From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Senior Dominic Bassey won the 800 and 400-meter hurdles, ran a leg on the 3^rd-place 4-by-4 and took 4^th in the 400 and the Winslow boys won their first sectional title in 19 years this weekend at Delsea.

Winslow won 125-71 over Delsea, with Deptford [60] and Hammonton [40] next. The Eagles scored in 14 of 18 events, everything but the 110 hurdles, 3,200, high jump and pole vault.

Winslow has won 13 South Jersey titles, the first eight as Edgewood High, but this title was the program’s first since the 2006 team outscored Pennsauken 74-54 to win South Jersey Group 4.

In South Jersey history, only Willingboro [17] and Penns Grove [15] have won more sectional titles than Winslow/Edgewood.

As Edgewood, the program won South Jersey Group 3 in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1990 and SJ-4 in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986. Winslow, which occupies the same building, previously won South Jersey Group 4 in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Bassey won the 800 in 1:54.91 and the intermediates in 54.61, ran 49.07 for 4^th in the 400 and joined senior Chukwuemeka Ajaegbulemh, junior KaRon Ali and junior Jacoby James to run 3:22.79 on the 3^rd-place 4-by-4.

Ali ran 21.89 for 2^nd in the 200, 48.77 for 3^rd in the 400 and 10.85 for 6^th in the 100 and also led off the winning 4-by-1, which ran 42.42 and also included Chambers, Hammond and junior Nyqir Helton.

Winslow also got wins from Helton, senior Kristopher Jackson and junior Zyaire Rothmiller-McIntosh.

Helton barely made the 100 final – he was 7^th-fastest qualifier with a 10.88 – but came back to win the final in a windy 10.68. He’s the first Winslow sprinter to win a sectional title in the 100 since Antraye Miles in 2003.

Jackson threw what appears to be a 20-foot season-best 168-8 to win the javelin. His previous season best according to MileSplit was a 146-9. He topped his 156-8 PR from last year’s state Group 3 meet by more than 10 feet.

Rothmiller-McIntosh jumped 22-0 ¼ to become Winslow’s first sectional long jump champ since Chad Wright led a 1-2-3 sweep as part of that 2006 team championship.

Junior Vincent Perri, who didn’t break 4:49 last year, PR’d with a 4:28.94 to take 2^nd in the 1,600. He closed in 62.73 and 2:11.06. His previous PR was 4:33.04 last week at the Camden County meet.

Senior Artrill Evans hit an outdoor triple jump PR of 46-1 ½ for 2^nd place. He does have an indoor 46-4 ½ to his credit from Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.

Senior Malachi Brown placed in both weight throws, taking 3^rd in the discus with PRs of 157-3 and 5^th in the shot put at 51-5. He PR’d by over 20 feet from his 137-2 from the Woodbury Relays.

Junior Elijah Deanley ran 57.87 for 3^rd in the intermediates, and James ran 22.01 for 5^th place in the 200.

In addition, Ajaegbulemh, junior Prince Owusu-Twum, senior Eric Brown and senior David Duran ran 8:09.36 for 2^nd place in the 4-by-8.

Hammonton senior Jake Edwards had a huge weekend with a legal 21.75 to win the 200, a 48.32 to win the 400 and a wind-aided 10.76 for 2^nd to Helton in the 100. Looks like he’s Hammonton’s first sectional double winner since at least 1985, which is as far back as my sectional winner list goes. He goes into states with the fastest time in Group 3 in the 400, 2^nd-fastest in the 200 and 4^th-fastest in the 100.

Deptford senior Ryan Sanchez, the state Group 3 champ over the 55-meter highs indoors, ran a wind-legal 14.31, fastest in South Jersey this year.

Delsea junior Matthew Littlehales ran 4:26.67 closing in 60.92 for his final 400 and 2:07.94 to win the 1,600 and 9:45.25 to win the 3,200 by 120 meters.

Clearview won the 4-by-4 with M. Niedbalski, S. Niedbalski, Pelosi and Ross running 3:21.52, and Delsea was first in the 4-by-8 with Littlehales, Snead-Gray, Snyder-Shellito and Cutter running 8:08.00.

