Woodbury Relays

Woodstown breaks nearly 50-year-old Woodbury Relays meet record in 4×800; report also includes Saturday Salem County baseball results

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODBURY – Hey, Woodstown 4×800 relay team, you just broke a nearly 50-year-old record in the Woodbury Relays. How are you going to celebrate?

We’re going to Disney World.

That’s not some cheap and easy way to get into the story of the Wolverines’ latest record-breaking relay. Because it’s actually true. All of it.

The Wolverines’ Four Horsemen relay team – Karson Chew, Jacob Marino, David Farrell and Josh Crawford – ran a sizzling 7:52.95 Saturday to win the Boys One 4×800, qualifying for nationals and blowing away the meet record of 8:06.10 set by Woodbury in 1978. One of the architects of the old record, Dick Caton, was officiating at the start line. Making the milestone even more special for one of the record-setters, it was anchor Crawford’s 18th birthday.

“It was a great relay today,” Crawford said. “This is a perfect birthday present. Our whole team really made sure that this one would be memorable.”

And the timing for a champion and their storyline couldn’t be more perfect. The three seniors on that relay – Chew, Marino and Crawford – head off to Woodstown’s Senior Trip – really, to Disney World – Sunday. You can’t make this up.

“It’s like what they do in the NFL,” Crawford said. “They celebrate the same way.”

Chew started them off with an opening leg of 1:57.02 and had a two-second lead when he passed the baton. Crawford brought them home with his best-ever split of 1:51.4, making up a 1.2-second deficit at the exchange to win by more than three seconds. Glassboro finished second at 7:56.44. The Bulldogs put a calculated lineup together to challenge the Wolverines with Crawford dueling Zacchaeus Harrigan in the final leg.

“Honestly, I think it was so good because I’m a chaser,” Crawford said. “I always run my best times when I’m behind people I know are good competition. Zacchaeus really gave me a run for my money today … It really just came down to who was the stronger runner in the last 200 meters of the race.

“We knew Glassboro was going to put up some competition because they were an eight-flat team and they really organized their relay perfectly. They really put to the test what we could actually accomplish today.”

Obviously, none of the Woodstown runners were even born when Caton and Co. set the old record, and probably neither were a lot of their parents. Woodstown coach Tom Mason was there when it happened, coaching the Penns Grove girls team that ran in the meet for the first time and won three events that day.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Mason said.

The Wolverines won two relays and finished top three in two others to finished tied for second place in the scored portion of the meet. They might’ve even won it had they not finished second in the 4×400 relay after a clerical error landed them in the slow heat. They ended up with 36 points and tied with Glassboro, just four points behind meet winner Camden.

They also won the sprint medley relay (Chew, newcomers Anthony White and Ricky Watts, and Crawford, 3:33.97), finished second in the 4×400 (3:25.08) and were third in the distance medley relay, setting the school record (10:53.31).

The all-inclusive field events didn’t figure in the team scoring, but winners do receive a Woodbury Watch and Aidan Taulane won the discus (164-7) and finished third in the shot put (48-1.5). He also had a discus throw that appeared to be close to qualifying him for the nationals, but it was right at the boundary line.

Penns Grove finished fourth in the team race. The Red Devils were second in both the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, breaking a school record in the 4×2 that stood for 44 years. 

Salem was sixth and Schalick T-7. The Rams were third in the 4×400 and the 4×200. Schalick was second in the shuttle hurdle relay, third in the sprint medley relay (two-tenths of a second off the school record) and had five field athletes place in the top five.

Salem finished a solid second in the girls standings. The Rams won the 4×100 and 4×200 and was second in the 4×400. Freshman Dynastie Tucker anchored all three relays.

RAP CURRY INVITATIONAL: Woodstown’s girls 4×800 relay team of Arianna Mott, Abby Marino, Kiera Porch and Kyrsten Dussault ran a season’s best 11:12.52 for the Wolverines’ best finish in the running events in Yeadon, Pa. Kailyn Kennedy had a 10th-place finish in the individual high jump (4-7).

