From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

One of many weekend highlights for Winslow was the 400-meter relay, and Winslow moved up to No. 6 all-time in South Jersey history with its 47.19 to win the state Group 3 title at Central Regional.

Sophomore Janeya Hammond, senior Flora Ahiarakwe, junior Tionna Tobias and senior Shakira Dancy will be the No. 1 seed in the Meet of Champions on Wednesday.

The Eagles now own five of the eight-fastest times in South Jersey history, and they’ve all been during Winslow’s historic run of six straight state titles.

The performance is No. 18 in state history.

Since 2013, Winslow has run 47.19 or faster five different years. During the same span, only two other New Jersey schools have run that fast even once — Piscataway with 46.84 in 2014 and Summit with 47.07 last year.

And they still have the Meet of Champions and nationals to go!

Oh, Winslow also ran 3:53.41 in the 4-by-4, fastest this year by a South Jersey school and No. 5 in the state.

Hammond, Ahiarakwe, sophomore Nylah Perry and junior Nicole Hood ran on that team. With Dancy? They’ll go under 3:50.

All-Time State 400-Meter Relay List
45.50 … Montclair, 1998
45.89 … Columbia, 2010
46.08 … Trenton, 1984
46.42 … Franklin Twp., 2003
46.84 … Piscataway, 2014
46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.89 … Franklin Twp., 2001
46.90 … Paramus Catholic, 2010
46.96 … Columbia, 2009
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
47.02 … Columbia, 2005
47.06 … Winslow Twp., 2014
47.07 … Summit, 2017
47.09 … Shabazz, 1986
47.12 … Columbia, 2012
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.19 … Winslow Twp., 2018
47.22 … Trenton, 2002
47.22 … Columbia, 2014
47.27 … Trenton, 1983
47.27 … Delsea, 2017

All-Time S.J. 400-Meter Relay List
46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.06 … Winslow Twp., 2014
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.19 … Winslow Twp., 2018
47.27 … Delsea, 2017
47.40 … Winslow Twp., 2016
47.45 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
47.45 … Willingboro, 1994
47.49 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
47.3h … Willingboro, 1981
47.54 … Winslow Twp., 2003
47.63 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
47.4h … Camden,, 1978
47.4y … Camden, 1979
47.75 … Eastern, 2002
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2005
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2012
47.8h … Willingboro, 2003
47.82 … Moorestown, 2000
47.85 … Deptford, 2015
47.87 … Winslow Twp., 2011
47.9h … Willingboro, 1995
47.94 … Camden, 2000
48.0h … Camden, 1995
48.0h … Wilson, 2008
48.03 … Penns Grove, 2014
48.07 … Camden, 2006
48.08 … Winslow Twp., 2004
48.08 … Willingboro, 2009
48.09 … Lakewood, 2000
48.1h … Willingboro, 1979
48.12 … Washington Twp., 2001
48.14 … Camden, 1997
48.18 … Millville, 2018
48.23 … Wilson, 2006
48.23 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2015
48.24 … Camden, 2008

This is a story about Delsea’s track team. But even more, it’s a story about Delsea’s field team.

How dominating were Delsea’s field events at the state Group 3 championships?

If you only count points Delsea scored in the jumps and throws, they STILL would have won the first state title in the program’s history.

Delsea won its first state title this weekend, outscoring second-place West Windsor-Plainsboro North by a whopping 19 points to win the Group 3 championship at Central Regional in Bayville.

Delsea finished with a 65-46 margin over WW-PN. Delsea became the first Gloucester County school to win the state Group 3 championship in 70 years — since Woodbury won it in 1948.

But even if you subtract all of Delsea’s points on the track, the Crusaders still win the meet, 49-46.

Imagine winning a state Group 3 title without setting foot on the track? Delsea could have done that this year!

Delsea scored 16 points on the track. Tymir Kizee ran 14.48 for third in the high hurdles after posting only the seventh qualifying mark at 14.92, and the 3,200-meter relay team of seniors George Tenenberg, William Mayhew and Michael Szwed and junior Colin Kane ran a huge school-record 7:49.95 to win the 3,200-meter relay. Click here to read about the 3,200-meter relay win.

Everything else was in the field, where Delsea was brilliant.