Winners in the field: Hammonton senior Anthony Liakhnovich a PR 183-2 in the discus, No. 16 in South Jersey history; Highland senior high jumper Jayden DeLeon [6-6], Deptford senior Marcus Hood [15-6 pole vault], Delsea senior Jonathan Harris [58-11 ¾ shot] and Mainland senior Josiah Williams [46-5 triple jump].

Delsea graduate Elisia Lancaster recorded the top hammer throw ever by a South Jersey high school alum Saturday at Princeton.

Lancaster, an All-America thrower at Southern Illinois now competing post-collegiately, popped a 222-7 on her final throw of the Princeton Elite Invitational at Weaver Stadium.

It was her 2^nd PR of the day.

Lancaster began the day with a PR of 220-11 from a meet in May of 2024 in Rathdrum, Idaho. She’s been over 67 meters [219-9] four years in a row now.

Lancaster’s collegiate PR was 220-4 when she won the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference meet in Des Moines, Iowa.

According to the World Athletics database, Lancaster is ranked 19^th among U.S. women and 67^thin the world. She’s now No. 66 in U.S. history.

The only New Jersey woman to throw farther than Lancaster is Jackson native Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic in Toms River, who is all-time U.S. No. 11 at 241-11 from a meet in Eugene, Ore., in June 2021.

The other 220-foot thrower from New Jersey is another Delsea graduate, Jamine Moton, who threw 220-6 in Baton Rouge in May 2002.

At Princeton, Lancaster, competing for Shore Athletic Club, opened with a 211-10 and then improved to 212-6, 218-4 and a PR 221-0 on her next three throws. She fouled on her 5^th throw before PR’ing again with her 222-7.

Sophomore Molly Mills won the 1,600 and placed 2^nd in the 800, seniors Dylan Melcher and Rebecca Hoover also picked up wins and the Haddonfield girls swept the three relays on the way to their state-record 23^rd sectional title.

Mills, the only Haddonfield distance runner entered in multiple individual events, won the 1,600 in 5:12.96 and ran 2:23.61 for 2^nd in the 800, and Haddonfield scored 111 points on the way to its 10^th title in the last 14 years.

Haddonfield outscored Barnegat 111-80. Sterling [47] and Haddon Heights [40] scored the 2^nd– and 3^rd-most points among South Jersey schools.

Haddonfield previously won South Jersey Group 1 in 1983, 1984, 1989, 1993, 1994 and 1998 and South Jersey Group 2 in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Teams with the next-most sectional titles are Metuchen [18], Columbia [18], Ridgewood [16] and Winslow [16].

Melcher ran 11:37.10 to win the 3,200 by 30 meters over senior Kaysie Luna of Sterling.

Hoover cleared 10-6 to win her 4^th sectional title. She won the state Group 2 title indoors in 2024 and 2025.

Haddonfield scored a perfect 30 points in the relays, with senior Chloe Williams, Pinkerton, seniors Ava Poliafico and senior Molly Minor winning the 4-by-1 in 50.09, sophomore Penny Davis, junior Edith Green, Minor and sophomore Saya Sood running 4:05.55 to win the 4-by-4 and senior Tylin Regan, senior Caroline Barker, senior Katherine Asher and freshman Natalie Lacroce finishing 1^st in the 4-by-8 in 9:58.86.

Senior Audrey Adams and Minor each picked up 2^nd-place medals, Adams in the hurdles in 15.73 and Minor in the 400 with a lifetime-best 58.66.

Senior Maeve Hurly took 3^rd in the triple jump with a 34-0 and  sophomore Devon Gervasi ran 11:51.43 for 4^th in the 3,200.

Sophomore Madison Kelsey ran 11:59.50 for 5^th in the 3,200, senior Emalie Stanilla placed 5^th in the discus with a 100-9 and senior Nicolette Pinkerton jumped 16-8 ¾ for 5^th in the long jump.

Sood placed 6^th in the intermediates with a PR 1:10.71, junior Elizabeth Pappas ran 5:34.25 for sixth in the 1,600 and sophomore Ansley Kazmarek, a 1^st-year triple jumper, PR’d with a 33-4 for 6^th place.