The Wolverines had several top 20 finishers. Lia Covely placed 14th in the 100 hurdles (17.52) and 18th in the 300 hurdles (52.73). Juliette Angelus was 15th in the pole vault (6-6) and Abby Marino 18th in the 1600 (5:31.01).

WOODBURY RELAYS
(Event winners, Salem County medal winners)

BOYS I
Team scores: Camden 40, WOODSTOWN 36, Glassboro 36, PENNS GROVE 21, Audubon 17, SALEM 15, SCHALICK 14, Haddon Twp. 14, Woodbury 8, Burlington City 8, Gateway 3, Clayton 3, Buena 1, Maple Shade 1.

4×110 SHR: 1. Camden 1:01.94; 2. Schalick (Noah Blunt, Jacob Carter, David Stewart, Sherrod Jones) 1:07.28; 5. Salem (Timothy Gregory, Gradin Buzby, Pierre Taylor-Gresham, Donovan Weathers) 1:13.74; 6. Penns Grove (Bryan Garlic, Tommy White, Savior Allah, James Minor) 1:16.81
4000 DMR: 1. Glassboro 10:29.47; 3. Woodstown (Pacey Hutton, Michael Turner, David Farrell, Jacob Marino) 10:53.31
4×200: 1. Camden 1:27.47; 2. Penns Grove (William Roy, Tommy White, Bryan Garlic, Kylee Goodson) 1:30.23; 3. Salem (RaShar Stevenson, Quimere Bergen, James Clayton, Timothy Gregory) 1:32.11; 5. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Ricky Watts, Anthony Costello, Josh Crawford) 1:32.22
4×800: 1. Woodstown (Karson Chew, David Farrell, Jacob Marino, Josh Crawford) 7:52.95
4×100: 1. Camden 42.62; 2. Penns Grove (William Roy, Avery Reed, Tommy White, Kylee Goodson) 43.45; 6. Salem (Jelani Beverly, Quimere Bergen, RaShar Stevenson, Timothy Gregory) 45.08
SMR: 1. Woodstown (Ricky Watts, Ben Lippincott, Karson Chew, Josh Crawford) 3:33.97; 3. Schalick (Amauri Conyers, Steve Chomo, David Stewart, Dezyon Purnell) 3:38.79
4×400: 1. Camden 3:20.94; 2. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Josh Crawford, Ben Lippincott, Anthony Costello) 3:25.08; 3. Salem (Jerry Seals, Xavier McGriff, Quimere Bergen, Timothy Gregory) 3:26.34; 4. Penns Grove (Bryan Garlic, Tommy White, Savior Allah, Kylee Goodson) 3:26.44
3000 Steeplechase: 1. Gavin Rakitis, Glassboro 9:37.64; 6. Jacob Marino, Woodstown 10:41.48
High Jump: 1. Jonathan Smith, Rancocas Valley 6-6; 5. Donovan Weathers, Salem 6-2
Pole Vault: 1. Max Frey, Cinnaminson 14-6; 5. Caleb Jenkins, Schalick 12-6
Long Jump: 1. Christopher Jones, Willingboro 23-3.5; 4. David Stewart, Schalick 22-3.75
Triple Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 46-7; 3. David Stewart, Schalick 45-0
Discus: 1. Aidan Taulane, Woodstown 164-7′ 3. Ethan McLean, Schalick 146-10
Javelin: 1. Richard Pierce, Cumberland 177-7
Shot Put: 1. Sheldon Goldsborough, Delsea 50-10.5; 3. Aidan Taulane, Woodstown 48-1.5

GIRLS I
Team scores: Audubon 54, SALEM 39, Haddon Twp. 28, McDonogh 21, Glassboro 16, Buena 14, Maple Shade 11, Pitman 11, Gateway 8, Woodbury 7, Florence 5, Palmyra 4, SCHALICK 2, Camden Catholic 2, Burlington City 1.

