Just a dominating performance Saturday by the Willingboro boys in winning its fourth straight sectional title and state-record eighth overall.

Senior Zaire Clements won the 55 and 400 and ran on the winning 1,600-meter relay team and Willingboro won the Central Jersey Group 1 sectional title at the Bennett Center in Toms River by a whopping 63 points over Asbury Park.

Willingboro scored eight more points than the second-, third- and fourth-place teams combined (Asbury 32, Metuchen 30, Camden 25).

The Chimeras’ 63-point margin of victory is the largest ever in any Central Jersey indoor sectional.

The previous largest margin of victory was 57 points, also by Willingboro, just two years ago. The Chimeras won the 2018 Central Jersey Group 1 title 115-58 over Metuchen.

Willingboro also won South Jersey Group 2 in 2016, Central Jersey Group 2 in 2011 and 2012 and CJ-1 in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

With its eighth indoor sectional title in the 13-year history of the meet, the Boro tied Rahway for most all-time indoor sectional titles. Rahway has won six North 2 Group 2 titles and two more in Central Jersey Group 2.

Willingboro has won 17 outdoor sectional titles to go with its eight indoors. The Chimeras have also won 17 state relays titles, 13 indoor state titles and 12 outdoor state titles.

Since 2017, Boro is 4-for-4 at the state relays, 4-for-4 at indoor sectionals and 2-for-3 at indoor states.

The Willingboro girls won just as impressively. But they deserve their own post soon!

400-METER DASH [11 points]: In what was only his third major 400 race, senior Zaire Clements edged Camden’s Dontae Guest with a 51.31, an overall indoor-outdoor PR, to earn the win.Clements’ previous PR was a 51.84 earlier this month. Senior Jamaho Kingsley added a point with a sixth-place finish in 54.02.

POLE VAULT [18 points]: Junior Glenn Ferguson (11-0) and sophomore Bryon Gary (10-6) went 1-2 for the Chimeras.

SHOT PUT [16 points]: Sophomore C.J. Johnson (48-5 3/4) and junior Deonte Allen (47-9 1/2) went 2-3, and junior Colin Douglas took fifth at 40-7 1/2, his first time surpassing 40 feet.

55-METER HURDLES: Sophomore Bryson Bright lowered his PR from 8.59 to 8.48 in the trials, earning a lane in the final, where he PR’d again at 8.46, missing the top six by 2-100ths of a second.

1.600-METER RUN [1 point]: Junior Roshane Waugh ran a seven-second PR of 4:45.89 for sixth place.

55-METER DASH [15 points]: Clements picked up another win in the 55 with a 6.67, with teammates Nate Robertson and Sheraton Green fourth and sixth with PRs of 6.79 and 6.82.

HIGH JUMP [24 points]: Kameron Smith gets the sectional title on a tiebreaker at 6-6 with Robertson, repeating their 1-2 finish from last year, and sophomore Anais Hughes made it a 1-2-3 sweep, matching his PR of 5-8 for third place.

1,600-METER RELAY [10 points]: Clements, Green, Kingsley and sophomore Jaylen Young ran 3:34.06 to win the 4-by-4 over neighboring Burlington City.

BOYS
State Relays (14)
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]

Indoor Sectionals (4)
2011 [CJ-Group 2]
2012 [CJ-Group 2]
2015 [CJ-Group 1]
2016 [Group 2]
2017 [CJ-Group 1]
2018 [CJ-Group 1]
2019 [CJ-Group 1]
2020 [CJ-Group 1]

Indoor States (12)
1983 [Group 4]
1986 [Group 3]
1987 [Group 3]
1988 [Group 3]
1989 [Group 3]
1990 [Group 4]
1995 [Group 4]
1997 [Group 4]
2000 [Group 3]
2002 [Group 3]
2012 [Group 2]
2018 [Group 1]
2019 [Group 1]