Amazing Pleasantville freshman Isabella Alvarez swept the long jump at 17-11 ¾, 1 ¼ inches ahead of Cedar Creek senior Daizhae Brown’s PR 17-10 ½, the high hurdles in 14.55 and the shot put at 39-1 ¾.

She’s the first Pleasantville girl to win three individual events at sectionals since Fateen Abdel-Baaith won the Group 2 100, 200 and 400 at the 1995 meet. And she’s the first freshman to triple at South Jersey sectionals since Haddonfield’s Briana Gess won the Group 2 800, 1,600 and 3,200 in 2014.

Haddon Heights senior Jayla Criss swept the short sprints, winning the 100 in 12.12 and the 200 in 25.43. She’s the first Haddon Heights sprinter to win either sprint at sectionals since Jamie Walker won both in 2007.

Lindenwold junior Egypt Bolan, the indoor Meet of Champions winner, cleared 5-8 on her 1^stattempt, tying the Group 2 meet record set in 2012 by West Deptford’s Megan Kirschling. It also ties the overall Group 2 sectional record shared by Kirschling, Morristown’s Jordan Robinson in North 1 Group 2 in 2022, Rutherford’s Jenna Rogers in North 2 Group 2 in 2018 and Freehold Borough jumpers Latasha Keene in 2000 and Deb Vento in 2002 and 2003 in Central Jersey Group 2. Bolan has a PR of 5-8 ¾ from the Penn Relays last month.

Pemberton junior Olivia Serrano ran 57.63 to win the 400. She’s the first Pemberton runner to win a sectional title since Shaila Williams swept the 100, 200 and 400 in South Jersey Group 2 in 2012 and the first to win any event since Kyanna Dervain won the shot put in SJ-2 in 2014.

Other winners were Overbrook junior Rylee Clark [1:08.11 in 400 hurdles], West Deptford senior Kayla Romanoski [2:21.85 in 800], Sterling senior Ashe DeWalt by one inch in the discus [105-7] and Cedar Creek’s Brown [PR 37-1 ½ triple jump].

Eastern graduate Jewel Ash, a Fresno State senior, raced to the Mountain West Conferfence championship and a school record in the 400-meter hurdles Saturday in Clovis, Calif.

Ash ran 59.54 in Thursday’s qualifying and then ran a season-best 57.63 in the final, finishing three meters ahead of 2nd-place Hanna Kiess of New Mexico, who ran 58.03.

The conference title is Ash’s third. While attending Charleston Southern, she won the Big South intermediates in 2021 [1:00.51] and 2022 [57.92 after a PR 57.16 in the prelims].

Ash’s previous best time racing for Fresno was 58.08 last month at Stanford, which was 3rd-fastest in school history. With her race Saturday, she broke the school record of 57.85 set by Kyra Johnson at 2016 NCAA West Preliminaries in Lawrence, Kan.

Her time is No. 20 in the NCAA West Region this year and No. 38 among U.S. women.

Ash also ran a 54.05 leadoff leg on Fresno State’s 1,600-meter relay team, which placed 2nd in 3:37.36, behind only New Mexico’s 3:35.54.The time is Fresno’s 4th-fastest all-time.

Senior Bennett Wright, juniors Benjamin Andrus, Luke Andressen, Ryan Gibson and junior Peter Simpson combined for 60 points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, the 4-by-8 team picked up a win and Haddonfield rode those points and 21 others to its first sectional title in nine years this weekend at Delsea.

Wright [4:26.47], Andrus [4:26.75] and Andressen [4:32.33] went 1-2-3 in the 1,600, Andressen [9:37.87], Gibson [9:39.36] and Simpson [9:52.11] went 1-2-3 in the 3,200, and Wright [1:56.14] and Simpson [1:57.88] went 2-4 in the 800 for Haddonfield, which finished with a 91-84 margin of victory over Haddon Heights in the South Jersey Group 2 meet.

Haddonfield’s distance team also won the 4-by-8, with Andrus, senior Case Hurly, freshman Augustan Coley and junior John Leibrandt running 8:06.32.

The title was Haddonfield’s ninth overall but first since the 2016 team won South Jersey Group 2. The Bulldogs also won Group 3 in 1968, Group 1 in 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1993 an Group 2 in 2015.

