Woodstown boys win 4×400 relay to clinch indoor track title, their first state title in track program’s history
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
TOMS RIVER – When Josh Crawford hit the finish line in the final even of the day, he not only brought the Woodstown boys a 4×400 relay title, he delivered a state championship.
The Wolverines won the Group I indoor track championship Saturday – their first track title in school history – with a strong showing in the running events. Their first-place win in the relay gave them 35 points, seven ahead of a Ramsey team that had them by three entering the final race of the meet.
“We didn’t need to win the 4×400 to win the meet, but it was a great cap to a great season,” Wolverines coach Alex Dominy said. “Overall this season has been hard with snow days, difficult in terms of flu and colds and Arctic blasts, but these boys continue to improve despite barriers to a more typical season. I couldn’t be happier.
“Going into states with only six boys in events and not being the favorite was very daunting, but everyone performed amazingly and did their job to the fullest,” senior Karson Chew said.
“It was a big accomplishment in general for six guys to beat schools that have tons of people to choose from,” added Crawford.
The relay team of Jacob Marino, Chew, Anthony Costello and Crawford came home in 3:31.03, 22-hundreths of a second ahead of race runner-up New Providence.
Marino was subbing in the 4×4 for Kyle Reitz, another casualty of the postponement, and was a late scratch in the 3200 to focus on the relay and helped bring them through.
He got the Wolverines off and running while not exactly a 400 specialist. Chew got them back up to second and Costello kept them there, maybe even closing the gap. Crawford still had “a hefty gap” (about two seconds) to make up when he took the baton, but when he passed the New Providence runner who jammed him up in the 400 right before the finish he knew they had it won.
“With the meet being moved we weren’t able to run our usual 4×400 with Kyle Reitz,” Dominy said. “Being that Jacob was doing the two mile, we opted to have him scratch and focus on holding it down in the 4×400. Seeing that we won with less than a second it was a great choice.”
Marino also finished second in the 1600 (4:28.65). Crawford also won the 800 (1:57.52) with Chew finishing third (1:58.87) and got points in the 400.
From the time they clinched, their phones were blowing up with congratulatory messages from Woodstown track alums from various generations. They got to take a victory lap around the track and they were welcomed back into town by an escort of fire engines.
“That was just a great feeling,” Costello said of the victory lap. “We saw other teams do it before after they snuck it out in front of us so we said all right it’s our time now, we’re going to do it and we’re going to take it all in while we can.”
Schalick’s Sal Longo finished second in the boys pole vault, topping out at 12-6. He was beaten out for gold by Ramsey’s Luciano Zizza in a jump off at 13 feet.
Four jumpers made it to 12-6 and Longo and Zizza cleared that bar on their first attempts. Haddon Twp.’s Bobby McIlvaine joined them on his final attempt while Bound Brook’s Jake Markey fell out. All three missed three shots at 13-0, but Longo and Zizza advanced to the jump off with fewer misses and Zizza got it on the first extra attempt.
“It means a lot to me,” Longo said. “To get second place at the group championship meet today, it was very relieving to know that the hard work I put in this season is finally paying off.
“Going for the gold was very exciting. I was so close to getting that height on my last jump, I just need to tweak my technique. Overall, it was probably one of the funnest competitions I’ve been involved in.”
Ramsey’s 1-5 finish in the pole vault set the stage for the drama in the relay. The 12 points vaulted the Rams into the lead, but they didn’t have an entry in the relay. The Wolverines had to finish second to pass them and not be caught by third-place Glen Rock.
“Every 5-10 minutes (we were) checking scores, just trying to feel it out,” Costello said. “We knew it was going to come down to the wire, so were like all right we need to do this and we’re not going to worry about the scores anymore. It just got to that point where we’re just going to go out and win the thing.”
The top two finishers in each event and the top wildcards all advance to next week’s Meet of Champions.
GROUP I INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
(Event winners and Salem County point-scorers)
BOYS
Team scores (top 15): Woodstown 35, Ramsey 28, Glen Rock 28, Haddon Twp. 20, Camden 20, New Providence 18, Glassboro 18, Manville 17, Hasbrouck Heights 10, New Milford 8, Pascack Hills 8, Wood-Ridge 8, Dayton 8, Shore 8, Buena 8, Schalick 8. Also, Penns Grove 2, Salem 1.
400: 1. Giorgio Bruttini, Ramsey 50.67; 6. Josh Crawford, Woodstown 51.83
1600: 1. Shaun Maloney, Haddon Twp. 4:27.28; 2. Jacob Marino, Woodstown 4:28.65
55 Hurdles: 1. Jaleel Dickerson-Dempsey, Camden 7.73
800: 1. Josh Crawford, Woodstown 1:57.62; 3. Karson Chew, Woodstown 1:58.87
55 Dash: 1. Michael Napolitano, Hasbrouck Heights 6.49
3200: 1. Jayran Rodriguez, Manville 9:31.74
4×400: 1. Woodstown (Jacob Marino, Karson Chew, Anthony Costello, Josh Crawford) 3:31.03
High Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 6-4
Pole Vault: 1. Luciano Zizza, Ramsey 13-0; 2. Sal Longo, Schalick 12-6
Shot Put: 1. Evan Yuzon, Glen Rock 58-7.75; 5. JaKai Ingram, Penns Grove 46-7; 6. Jailon Fletcher-Wilson, Salem 45-6
GIRLS
Team scores (top 10): Audubon 44, Ramsey 37, Methuchen 37, Glen Rock 18, Verona 18, Glassboro 18, Dumont 12, Mountain Lakes 12, Shore 12, Haddon Twp. 12.
400: 1. Makenna Bruns, Metuchen 58.85
55 Hurdles: 1. Iza Samu, Glen Rock 8.56
1600: 1. Riley Fayer, Audubon 5:02.97
55 Dash: 1. Audrey Moreta, Newton 7.45
800: 1. Gwendolyn Neale, Verona 2:16.94
3200: 1. Alexandra Klein, Shore 10:40.25
4×400: 1. Metuchen 4:11.10
High Jump: 1. Riley Wright-Phillips, Whippany Park 5-2
Pole Vault: 1. Jenna Monaco, Dumont 12-0
Shot Put: 1. Sunny Moore, Glassboro 39-0
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