Woodstown 4×800, 4×400 relay teams win Group 1 state titles on final day of state championship meet, Penns Grove’s Garlic wins 110 hurdles title; Wolverines second in team standings, Penns Grove T-4
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SOMERSET – Woodstown’s “Four Horseman” boys 4×800 relay team that was making headlines and smashing records from the first day somebody got the bright idea to put them on the track together three years ago ran their final Group 1 race together Saturday and went out on their terms, leaving the pack in their dust.
The celebrated quartet of Karson Chew, Jacob Marino, David Farrell and Josh Crawford won their third straight Group I 4×8 title in 8:05.23. They led wire-to-wire, increased their lead after every leg and won by a whopping seven seconds.
Then, the 4×800 lead and anchor, Chew and Crawford, helped bring the Woodies a second state title on the second day of the Group 1 meet at Franklin High School, winning the 4×400 relay in the final event of the meet. They were joined on that relay by Anthony Costello and Michael Turner and turned in a 3:23.10, more than a full second ahead of runner-up Camden, the foursome they were second to here last year. Penns Grove finished third.
The Wolverines finished second in the team standings to Glassboro. Penns Grove finished tied for fourth.
“Everything went well this year,” Chew said. “The first day wasn’t too eventful for us, but we woke up on the second day with fire in our blood for a win. And that’s exactly what we did.
“Everyone did their job in both races to get us two championship titles. A big shout out to our juniors on the relay who really held it down. David (Farrell) and Michael (Turner) were absolutely key parts in each relay’s win. And all of us seniors went out there and made our last state championships as memorable as we could.”
Woodstown’s relay teams weren’t the only Salem County state champions crowned Saturday.
Penns Grove’s Bryan Garlic was declared the winner of the boys 110 hurdles final after race winner Jaleel Dickerson-Dempsey of Camden was DQ’d. for going out of his lane and impeding another runner. Garlic ran a “relaxed and smooth” PR 14.90 to Dickerson-Dempsey’s 14.32.
He was going to the Meet of Champions anyway, but now he’s going, along with long jump teammate Will Roy, as a champion.
“At first I was confused because they said he was DQ’d but I didn’t really know if he was DQ’d or not because he was still on the list,” Garlic said. “At the end they said he was DQ’d, I took the first-place medal, I was happy. It didn’t feel right because he got DQ’d, but I’m still grateful to be in the position I am now.”
The Penns Grove senior didn’t really see what happened until he watched it on video. As the fifth seed in the final he was running in Lane 2 and the incident occurred in the middle of the track. Dickerson-Dempsey was in Lane 4 as the top seed, hit a hurdle, it moved into the adjacent lane and interfered with New Milford’s Luke Johnson in Lane 5.
The ruling wasn’t immediate. Race officials conducted an inquiry, talked with Dickerson-Dempsey about what happened and handed down a decision after several minutes had elapsed. Garlic said he spent his time trying to find an official to get a better understanding of the situation.
Johnson got to re-race against the clock and ran a 15.26 in the do-over to finish second behind Garlic.
Crawford (400) also qualified for the Meet of Championship with a second-place finish in the 400. Four other county athletes finished third in their events and will be looking for a wildcard spot in the MOC – Penns Grove’s Kylee Goodson (400, 0.01. behind Crawford), Woodstown’s Aidan Taulane (boys shot), Schalick’s Gary Simonini (boys javelin) and Salem’s Ramiyah Jones (girls long jump).
This story will be updated.
NJSIAA GROUP I TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday’s Results
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Glassboro 63, WOODSTOWN 52, Camden 45, PENNS GROVE 40, New Milford 40, New Providence 26, Manville 26, Wallington 20, Woodbury 19, Boonton 17, Bound Brook 16, Dayton 16, SCHALICK 15, Newark Tech-Essex 13, Shore 12, Wallkill Valley 12, Haddon Twp. 11, Kinnelon 10, Waldwick 10, Hasbrouck Heights 10, Whippany Park 9.5, PENNSVILLE 9, Florence 8, Buena 8, Midland Park 7, Indian Hills 6, Mountain Lakes 4.5, Burlington City 4, Audubon 4, McNair 4, Butler 4, Pequannock 4, Thrive Charter 3, Metuchen 2, Botoga 2, SALEM 1, Gateway 1, Highland Park 1, Empowerment 1, Verona 1, Eagle Academy 1, Saddle Brook 1.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Winners, Salem County point scorers (top 6))
(Top 2 finishers guaranteed spots in Meet of Champions, x-projected MOC wildcard)
400: 1. Noah Seveland, Waldwick 49.87; 2. Josh Crawford, Woodstown 50.24; 3. x-Kylee Goodson, Penns Grove 50.25; 4. Karson Chew, Woodstown 50.89
110 Hurdles: 1. Jaleel Dickerson-Dempsey, Camden 14.32; 2. Bryan Garlic, Penns Grove 14.90
4×800: 1. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Jacob Marino, David Farrell, Josh Crawford) 8:05.23
200: 1. Ivan Bempah, New Milford 21.79
1600: 1. Jayran Rodriguez, Manville 4:22.61
4×400: 1. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Anthony Costello, Michael Turner, Josh Crawford) 3:23.10; 3. Penns Grove (Bryan Garlic, Tommy White, Luis Colon, Kylee Goodson) 3:27.28
Shot Put: 1. Patrick Szabo, Wallington 50-6.5; 3. Aidan Taulane, Woodstown 49-0; 4. JaKai Ingram, Penns Grove 48-6; 6. Connor Wariwanchik, Pennsville 48-2.5
Javelin: 1. Brady Shine, Hasbrouck Heights 192-4; 3. x-Gary Simonini, Schalick 168-11
Triple Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 47-8.5
High Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 6-4; 4. x-Tommy White, Penns Grove 6-2
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Metuchen 56, Glassboro 54, Audubon 47, Shore 39, Verona 33, Haddon Twp. 31, Delaware Valley 25, Whippany Park 22, Hasbrouck Heights 20, Roselle Park 20, Maple Shade 16, Hawthorne 15, SALEM 12, Burlington City 12, Mountain Lakes 11, University 10, Henry Hudson 10, Cresskill 10, SCHALICK 9, Manville 9, Woodbury 8, David Brearley 8, Academy Charter 8, Midland Park 8, Waldwick 8, Indian Hills 9, Kinnelon 7, Buena 6, Wallkill Valley 6, Butler 5, WOODSTOWN 5, Paulsboro 4, Clayton 4, Pequannock 3, Bound Brook 2, New Providence 2, Florence 2, Dayton 1, Highland Park 1, Saddle Brook 1
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Winners, Salem County point scorers (top 6))
(Top 2 finishers guaranteed spots in Meet of Champions)
400: 1. Gwendolyn Neale, Verona 58.28
100 Hurdles: 1. Casey Birdwell, Haddon Twp. 15.05
4×800: 1. Haddon Twp. 9:41.69
200: 1. Makenna Bruns, Metuchen 25.35
1600: 1. Alexandra Klein, Shore 4:53.96
4×400: 1. Metuchen 4:03.64
Discus: 1. Sunny Moore, Glassboro 156-0
Long Jump: 1. Erika Townsend, Glassboro 17-9, 3. Ramiyah Jones, Salem 17-8
Pole Vault: 1. Cassara Yannarelli, Henry Hudson 10-6
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