Their nine South Jersey sectional championships are tied for 6th-most, behind Willingboro [17], Penns Grove [15], Winslow Township [14], Woodbury [13] and Bridgeton [10].

Senior Brant Nicholls also picked up a win for Haddonfield with a 13-6 clearance in the pole vault, senior sprinter Kai Richards took 3rd in the 100 in 10.97 and 6th in the 200 in 22.38 and sophomore Harrison Berman ran 16.12 for 5th in the 110-meter high hurdles.

Haddonfield also picked up two points in the 1,600-meter relay, which closed out Day 1 of the rescheduled meet. Richards, senior Connor Williams, sophomore Jack Brand and Andressen ran 3:30.72 for 5th place.

Sterling senior Bright John won a wild 100-meter dash that saw the first five finishers all run within 10-100ths of a second of each other. John won 10.94, followed by Haddon Heights junior Kani Golden and Richards, with Haddon Heights senior Daniel Furlong [11.03] 5th.

Golden won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.99 and the 200 in 22.04, so that’s 28 points for the Haddon Heights junior.

Gloucester City senior Ryan James doubled the high jump at 6-4 and triple jump at 44-3 ¼.

Other winners: Gloucester senior Kadon Harris [56.30 400IH], Cedar Creek senior Mandel Pettiford [168-2 discus] and Seneca junior Colin Smith [169-9 javelin]

Highland’s Floyd Whitaker, a senior at Oilahoma, shattered a three-year-old PR and posted the 5^th-best triple jump mark ever by a New Jersey athlete Sunday at the SEC Championships.

Whitaker popped a wind-legal 53-1 ½ on his 3^rd jump at the Southeastern Conference meet at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The wind was measured at 0.9 meters per second on that jump.

He now ranks 12^th among U.S. men, according to the World Athletics database.

Whitaker’s previous PR was a 52-6 ¼ at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Columbia, in May of 2022. He jumped 51-5 ½ in his first college meet for the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis indoors in January of 2022 and had an outdoor PR of 50-2 ½ while at Minnesota in a meet in Fayetteville, Ark.

Whitaker transferred to Oklahoma in time for the 2024 indoor season, where he had jumped 52-3 ¼ indoors and 51-6 ¼ before his PR on Sunday.

The only superior jump ever by a South Jersey high school graduate happened 37 years ago, when Shawnee graduate Greg Foster jumped 53-6 ½ in a meet in Flagstaff, Ariz., while competing for Pima Community College. Foster’s son Greg is currently a junior at Princeton and a six-time Ivy League champion in the long jump and hurdles.

Whitaker’s jump is No. 5 by a New Jersey athlete, behind Norm Tate of East Orange [54-9 ½ in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1970], Piscataway’s Eric Bethea [54-7 ½ in Austin in 2019], Trenton’s Devon Bond [53-7 ¼ in Lubbock, Texas, in 2012] and Foster.

Whitaker opened with a 50-0 and a foul before the 53-1 ½. He finished with a windy 52-2 ½, a 44-5 ¼ and a foul.

Teammate Brandon Green Jr. won the event at 54-10 ½. He’s the No. 1 jumper in college track with a 55-6 ¼ from a meet last month in Waco, Texas.

Whitaker moves up to No. 8 this year in NCAA Division 1.

Double winners Ma’Syiah Brawner and Jasmine Jackson led the Winslow girls to one of the greatest performances in New Jersey track history this weekend at the South Jersey Group 3 Championships at Delsea.

Brawner, a junior, won the high jump and triple jump and placed 2nd in the hurdles and long jump, and Jackson won the high hurdles with one of the fastest times in state history as well as the intermediates, placed 2nd in the 200 and ran on the winning 4-by-4.

That duo scored 64 points, and Winslow piled up 175 total points, most ever in any group in any South Jersey sectional meet. The previous record was Haddonfield’s 154 points in Group 2 in 2023. The previou Group 3 record was Winslow’s 148 ¼ in 2013.

Winslow scored in every event other than the 1,600, 3,200 and javelin, won all three relays and scored at least 10 points in 10 of 18 events.

