The Haddonfield girls tied the state record by winning their 10th title, the Pennsauken boys, behind Bryce Tucker's four golds, won for the first time, Winslow captured its fourth straight girls trophy, and the Deptford boys rolled to a team title at Friday's South Jersey, Groups 2-3 Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
DEPTH KEYS RECORD PERFORMANCE
JAMES LEADS WINSLOW 4-PEAT
The Winslow girls, led by triple-winner Jaia James, continued its dominance in Group 3 with a 69-48 victory over runner-up Toms River South for their fourth straight and eighth overall.
Winslow's eight sectional titles ties it with Bernards and Ridgewood for the third most in state history. Only Haddonfield and Ridge have won more sectional championships among girls teams.
Winslow racked up 64 of their 69 points in the 55 dash, the hurdles, the 400, and the 4x400.
James led a 1-3-5 finish for Winslow in both the 400 (she won in a PR of 59.95), the 55 hurdles (she was first with another PR of 8.72), and she led a 1-2 finish for her team by winning the 55 dash in 7.28. Winslow also picked up 10 points by winning the 4x400 in 4:12.32.
TUCKER'S QUAD LEADS PENNSAUKEN TO FIRST TITLE
Bryce Tucker put on another sizzling show as the junior at Pennsauken struck gold four times to spark his team to its first sectional championship ever.
Tucker won the 400 in 49.80, the 800 in 2:00.23, the 55 hurdles in 7.72, and ran a leg on the 4x400 that finished first in 3:28.12, to lead Pennsauken to a 74-65 victory over runner-up Timber Creek in the Group 3 competition.
Several other athletes shined for Pennsauken, who received all its points from underclassmen.
Junior Joel Oquendo second in the 1,600 and third in the 800 for 14 big points, and he was a member of the 4x400. Junior Premier Wynn placed second in the 400, sixth in the dash, and he ran on the relay. Sophomore Elijah Jennings placed second in the 55 dash. Junior Kahlil Ali placed sixth in the 400, and ran on the 4x400, and sophomore Ladanian McGrath finished fifth in the 800.
DEPTFORD ROCKS GROUP 2 BEHIND BROWN
Lathan Brown was a triple-winner to fuel the Deptford boys to a 75-59 over runner-up Delsea in the Group 2 competition. It's the second title for Deptford, which captured its first championship in 2019.
Brown, a junior, won the 400 in 50.59, captured the 800 in 2:00.42, placed third in the hurdles in a PR of 8.23, and ran on the winning 4x400 that ran 3:37.15.
Senior Gursharan Singh and sophomore Manny Perdue were also very instrumental in Deptford's march to the title.
The versatile Singh won the pole vault (12-6), cleared 5-8 to finish third in the high jump, and he ran 8.37 to place fourth in the hurdles.
Perdue led a 1-3-4 finish for Deptford in the hurdles with a winning time of 8.14, which is a new PR.