4×100 SHR: 1. Audubon 1:12.32; 5. Salem (Kiani Taylor-Gresham, Jaryn Weathers, Tahirah Davenport-White, JiYonna Seals) 1:18.12
4000 DMR: 1. Audubon 12:27.78; 5. Schalick (Emma Wilburn, Sarah Torpey, Caylen Taylor, Lucy Virga) 14:44.81
4×200: 1. Salem (Raniyah Parsons-Smith, Anyzha Williams, Dynastie Tucker, Amaia Massengill) 1:44,57
4×800: 1. Haddon Twp. 9:51.57
4×100: 1. Salem (Raniyah Parsons-Smith, Amaia Massengill, Dynastie Tucker, Anyzhe Williams) 49.57
SMR: 1. Audubon 4:09.67
4×400: 1. Haddon Twp. 4:09.91; 2. Salem (Dynastie Tucker, Brooklynn Jackson, Amaia Massengill, Alysha Williams) 4:16.37
3000 Steeplechase: 1. Sophia Aldridge, Williamstown 11:24.23
High Jump: 1. Egypt Bolan, Lindenwold 5-10.25
Pole Vault: 1. Brynn Greenwood, Williamstown 11-3
Long Jump: 1. MaSyiah Brawner, Winslow 18-9.5
Triple Jump: 1. MySyiah Brauner, Winslow 39-8.5
Discus: 1. Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea 179-6
Javelin: 1. Sharon Peterson, Williamstown, 110-6; 2. Navaeh Robinson, Schalick 108-0
Shot Put: 1. Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea 46-2

Baseball

Regular season
Woodstown 2, Sterling 1, 10 inns.

Steal Your Base Tournament
Kingsway 16, Pennsville 1
Deptford 5, Pennsville 2

William G. Rohrer Tournament
Cherry Hill West 6, Schalick 2
Schalick 6, Haddon Twp. 5

Jim Kelly Tournament
Gloucester 16, Salem 0

WOODSTOWN 2, STERLING 1: Luke Fraley lined a single into left field with none out in the tenth inning scored Walker Battavio from second and give the Wolverines a walk-off win. Battavio drew a walk to open the inning and moved to second on a passed ball. Fraley delivered his game-winning hit on the next pitch.

Drew Sutton pitched six innings of shutout relief to get the win. He came in behind Battavio and gave up three hits, didn’t walk any and struck out eight.

The Silver Knights took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, but the Wolverines tied it in the fifth on Chase Harding’s RBI single.

The Wolverines had the winning run in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth before finally breaking through in the tenth. They loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but the Silver Knights turned a double play.

ROHRER TOURNAMENT: Schalick scored two runs in the sixth inning to open a three-run lead, then put out the fire in the seventh to beat Haddon Twp. 6-5. The Cougars didn’t have as much luck in their other game, losing to Cherry Hill West 6-2.

The Cougars took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning against Haddon Twp. Bo Schalick delivered an RBI double to stretch the lead and Cole Hartley singled home another run. The Hawks scored twice in the top of the seventh and had the tying run in scoring position with two outs, but Hartley got the final out to finish off the complete game.

Cherry Hill West scored two runs in each of the first three innings and checked the Cougars on five hits. Schalick got a run in the second on on Evan Sepers’ RBI single and a run in the third on four straight one-out walks.

STEAL YOUR BASE TOURNAMENT: Pennsville’s bats were held in check twice and the Eagles lost tournament games to Kingsway (16-1) and Deptford (5-2).

The Eagles were limited to six hits by two Kingsway pitchers and fell behind 13-0 before scoring its run on Grady Sanders’ two-out single in the fourth. They mustered only five hits against Deptford. They scored an unearned run in the third to take a 1-0 lead, but David Noce hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to put the Spartans ahead for good.

GLOUCESTER 16, SALEM 0: The Lions erupted for 10 runs in the first inning and Keegan Cohan blanked the Rams over five innings in the Jim Kelly Tournament. Gloucester’s first 10 batters all reached safely in the big inning. Aidan Johnson delivered the big blow, a bases-loaded triple. Jovanni Rios had two of the Rams’ hits.