Outdoor Sectionals (15)
1977 [Group 4]
1978 [Group 4]
1979 [Group 4]
1980 [Group 4]
1982 [Group 4]
1986 [Group 3]
1988 [Group 3]
1990 [Group 4]
1991 [Group 4]
1993 [Group 4]
2000 [Group 3]
2003 [Group 3]
2004 [CJ-3]
2005 [CJ-3]
2012 [Group 2]
2018 [Group 2]
2019 [Group 1]

Outdoor States (12)
1979 [Group 4]
1981 [Group 4]
1982 [Group 4]
1986 [Group 3]
1988 [Group 3]
1989 [Group 3]
1990 [Group 4]
1991 [Group 4]
1993 [Group 4]
1994 [Group 4]
2002 [Group 3]
2003 [Group 3]

Bishop Eustace graduate Montel Johnson, a junior at Monmouth, won his first career conference title Saturday.

Johnson won the weight throw at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships at the Armory with a 61-8 1/2 on his first throw. That’s a PR by three-quarters of an inch over his 61-7 3/4 earlier this month at Millrose.

His best mark coming into this season was a 57-0 1/4 from last winter.

The Gibbsboro native is Monmouth’s first MAAC champion in the weight throw since Errol Jeffrey won the event (and the shot put) at the 2014 meet.

Johnson had the four-best throws of the competition Saturday!

After opening with his winner, he threw 60-5 1/4 and 60-6 3/4 on his last two throws of the trials. In the finals, he started and finished with a foul but had a 61-5 3/4 in between, his third-best throw ever.

Nick Kocienda of Manhattan was second with a throw of 59-6 3/4.

Johnson specializes in the hammer throw outdoors. He was third in the conference last year with a PR of 183-2.

At Eustace, Johnson was third at states in the discus (157-5) and fifth in the shot (51-1).

He never threw the hammer until April of 2018 and didn’t throw the weight until January of 2018.

Lower Cape May Regional graduate Quinn Bithell, a senior at Rider, won her second straight MAAC high jump title Saturday evening.

https://results.armorytrack.com/meets/4042/events/198730/results

Bithell cleared 5-5 on her first attempt and then watched as the only two other competitors who had cleared 5-3 failed to get over the bar.

She had the bar moved up to 5-8 3/4, which would have been a PR, before calling it a day.

Bithell won the outdoor Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference meet at Monmouth last spring at 5-7. She’s also been a medalist in the 400-meter hurdles at the MAAC Championships.

Bithell has cleared 5-7 twice — at the conference meet last spring and just two weeks ago at a meet at Ocean Breeze. She’s No. 4 in school history in the indoor high jump.

Bithell had an outdoor PR of 5-6 and an indoor best of 5-4 at LCMR, where she won several sectional titles and was a multiple state medalist.

I’d love to tell you the last Rider woman to win the indoor MAAC high jump title, but Rider’s web site doesn’t list previous conference winners, and the conference’s own web site – despite a section called “Championship Central” – has no record anywhere of previous individual winners.

What happened to being able to download a *.pdf of meet programs from conference championship meets with all kinds of top-10 lists, all-time winners and all sorts of cool stuff that track fans want to see?

Anyway, great meet for Bithell!

Rancocas Valley teammates Micah Wood and Ian Moore of Monmouth Regional and Egg Harbor’s Donny Vineyard of Rider all qualified for Sunday’s 800 final at the MAAC Championships.

Wood and Moore won their semifinal heats, Wood in 1:55.84 and Moore in 1:56.91, to earn auto bids to the eight-man final. Vineyard placed second to teammate Mike Mazzei in the first of four races and advanced as the third-fastest of four qualifying non-winning runners.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 800 final is slated for 5:05 p.m. Sunday at the 168th Street Armory.

Wood’s time is fastest among the eight qualifiers, and Moore is fourth-fastest and Vineyard is fifth-fastest.