—> Khaliel Burnett, who broke the state triple jump record on Friday (read about it here), came back Saturday and jumped a near-PR 23-0 for third in the long jump. He has a 23-0 1/2 to his credit. He’s Gloucester County’s first 23-foot jumper since Anthony Averett of Woodbury in 2013.

—> Sophomore Nico Morales cleared 14-0 for second and junior Ryan Gillard cleared 13-6 for fifth and 10 points in the pole vault;

—> Sophomore Jake Nwosu won the discus with a 156-2 PR, and senior teammate Bill Goldsborough took fourth at 150-1. Nwosu added 13 feet to his previous PR of 143-3 from the Gloucester County meet at Delsea.

—> Goldsborough threw a PR of 58-0 1/2 for third in the shot, and junior Kevin Gilliano [5th with a 52-8] and senior Will Sneathen [6th at 52-0 1/2] gave Delsea three 50-footers in the same meet, which is ridiculous. Goldsborough’s previous PR was a 56-8 1/2 at sectionals. Gilliano’s previous PR was a 50-5 1/4, but he’s a guy who didn’t even break 40 feet last year.

Here’s a look at all the boys state team champions from Gloucester County:

1942
Pitman [Group 1]
1943
Woodbury [Group 3]
1966
Clearview [Group 2]
1969
Woodbury [Group 1]
1972
Woodbury [Group 1]
1973
Woodbury [Group 1]
1974
Woodbury [Group 1]
1975
Woodbury [Group 1]
1976
Woodbury [Group 1]
1977
Woodbury [Group 1]
1978
Woodbury [Group 1]
1998
Paulsboro [Group 1]
2009
Glassboro [Group 1]
2010
Woodbury [Group 1]
2011
Woodbury [Group 1]
2014
West Deptford [Group 2]
2018
Delsea [Group 3]

Of Gloucester County’s 13 high schools with track teams, more than half (seven) have now won a state title.

Shakira Dancy, Tionna Tobias, Ciarra Johnson and the Winslow Township girls won their sixth straight state Group 3 title Saturday at Central Regional in Bayville.

Results still aren’t available four hours after the meet ended, so we don’t know what the final score was or exactly where Winslow got its points.

But we do know this:

Winslow can now be mentioned as one of the greatest programs in the history of New Jersey track and field, and this recent run is without question one of the greatest in state history.

Winslow is the first South Jersey school ever to win six straight state titles, and the Eagles tied the record of six straight state titles by any New Jersey public school set from 1985 through 1990 by Monmouth Regional in Group 2 (first five) and Group 3 (last one).

Three private schools have had longer streaks – Notre Dame of Lawrenceville won eight straight in Parochial A from 1993 through 2000, and Pingry and Pope John XXIII won seven straight in Parochial B, Pope John XXIII of Sparta from 1984 through 1990 and Pingry Prep of Millburn from 2001 through 2007.

But winning six straight in one of the two large-school divisions is a remarkable accomplishment. In fact, the next-longest streak in Group 3 is North Hunterdon’s three-year streak from 1985 through 1987 behind distance aces Jodie Bilotta and Anne Letko.

The only other large-school program that is comparable is Columbia, which won five straight from 1994 through 1998, then won five more in a row from 2010 through 2014. Both those streaks were ended by schools in the Lenape district — Shawnee in 1999 and Lenape in 2015.

Only two other South Jersey programs have had streaks HALF as long as Winslow’s — Bridgeton’s four-year streak from 1997 through 2000 in Group 2 and Clearview’s three-year streak from 1990 through 1992, also in Group 2.

Here are all the back-to-back titles by South Jersey schools in the girls state championships:

6 … Winslow [2013-2018]
4 … Bridgeton [1997-2000]
3 … Clearview [1990-1992]
2 … Bishop Eustace [1995-1996]
2 … Camden [1978-1979]
2 … Camden [2008-2009]
2 … Delsea [2010-2011]
2 … Eastern [2002-2003]
2 … Haddonfield [1998-1999]
2 … Penns Grove [2013-2014]
2 … Seneca [2009-2010]
2 … Sterling [2016-2017]
2 … Williamstown [1981-1982]
2 … Williamstown [1995-1996]
2 … Willingboro [1980-1981]
2 … Woodbury [1976-1977]

Overall. Winslow’s seven titles (they also won Group 4 in 2004) ranks tied for fourth in state history, behind only Notre Dame (12), Pope John XXIII (12) and Columbia (10). Glen Rock, Haddonfield, Pingry and Red Bank Catholic also have seven.