The meet was held Saturday and Sunday after rain postponed Friday’s events. Saturday’s schedule was held as schedule, so Friday’s events were run on Sunday. Winslow surpassed Haddonfield’s record of 154 points with three events to go, reaching 155 with a 2-5 finish in the 100.

The title is Winslow’s 11th in the last 12 years. They won eight straight from 2013 through 2021, there was no meet in 2020, and they’ve now won three straight since 2023. Including two championships in the 1980s as Edgewood, the school has won 16 sectionaltitles overall. Only Haddonfield [23], Columbia [17] and Metuchen [17] have won more in state history.

It was a historic performance by Winslow not just in terms of total points scored but in terms of performance.

Brawner won the high jump at 5-4 and triple jump at 39-10 – just six inches of Sophia Curtis’s year-old meet record – and long jumped 19-0 ½ and placed 2nd to Jaidah Garrett of Absegami, whose 19-3 ½ broke the meet record of 19-2 ½ set by Winslow’s Gabrielle Bennett in 2015.

Jackson ran an otherworldly 13.72 to win the hurdles, well under the meet record of 13.91 set by Central Regional’s Samantha Jensen in 2011 (the program stupidly lists a hand-timed 13.9 by Oakcrest’s Nicole Hill as the meet record and also spells her name wrong). Her performance was wind-aided at 3.4 but is 14th-fastest in any conditions in state history and 3rd-fastest by a freshman. Jackson also won the intermediates in 1:02.46 and ran 24.31 for 2nd to Ryan Jennings in the 200. All three of her marks were PRs.

Sophomore Cinniya Robinson won the 400 in 56.24, leading a 1-2-3 Winslow sweep, and placed 3rd in the intermediate hurdles in 1:04.04.

Junior Olivia Okaro also had a huge weekend, running 11.87, 24.66 and 56.91 for 2nd in the 200 and 3rd in the 100 and 400.

And sophomore Skye Seamon placed 2nd in that 400 sweep in 56.46 and 5th in the 200 in 24.91.

Out in the field, senior Brook-lynn Roberts placed 2nd in the discus with a big season-best 146-9 and was also 3rd in the shot at 40-2 ¼.

Als, junior Leeya Joseph placed 3rd in the long jump at 18-6 and 5th in the 100 in 12.29, sophomore Tristan Hughes ran 1:04.64 for 4th in the intermediates, junior Chantina Walker jumped 17-3 ¾ for 6th, senior Ava Millner ran a huge PR 2:15.77 for 4th in a very fast 800 and junior Nyla Williams cleared 9-0 and placed 4th in the pole vault.

Winslow won the 400-meter relay in 48.06 with Amariah Arango, Seamon, Walker and Joseph, the 4-by-4 ran 3:54.56 with Adaiah Arango, Amariah Arango, Jackson and Hughes, and the 4-by-8 in 9:17.50 with the Arangos joined by Hughes and Millner.

Jennings won the 100 in 11.32, breaking her own meet record of 11.33 from last year, and the 200 in 23.81, snapping the meet record of 23.85 set in 2017 by Winslow’s Shakirah Dancy.

Moorestown freshman Hope Edwards won a very fast and deep 800 in 2:14.39, fastst this year by a New Jersey 9^th-grader and fastest by any South Jersey freshman since Washington Township’s Kami Joi Hickson ran 2:12.04 in 2017. Also under 2:18 were Ocean City sophomore Carly Godfrey [2:14.43], Moorestown freshman Peyton Derer [2:14.83], Winslow senior Ava Millner [2:15.77], Absegami junior Samia Ghazaz [2:17.13], Mainland junior Madison Taylor [2:17.44] and Winslow freshman Amariah Arango [2:17.64].

Ocean City senior Maeve Smith won the 1,600 in 4:58.68 and the 3,200 in 11:05.30.

We wrote on Saturday about Hannah Nuhfer’s South Jersey record of 47-9 in the shot put, and she came back Sunday and won the discus at 157-6. Absegami senior Josephine Buxton won the javelin [130-8] and Moorestown senior Hannah Byrd-Leitner won the pole vault [12-0],

Seniors Leila Ortiz, Miyana Johnson and Rainelle Blocker combined for 74 points and led the Clayton girls to their fourth sectional title in five years.

