Making their mark

Woodstown’s boys indoor 4×800 relay sets Ott Center facility record in first trip around the track together 

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PHILADELPHIA – When Woodstown’s celebrated boys 4×800 relay team walked into Penn’s brand-new Ott Center together as a team for the first time Saturday, all four runners had a feeling they were on the verge of something special.

They went in feeling great and came out feeling even better. They dashed around the track in a time of 8:32.30, setting a school, meet and facility record. They won the race by seven seconds.

The Wolverines had run in the facility once before, but the four mates on the 4×8 – Jacob Marino, Karson Chew, Cole Lucas and Josh Crawford – ran separate open events that first day and didn’t go as the collective. 

“We went into today feeling great knowing that our first 4×800 of the season was finally here and all four of us were still together for it,” Chew said. “It was an exhilarating event for us and we’ve been waiting for the moment that we get to really show off again.”

And show out they did. 

All four had run other events prior to the race and had to recover for the relay. Lucas and Chew both ran the mile and PR’d for the winter with Lucas setting the school record while finishing eighth (4:46.89). Crawford PR’d in the 55 and set the school record in the 200 while finishing Top 20 (23.30). And Marino set the school record in the 3200 while finishing 14th (10:35.15).

“We changed the order so Josh would lead off and I would run the third leg, and it proved well getting us far ahead of the competition right out of the gate,” Chew said. “Jacob kept Josh’s lead and I handed off to Cole for the anchor where he opened up our lead even more to make sure we would win.

“Around the anchor leg they said the standing meet record was 8:37 and change and we knew we were on pace to beat it. When they said Woodstown holds the new facility record for the Ott Center we were super happy. Coming into the race we had no clue about any records or what the other teams ran. We just walked onto the track knowing we had something to prove and we made it count.”

Woodstown’s girls 4×800 relay – Samantha Sterner, Anabel Schaal, Casey Gannon and Abby Marino – finished fifth in its race (11:21.41) and Kami Casiano placed sixth in the girls high jump (4-10).

Cover photo by Kayla Ayars