Samuel Aviles, a Rider freshman from Palmyra, easily led all hurdles qualifiers into Sunday’s finals Saturday at his first collegiate conference meet.

Aviles ran a near-PR 8.12 across the Armory infield in the trials of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 60-meter hurdles to earn a center lane in the finals, scheduled for 4:20 p.m. Sunday.

Nobody else ran under 8.30 in the trials.

Jayaire King of Willingboro, a freshman at St. Peter’s, also reached the final.

Aviles has a PR of 8.11, which he set at Ocean Breeze back in December. He ranks among the top 30 freshmen in NCAA Division 1. That’s No. 10 in Rider history, although only 4-100ths of a second out of No. 6.

Heat sheets for the 60 hurdles final haven’t yet been posted.

One event, 24 points.

The Willingboro girls opened sectionals with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 400 Saturday afternoon.

Senior Tamia Welch Smith, sophomore Aleshia Mendez and junior Balkis Lyiola finished first, second and third in the 400 at the Central Jersey Group 1 Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Smith ran 1:00.33, Mendez 1:02.33 and Lyiola 1:02.87, and nobody else was under 62 out of 30 quarter-milers in the race.

So after one event, Willingboro led second-place Asbury Park 24-4.

Willingboro has won just one indoor girls sectional title, and that came in South Jersey Group 1 in 2010. Indoor sectionals began in 2008.

Smith lowered her indoor PR from 1:00.97. Mendez from 1:03.59 and Lyiola from 1:04.13. Lyiola actually beat her overall indoor-outdoor PR of 1:02.89, set at outdoor Central 1 sectionals last May at Howell.

Meanwhile, the Boro guys, seeking a record eighth indoor sectional title, scored 29 points in the first two events.

Senior Zaire Clements ran 51.31 to win the 400, and senior teammate Jamaho Kingsley was sixth in 54.02. In the pole vault, junior Glenn Ferguson (11-0) and sophomore Bryon Gary (10-6) went 1-2.

Deptford graduate Mar-Quel Davis, a sophomore at Bloomfield, ran a PR 6.92 in the 60-meter dash at the Last Chance Invite at the 168th Street Armory Friday afternoon.

According to the DirectAthletics database, this was Davis’s first race of the year and actually his first open race since the CACC Championships in Lakewood last May, when he won the 100 in 10.69 and 200 in 21.72 and anchored the winning 4-by-100 relay team.

According to the database, he ran 7.10 in his only previous collegiate indoor race, in January of 2019 on the same track.

Davis’s 6.92 is No. 4 in the NCAA Division 2 East Region and only 6-100ths of a second behind regional leader Noah Roach of Georgian Court, who ran 6.86 last month.

Bloomfield does not list school records on its web site.

But the annual performance lists on the TFRRS site do not show a faster time for 60 meters for a Bloomfield sprinter.

Davis ran 6.96 in the trials Friday before the 6.92 in the finals. He was the first collegiate finisher in the race, finishing behind four post-collegiates.

At Deptford, Davis ran 10.65 and 21.57 and medaled in the 55 and 100 at the Meet of Champions.

Rancocas Valley graduate Ian Moore, a freshman at Monmouth, has the fastest 800 in the Metro-Atlantic Conference this year thanks to a breakthrough PR of 1:52.76 in the Villanova Invitational at Ocean Breeze earlier this month.

https://www.tfrrs.org/results/63770/3940146/Villanova_Invitational/Men’s_800m__Run/

It was his first 800 as a collegian.

Moore was racing for the first time since running 2:26.29 for 1,000 meters at Boston University late last month. https://sjtrackblog.com/2020/01/25/monmouths-ian-moore-from-rancocas-valley-runs-incredible-breakthrough-1000-in-boston/

Moore placed third, behind two post-collegiates and lowered his indoor PR an astounding 6 1/2 seconds from 1:59.13 from a meet at the Armory in December of 2018.

His previous overall PR was a 1:56.43 from the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea in May of 2018.