Clayton outscored 2nd-place Haddon Township 86-74 at Pennsauken, with Schalick a close 3rd with 72 points and defending-champion Audubon 4th with 65 ½.

The Clipper won South Jersey Group 1 titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before Audubon ended their streak last year.

Oritz won the 200 in 25.24 and 400 in 56.39 and took 2nd in the 100 in 12.42 (after a 12.39 in the trials), Johnson won the 100 in 12.40 and placed 3rd in both the 200 in 25.77 and high jump at 4-10, and Blocker won the javelin with a 114-7, took 3rd in the discus also with a 114-7 and was 2nd in the shot put at 37-8 ¼. Clayton freshman Destinee Williams placed 5th in the discus with a 110-0 throw.

The rest of Clayton’s points came in the relays. Miyana Johnson, sophomore Gabrielle Pernell-Lipsey, Ortiz and junior Deondria Simon ran 4:06.72 and placed 2nd in the 4-by-4, and freshman India Bryant, Pernell-Lipsey, sophomore Amor Stevens-Gaines and Simon ran 52.05 and placed 5th in the 4-by-1.

Schalick senior Jordan Hadfield doubled the 1,600 and 3,200 in 5:04.93 and 11:16.14 and ran 2:18.67 and placed 2nd to Audubon junior Riley Fayer’s 2:17.09 in the 800.

Glassboro sophomore Sunsarai Moore threw 137-1 to win the discus, Woodbury senior Antonia Federici hit 38-4 to win the shot put, Maple Shade sophomore Ciani Floyd ran 15.93 to win the 100-meter hurdles, Buena junior Emily Madden won the intermdiates in 1:07.74, Woodstown junior Kami Casino cleared 5-2 to win the high jump, Woodbury senior Denirah Jones won the long jump with a 17-4 ½, Pennsville senior Megan Morris won the pole vault at 10-6 and Burlington sophomore Nyima Burley went 35-9 to win the triple jump.

Woodbury won the 400-meter relay in 49.70 with junior KaChar Woods, sophomore Yuri Yates, junior Mirly Saintsulne and Jones, Haddon Township won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:06.29 with junior Casey Birdwell, sophomore Abby Wiedeman, freshman Aubrey Carson and sophomore Reagan Maher and Audubon was 1st in the 4-by-8 with sophomore Isabella Legatie, sophomore Lydia Gravante, Fayer and sophomore Sophia Rizzo running 9:55.24.

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta won the 400-meter dash Saturday at the American Conference Championships with a meet-record performance.

Moronta, a senior at South Florida, ran 45.55 at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center in Charlotte, breaking the record of 45.57 set in 2022 by Steven McElroy of Cincinnati.

Moronta ranks 16th in NCAA Division 1 with his PR of 45.31 from the Florida Relays in Gainesville last month.

He led all qualifiers in the trials in 45.68 before winning the final decisively, finishing three meters ahead of 2nd-place Michael Roth of USC, who ran a personal-best 45.89.

This is Moronta’s 2nd conference title. He won indoors in 46.24 in Birmingham, Ala.

Moronta was almost exclusively a half-miler and intermediate hurdler at Mississippi State, where he ran 1:49.33 and 51.38 and ran only one open 400 in two years. At South Florida, he’s run only one outdoor 800 and hasn’t run the intermediates.

South Florida won the team title 173 1/2-155 over Wichita State, the Bulls’ 4th straight conference championship.

Moronta is the 7th-fastest 400 runner New Jersey has produced and 3rd-fastest from South Jersey, behind Olympic gold medalists Lamont Smith and Dennis Mitchell.

44.30 … Lamont Smith [Willingboro], June 19, 1996, Atlanta
44.79 … Najee Glass [St. Peter’s Prep], April 24, 2015, Gainesville, Fla.
45.01 … Kevin Lyles [Franklin Twp.], April 7, 1995, Knoxville, Tenn.
45.25 … Clayton Parros [Seton Hall Prep], June 26, 2015, Eugene, Ore.
45.26 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], April 12, 1986, Tampa, Fla.
45.30 … Willie McLaughlin [East Orange], June 18, 1983, Indianapolis
45.31 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], April 5, 2025, Gainesville, Fla.
45.40 … Erison Hurtault [Matawan], June 9, 2007, Sacramento, Calif.
45.49 … Darrell Bush [Woodbury], April 11, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
45.55 … Taj Burgess [Carteret], May 26, 2021, Jacksonville, Fla.