Next-most among South Jersey schools are Bridgeton with six; Bishop Eustace, Camden, Paul VI, Williamstown, Willingboro and Woodbury with four; and Clearview, Delsea and Haddon Heights with three.

Here are links to the various state championship meets at Franklin Township [Groups 1, 4, A] and Central Regional [Groups 2, 3, B].

Boys

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Parochial A

Parochial B

Girls

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Parochial A

Parochial B

Team scores from Franklin Township [1, 4, A]

Team scores from Central Regional [2, 3, B]

Paul VI senior Antonio Tarantino ran a season-best 21.32 to win his second straight state 200-meter dash title at the Parochial A meet Saturday at Franklin Township. He won with a 21.28 at Egg Harbor last spring.

Tarantino, also the state champ indoors this past winter at 55 meters and runner-up Friday in the 100, is the only South Jersey boy to win the Parochial A 200-meter dash in the last 20 years. The last South Jersey sprinter to win it before him was Ryan Oyeda of Holy Spirit, who ran 22.19 in 1997.

He’s the first Paul VI athlete to win a state title in the same event in consecutive years since Matt DeLiso in the discus in 2002 and 2003.

Egg Harbor ran the eighth-fastest 400-meter relay in South Jersey history Saturday, with freshman Lauren Princz, junior Jadyn Laramore and seniors Viana Magruder and Ajae Alvarez-Tyler winning the group 4 state title race in 47.45 at Franklin Township.

They shaved 15-100ths of a second off their previous Atlantic County and Cape-Atlantic Conference record of 47.60, which they ran at sectionals.

Egg actually ran faster than Union Catholic did moments earlier on the same track in the Parochial A race. Union Catholic ranks No. 1 in the state at 47.42 — 3-100ths faster than EHT — and ran 47.50 on Saturday.

The Eagles broke the Group 4 meet record of 47.48 set in 2014 by Piscataway and just missed the overall all-group meet record of 47.36 set in 2017 by Delsea.

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS 400-METER RELAY LIST
46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.27 … Delsea, 2017
47.3h … Willingboro, 1981
47.45 … Willingboro, 1994
47.45 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
47.49 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
47.54 … Winslow Twp., 2003
47.4h … Camden,, 1978
47.4y … Camden, 1979
47.75 … Eastern, 2002
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2005
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2012
47.80 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
47.8h … Willingboro, 2003
47.82 … Moorestown, 2000

Emanuel Harris became Riverside’s third 45-footer Saturday and third state triple jump champion in the last 12 years Friday at the state Group 1 meet at Franklin Township.

Harris jumped 45-8 1/2, breaking the school record of 45-5 1/4 set by Sean Jimoh when he won the triple jump at the 2008 state meet at South Plainfield.

Phil Lindmueller jumped 45-3 1/2 for Riverside in Egg Harbor when he won the 2007 state title over Dan DePalma of Verona (on a second-jump tiebreaker).

That makes Riverside one of only three Group 1 schools in state history with three 45-foot triple jumpers. Boonton and Penns Grove are the others.

Harris extended his PR from 42-9 nearly three feet to become Riverside’s first state champion in 10 years, since Jimoh won the triple jump in 2008.

Riverside has had three boys state champs in the last 28 years, and all three were triple jumpers.

The Rams’ only state champs in an event other than the triple jump were Dan Dmochowski in the intermediate hurdles in 1981 and 1982 (and high hurdles indoors in 1982) and Ron Brock in the 1,600 in 1990.

So Riverside has had more athletes win state titles in the triple jump than in all other events combined.

Harris’ 45-8 1/2 is No. 7 in Burlington County history and No. 4 in South Jersey this year.

ALL-TIME BURLINGTON COUNTY 45-FOOT LIST
47- 9 ….. Marcos Edgehill (Pemberton), 1981
47- 4 ½ … Zakiyy Williams (Rancocas Valley), 2015
46- 6 ….. Brian Williams (Pemberton), 1980
46- 4 ¾ … Greg Francois (Holy Cross), 2006
46- 1 …..Drew Kanz (Seneca), 2009
46- 0 ¾ … John Adewumi (Bordentown), 2013
45- 8 ½ … Emanuel Harris (Riverside), 2018
45- 8 ….. Bryan Potter (Willingboro), 2005
45- 8 … Stephon Gadiare (Northern Burlington), 2012
45- 8 … Bryan Potter (Willingboro), 2005
45- 5 ¼ … Sean Jimoh (Riverside), 2008
45- 4 ¾ … Greg Francois (Holy Cross), 2006
45- 4 ½ … Karl Reed (Lenape), 2007
45- 4 ….. Nick Burke (Maple Shade), 2012
45- 3 ½ … Phil Lindmueller (Riverside), 2007
45- 2 ¾ … Brandon Bourne (Delran), 2009

St. Augustine junior Sincere Rhea completed a fast hurdles double Saturday by winning the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.03 at the state Parochial A meet at Franklin Township.

