Woodstown’s Crawford wins boys Group I indoor 800, becomes Wolverines’ first indoor state champion in 19 years
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
TOMS RIVER – Josh Crawford turned a big negative into a big positive and it turned him into a record-setting state champion.
The Woodstown junior was bummed by the way he ran in the 400 at Sunday’s Group I Indoor Track Championships at the Bennett Center Bubble, but instead of stewing over it the rest of the day he used it to fuel his next race and it became the best run of his life.
Crawford ran a personal-best 1:59.01 and edged Shore Regional’s Brady McHugh by 37 hundreths of a second – about two meters – to win Group I state title and give the Wolverines their first indoor state champion since before he was born.
“I’m just so happy,” he said. “I was feeling great today and I got out there and pushed my best. I never ran like that before with so much excitement and energy. It was a very unreal feeling (to win it).”
The 16-year-old is Woodstown’s first indoor state champion since Brenan McDonough won the 800 in the 2006 Group I meet at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym – 26 months before he was even born. Additionally, he broke the Salem County indoor 800 record of 1:59.21 set by Schalick’s Greg McGuire in the 2020 Group I meet here.
“I didn’t know that while I was running; that’s just insane,” he said of his piece of Woodstown history. “That just makes it like 10 times more exciting for me.”
And it was all a byproduct of his disappointment in the 400, where he had top time in his heat but wound up finishing 11th overall after getting bumped out of position midway through his heat race. His 53.09 was two seconds slower than his winning sectional time.
“It was definitely the 400 that added fire,” he said. “I just wasn’t in the correct mental state or physical state, so I just decided to switch my mindset around and focus on the upcoming 800 and put everything out there and make up for what I missed in the 400.”
To his credit, he didn’t go into the 800 trying to make up for the other race in the first 50 meters. He started next to teammate Cole Lucas and after some initial jostling settled into his gameplan. He was content to sit on McHugh and Raritan’s Joseph Testai the whole race and waited on them to fade to make his move.
That came with about 100 meters to go.
“I just had so much (energy) in me I just used all the anger that came from the previous race to get to the finish line before they could,” he said.
Crawford also ran the anchor leg on the Wolverines’ runner-up 4×400 relay team (with Cole Lucas, Karson Chew and Anthony Costello).
He was the only champion from Salem County Sunday, but the county produced four other qualifiers for next week’s Meet of Champions next week at the Ocean Breeze Complex on Staten Island. The top three finishers in each event and a select number of wildcards advance.
Woodstown’s Jaime Deal finished third in the girls 400, Schalick’s Jordan Hadfield was second in both the 1600 and 3200, Salem’s Anthony Parker was second in the boys 55 hurdles (by .02 seconds) and Schalick’s David Stewart was third in the 55 dash.
NJSIAA GROUP I INDOOR TRACK
At Bennett Center Bubble, Toms River
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES (Top 10): Dumont 36, Ramsey 29, Metuchen 24, Walkill Valley 20, Clayton 19, Glassboro, SCHALICK 18, New Providence 16, Glen Rock 14, Butler 13.
EVENT WINNERS
(And Salem County scorers)
400: 1. Julia Costa, Ramsey, 1:00.34; 3. Jaime Deal, Woodstown, 1:00.75; 5. Gia Martellacci, Schalick, 1:01.70.
1600: 1. Delana Einreinhofer, Wallkill Valley, 5:00.86; 2. Jordan Hadfield, Schalick, 5:09.08
55 Hurdles: 1. Jenna Monaco, Dumont, 8.25.
800: 1. Gwendolyn Neale, Verona, 2:16.08.
55 Dash: 1. Jenna Monaco, Dumont, 7.37
3200: 1. Delana Einreinhofer, Wallkill Valley, 10:39.46 (event record, old record by Dana Giordano, Bernards, 10:46.68, 2012); 2. Jordan Hadfield, Schalick, 11:19.59.
4×400 Relay: 1. New Providence, 4:11.01
High Jump: 1. Ashley Armstrong, Glassboro, 5-2; 1. Taylor Peters, Butler, 5-2.
Pole Vault: 1. Jenna Monaco, Dumont, 11-0; 6. Megan Morris, Pennsville, 9-6.
Shot Put: 1. Sunny Moore, Glassboro, 37-2.25.
NOTE: Top 3 finishers qualify for Meet of Champions
BOYS
TEAM SCORES (Top 15): Hasbrouck Heights 40, Glassboro 31.50, Woodbury 30, Shore 24, WOODSTOWN 22, Mountain Lakes 14, Metuchen 12, Dayton 10, Raritan 10, Cresskill 10, Pompton Lakes 10, Clayton 9, Haddon Twp. 9, SALEM 8, SCHALICK 7, Manville 7.
EVENT WINNERS
(And Salem County scorers)
400: 1. Marquis Taylor, Woodbury, 50.91.
55 Hurdles: 1. William Cusick, Cresskill, 7.64; 2. Anthony Parker, Salem, 7.66.
1600: 1. Eric Schleif, Metuchen, 4:23.06.
55 Dash: 1. Marquis Taylor, Woodbury, 6.46; 3. David Stewart, Schalick, 6.68.
800: 1. Josh Crawford, Woodstown, 1:59.01; 4. Cole Lucas, Woodstown, 2:02.59
3200: 1. Max Kahn, Mountain Lakes, 9:32.64.
4×400 Relay: 1. Woodbury, 3:31.29; 2. Woodstown (Cole Lucas, Karson Chew, Anthony Costello, Josh Crawford), 3:31.60.
High Jump: 1. Matthew Murillo, Hasbrouck Heights, 6-4.
Pole Vault: 1. Owen Keating, Pompton Lakes, 16-1 (event record, old record by Craig Hunter, Robbinsville, 15-1, 2012); 6. Salvatore Longo, Schalick, 12-0.
Shot Put: 1. Kane Perry, Shore, 53-10.25.
NOTE: Top 3 finishers qualify for Meet of Champions
Riverview Sports News 