Led by junior Alyssa Siriano, senior Megan Niglio, junior Madeline Meder and juniuor Sofia Recinto, who piled up 50 points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, the Cherokee girls won their first sectional title in 12 years this weekend at Pennsauken.

Siriano won the 1,600 in 5:05.62 and 3,200 in 11:01.63 and took 2nd in the 800 in 2:14.75, Niglio ran 3rd in both the 1,600 [5:07.97] and 3,200 [11:11.98], Meder was 5th in the 1,600 [5:15.07] and 3,200 [11:23.69] (and ran 2:17.85 in the 800), and Recinto placed 3rd in the 800 [2:14.97].

Cherokee added eight points with a 2nd-place in the 3,200-meter relay with freshman Erin Healy, Recinto, senior Grace Wojciechowski and junior Maya Kumar running 9:39.57.

So that’s 58 of 68 points from the Cherokee distance team.

Junior ddison Lore contributed eight points with a 2nd-place finish in the javelin with a 116-6 throw, and Addison Wright was 5th in the pole vault at 10-0. So all 68 of Cherokee’s points came from distance runners or someone named Addison.

Cherokee came out on top of a wild race that saw six schools finish within 20 points of each other. Pennsauken, led by the amazing Sianni Wynn, was 2nd with 61 points, a number that might not go down very much at states, defending champion Washington Township was 3rd with 58, Rancocas Valley scored 57, Eastern 52 and Williamstown 49.

The team title is Cherokee’s second. The Chiefs won South Jersey Group 4 also in 2013. A different school has won SJ-4 in each of the last four years – Rancocas Valley in 2022, Eastern in 2023, Washington Township last year and Cherokee this year. In all, seven schools have won SJ-4 the last nine times it’s been contested.

Wynn ran 11.61 to win the 100, the 200 in 23.86 ahead of Natalie Dumas’s 24.02, 53.20 for 2nd behind Natalie Dumas in the 400

We wrote on Saturday about Dumas tying Sydney McLaughlin’s state record in the 400 [] and running a U.S. No. 2 58.37 in the intermediates. In addition to her 2nd in the 200 she also won the 800 in 2:14.30, edging the Cherokee tandem of Suriano and Recinto.

The hurdles race produced four of the eight-fastest times in New Jersey this year, with Atlantic County Tech sophomore Brianna Growalt coming out ahead with a PR 14.22, edging Pennsauken junior Olivia Dupree in 14.24.Rancocas Valley senior Cecilia King [14.32] and Washington Township senior Dakota Jones [14.41] all under 14.50. Growalt also won the long jump with a 17-11 ½.

That 800 had a ridiculous eight girls under 2:18, with Vineland seniors Ashlynn Newton [2:15.50] and Georgina Chalow [2:15.61] in 4th and 5th, Eastern senior Samantha Osei-Kyei 6th [2:16.85], Cherry Hill East freshman Maya Morgan 7th [2:17.77] and Meder 8th [2:17.85].

Pennsauken ran hot in the 400-meter relay, with junior Sanaya Dupree, junior Olivia Dupree, sophomore Abigayle John and Wynn winning in 47.03, leading Rancocas Valley [47.87] and Kingsway [47.99] under 48. Pennsauken’s time is No. 6 in South Jersey history, Rancocas Valley is No. 10 in Burlington County history and Kingsway is No. 3 in Gloucester County history.

Kingsway got a 55.27 anchor leg from freshman Noemi Haller and won the 4-by-4 in 3:56.85. Junior Savannah Aulich, sophomore Norah Brown and senior Camryn Stanard also ran.

Washington Township senior Ella Karp had a nice throws double, winning the discus at 133-6 and the shot at 42-0 ½. Last year’s Meet of Champions winner Addison Inge won the high jump at 5-6, Rancocas Valley junior La’el Yates cleared 10-6 to win the pole vault and Williamstown senior Milla Pihlava jumped 36-4 on her 1st attempt to win the triple jump.