Record repeat

Woodstown’s boys 4×800 relay goes back to Ott Center and smashes the record it set last week

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PHILADELPHIA – They did it again.

The Ott Center at Penn is quickly becoming the Woodstown boys 4×800 relay team’s favorite place to run.

The Wolverines set the house record in the event when they ran there for the first time last week and Saturday they took the mark down five more seconds, winning the race in 8:27.19. Williamstown was a distant second, more than eight and a half seconds in the Wolverines’ dust.

The team of Jacob Marino, Karson Chew, Cole Lucas and Josh Crawford also ran the distance medley and finished third (11:03.03) in a race each of the first four teams ran faster than the house record. They edged fourth-place Highland by 11-hundreths of a second.

“Today was great just like last week,” Chew said.

Lucas led them out in the DMR, running a 3:20 in the 1200. Crawford followed with a 49.4 split in the 400. Chew delivered a 2:06 in the 800 and Marino finished it off with a 4:46.

They switched up their usual order in the 4×8. Chew handed off to Marino in second place. Marino was still a little sore from an injury in the DMR, but fought through it to keep them in good position. Crawford ran the third leg in 1:59 and Lucas brought it home in 2:02.

“We all came to the meet feeling super confident and ready to race our race and everyone did their job and we came out with the victory again,” Chew said. “We’re definitely getting used to the Ott Center and its track and can’t wait to run at state relays.”

It was a big day for Salem’s Anthony Parker, too. He finished second in the 55 hurdles (7.81) and the long jump (20-10.75) – both to Mainland’s Josiah Williams. He also anchored the 4×200 relay team behind Kaden Robinson, Terrance Smith and Jelani Beverly that finished third in a school record 1:33.26.

“Ant’s progress has been amazing,” Salem coach David Hunt said. “He worked hard in the offseason and in the weight room and he’s seeing the benefits early in the season.”

Other noteworthy performances were turned in by Salem’s DaviYonn Jackson in the boys triple jump (seventh, 38-11.25. On the girls side, Salem’s MaKayla Smith was ninth in the long jump (15-01.50) and fifth in the triple jump (31-0); Salem’s Ava Rodgers was fifth in the shot (31-5); Woodstown’s Kami Casiano was ninth in the high jump (4-8) and Woodstown’s 4×800 relay finished ninth (11:19.69).