Moore’s time is No. 1 in the Metro-Atlantic Conference.

Sadly, Monmouth’s on-line track and field record book doesn’t have a real all-time school performance list. They only list Dylan Capwell five times as their “top-5.”

The Metro-Atlantic 800 list has a distinctly South Jersey flavor with five of the top 10 half-milers, four with overall PRs in the last few weeks and all five with indoor PRs. Four of them are from Burlington County.

—> Moore is No. 1 with his 1:52.76, 10-100ths of a second ahead of teammate Louis DiLaurenzio (from Raritan).

—> Another freshman from R.V., Micah Wood, is 4th with a huge PR of 1:53.46 from Boston University’s John Thomas Terrier Classic last month.

—> Jalen Jones of Burlington Township, a sophomore at Monmouth, is No. 7 with a 1:55.50 at the Monmouth Winter Invite last weekend in his first collegiate 800. Jones had an indoor PR of 1:56.46 dating back to the 2017 Meet of Champions, where he was 5th, and an overall PR of 1:55.99 from Group 3 states. He also ran 48.84 for the 400 outdoors for the Falcons.

—> Cinnaminson’s Tom Long, a Rider senior, is No. 9 with an indoor PR of 1:54.14. He’s got a PR of 1:51.73 outdoors.

—> Donny Vineyard, a Rider sophomore from Egg Harbor Township, is No. 10 with a PR 1:54.19 from Boston University last month.

The Egg Harbor girls broke the Atlantic County DMR record at Easterns Tuesday night with the fastest indoor time by South Jersey school in three years.

EHT ran 12:11.47 for fourth place at the 87th annual Easterns at the Armory, finishing behind only Cornwall (11:55.48), Colts Neck (11:58.89) and Lawrenceville School (12:04.49).

We have splits but not exactly sure who ran what. We’re going to guess Isabella Leak led off with THE 3:40.5, junior Jayidyn Mulloy ran the 63.8 for 400 and Anna Rutledge ran the 2:21.6 split for 800, setting up Olivia Shafer’s 5:05.5 anchor.

But those names could be wrong! Perhaps Shafer ran the 1,200 and Leak the 1,600? Or someone else ran the 400 and 800?

If those names are wrong and you can share who ran what, please let us know in the comments section and we’ll fix this!

EHT’s time is No. 11 in South Jersey history and No. 5 in the state this year, behind only Colts Neck and Lawrenceville from the same Easterns race and Westfield with a 12:03.36 last weekend, also at the Armory. 

That’s also No. 14 in the U.S. according to the MileSplit national database.

What was the previous Atlantic County record? I have no idea, but I can tell you it was over 12:30. There’s no record of any Atlantic County school going under 12:30 indoors ever.

In fact, the fastest outdoor time I could find was EHT’s 12:37.33 at the 2015 Rowan Invitational.

Here’s the updated South Jersey all-time indoor girls DMR list:

12:04.62 … Sterling, 2017, New Balance Nationals
12:04.9h ….. Lenape, 2015, Varsity Classic
12:11.47 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2020, Easterns
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
12:17.11 … Kingsway, 2017, New Balance Nationals
12:17.40 … Lenape, 2017, Varsity Classic
12:19.81 … Lenape, 2009, Nike Indoor Nationals
12:20.11 … Shawnee, 2017, Easterns
12:20.4h … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
12:21.40 … Shawnee, 2014, Armory Novice Meet (+DMR)
12:22.39 … Ocean City, 2013, Easterns
12:23.0h … Willingboro, 2003, N/A
12:23.52 … Timber Creek, 2017 Easterns
12:23.68 … Lenape, 2008, Poreda Invitational
12:24.05 … Bishop Eustace, 2011, Easterns
12:24.76 … Lenape, 2011, State Relays
12:25.19 … Highland, 2004, Easterns
12:25.69 … Seneca, 2009, Easterns
12:26.30 … Bishop Eustace, 2019, Easterns
12:26.75 … Seneca, 2017, State Relays

Huge day Tuesday for Kristina Tossas!

