open at the Ocean Breeze track in Staten Island earlier this month.

On the 2017 Division 3 list, Lindacher now ranks third, behind only Bobby Cooks of Aurora (Ill.) with a 7.95 from the Grand Valley State Invitational in Allendale, Mich., in December, and an 8.03 by Rowan’s David Benjamin at the Gotham Cup at Ocean Breeze last month. Benjamin is a graduate of Freehold High School.

So two of the top three Division 3 hurdlers in the country have South Jersey ties.

Lindacher also ran a personal-best 7.11 for the 60-meter dash in that Rider dual meet, which was held at the Lavino Fieldhouse in Lawrenceville.

At EHT, Lindacher was DQ’d in the finals of the 110-meter highs at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals his senior year, but he was the sectional champ indoors at 7.69, helping EHT win the team title.