Rhea, who won the intermediates Friday in a personal-best 54.62, lowered his high hurdles PR from 14.14 – at the South Jersey Invitational – to 14.03. He remains unbeaten this year in both the intermediates and the highs. He ranks No. 2 in South Jersey this spring in the intermediates and No. 1 in the highs. His 14.03 is fastest by a South Jersey junior since Isaac Williams ran 13.99 in 2011.

The only faster hurdler in South Jersey is Quentin Bundy of Pleasantville, who was second in the Group 2 race Friday in 54.47.

Rhea is the first South Jersey hurdler to run as fast as 14.03 and 54.62 the same year since Washington Township’s Devon Carter in 2010. Carter ran 13.96 and 52.72.

Paulsboro freshman Amirah Sharpe shaved nearly three seconds off her PR and won the state Group 1 title at 800 meters Saturday with a school-record 2:15.05 at Franklin Township. It’s the fastest time by a New Jersey freshman this year.

Sharpe’s previous PR was a 2:17.83 at the Gloucester County at Delsea last month. That was her first time under 2:20.

Sharpe’s time is fourth-fastest by a South Jersey freshman over the past decade, behind Shawnee’s Julia Despirito, who ran 2:15.01 in 2011, Haddonfield’s Briana Gess, who ran 2:13.56 in 2014, and Kami Joe Hickson of Washington Township, who now attends Neumann Goretti in Philadelphia, who ran 2:12.04 last year.

Sharpe is one of three freshman twin sisters competing for Paulsboro this spring. They are the daughters of the legendary Fred Sharpe, who turned in the greatest Meet of Champions performance in history in 1997 – winning the 800 in 1:53.40 and the 400 intermediates in 51.62 and placing third in the 1,600 in 4:15.73.

Sharpe went on to become a six-time All-America at Auburn, ran as fast as 48.86 in the 400IH and 1:48.09 in the 800, and raced at the 2004 Olympic Trials. As recently as 2016, at the age of 38, he ran the intermediates in 52.31.

 

Rancocas Valley senior Aliyah Taylor, whose junior year was marred by injuries, returned in style this year and on Friday won her first outdoor state title, running 55.28 and edging Burlington County rival Shelby Whetstone of Lenape, who was second in 55.69.

Taylor and Whetstone are the only South Jersey girls under 56 seconds this year.

Taylor has won four state titles indoors — the 55 as a sophomore and the 400 as a sophomore and a senior as well as the Meet of Champions 200 as a junior — but an outdoor state title had eluded her till now.

Taylor’s outdoor PR was 55.79, which she had run twice, so she lowered that by half a second. She does have a 55.21 to her credit indoors, from her win at indoor Easterns last year at the Armory.

Taylor ranks No. 2 in the state this year, behind only junior Kaira Brown of Kent Play School in Summit, who ran 54.78 at the Parochial A meet this past weekend. Whetstone ranks No. 5.

Taylor and Whetstone rank No. 3 and No. 7 in Burlington County history.

ALL-TIME BURLINGTON COUNTY 400 LIST
52.91 … Michelle Brown (Seneca), 2008
54.19 … Okechi Ogbuokiri (Willingboro), 2003
55.21i … Aliyah Taylor (Rancocas Valley), 2017
55.4h … Carla Hunt (Holy Cross), 1976
55.5h … Danielle Myricks (Willingboro), 2001
55.51 … Mandie Dulin (Shawnee), 1997
55.67 … Shelby Whetstone (Lenape), 2017
55.82 … Danielle Myricks (Willingboro), 2001
56.11 … Courtney Foster (Cherokee), 2013
56.1h … Angela Williams (Pemberton), 1981
56.26 … Shannon Lambert (Lenape), 2017