The Rancocas Valley senior medaled in both horizontal jumps at the 87th annual Easterns at the Armory with one PR and one near PR.

Tossas jumped 37-2 1/2 for 3rd in the triple jump, just three inches out of first place, and then went 17-7 1/4 for 4th in the long jump. She also ran 7.58 in the hurdles trials, missing her PR in the 55 highs by just 4-100ths of a second.

Tossas has an indoor long jump PR of 17-10, so she was less than three inches off that. Her previous triple jump PR was 36-8 from one night earlier at Ocean Breeze.

Tossas had a solid TJ series with five jumps of 35-9 or better and two over 36 feet. She surpassed 17 feet on four of her five legal jumps in the LJ.

Her 37-2 1/2 makes her No. 6 in South Jersey history and No. 3 in Burlington County history. She’s already No. 8 on the all-time Burlco long jump list.

The only other girls on the all-time Burlington County indoor long jump and indoor triple jump lists are Northern Burlington 2014 graduate Ashley Edwards, who’s No. 9 in the long jump (17-8 1/2) and No. 4 in the triple jump (37-1), and 2012 Lenape grad Shaya Wilkerson, who’s No. 8 in the long jump (17-9 3/4) and No. 1 in the triple (38-0 1/2).

The only girl on the all-time South Jersey long jump and triple jump lists is 2013 Winslow graduate Cidae’a Woods, who is No. 4 in the triple jump (37-10) and No. 3 in the long jump (19-8).

ALL-TIME S.J. INDOOR TRIPLE JUMP LIST
40-1 1/2 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
38-4 … She’quell Higgs [Winslow Twp.], 2013
38-0 1/2 … Shaya Wilkerson [Lenape], 2012
37-10 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2013
37-7 … Elizabeth Montague [Cherokee], 2014
37-2 1/2 … Kristina Tossas [Rancocas Valley], 2020 
37-1 … Ashley Edwards [Northern Burlington], 2015
36-9 1/4 … Jasmin Jones [Kingsway], 2016
36-8 3/4 … Olivia Wright [Winslow Twp.], 2020
36-8 1/2 … Leah Ellis [Millville], 2019
36-6 1/2 … Maryn Hess [Winslow Twp.], 2017
36-6 1/2 … Janell Rowe [Sterling], 2016
36-6 … Javona Ford [Millville], 2010
36-5 … Shevell Higgs [Winslow Twp.], 2020
36-4 … Rachel Montague [Cherokee], 2008
36-2 3/4 … Kiah Walton [Burlington Twp.], 2014
36-0 1/2 … Taliya Rogers [Rancocas Valley], 2016
36-0 1/2 … Keyanna Meade [Burlington Twp.]. 2018

ALL-TIME BURLINGTON COUNTY INDOOR TRIPLE JUMP LIST
21-7 1/2 … Carol Lewis (Willingboro), 1981
18-5 3/4 … Lindsey Walsh (Lenape), 2008
18-4 3/4 Tonya Lee (Rancocas Valley), 1987
18-4 1/2 … Kristen Tricocci (Cinnaminson), 2003
18-1 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2015
17-11 1/4 … Ariel Mitchell [Lenape], 2014
17-10 1/4 … Jenna Niedermayer (Cinnaminson),2009
17-9 3/4 … Shaya Wilkerson [Lenape], 2012
17-8 1/2 … Ashley Edwards [Northern Burlington], 2014
17-8 … Tabitha Gary (Moorestown), 1997
17-6 1/2 … Kristina Tossas [Rancocas Valley], 2020
17-6 1/4 … Anaya Young [Rancocas Valley], 2020
17-3 … Selina Burton (Willingboro), 1995
17-0 3/4 … Amy Landell (Cherokee), 2001
17-0 … Elizabeth Montague [Cherokee], 2013