TOMS RIVER - The Lenape and Toms River North girls fought till the end and came up just short as Southern took 3rd in the 4x400m relay that locked up the team title. The three of them (Southern, Lenape, and North) went head to head in just about every relay tonight. The meet started off better for Lenape and Southern as they went 1-2 respectively in the distance medley. Lenape's time of 12:04.69 is US#3 this indoor season. Southern crossed the line in 12:08.57 is US#7. So after the distance medley Lenape led Southern and Toms River North 10-8-0. Next on the track was the 4x55m shuttle hurdle relay where Southern took 1st place honors running 32.68 NJ#2 (behind Benedictine's 32.64 from early in the weekend). Lenape failed to score in the event putting them down 8 points to Southern and Toms River north jumped onto the board claiming 5th place and 2 points.
Toms River North got things rolling in the next event where they claimed 1st and 10 points as they capitalized on a false start by states top team, Columbia. Toms River North now had 12 points to Southern's 20 and Lenape's 16. All 3 schools butted heads again in the 4x800m relay, this time Lenape beat both as Cailtlin Orr did just enough on the anchor to secure 1st, Southern got up for 3rd while Toms River north could only manage 1 point in 6th place. Team scores now stood as Southern 26, Lenape 26, Toms River North13. In the field events Toms River North scored 16 points in two events (2nd in the Shot relay and 2nd in the pole vault relay), while Lenape took 8 in the high jump relay and Southern got
a total of 8 points (4 in the high jump and 4 in the pole vault. Team scores were now: Southern 34, Lenape 34, and Toms River North 29 with just two events to go, the sprint medley relay and the 4x400m relay. In the sprint medley Southern Regional took 3rd while Lenape claimed 6th and thus took the lead 40-35-29. In the closing event, the 4x400m relay all Southern had to do to secure victory was take 3rd and wouldn't ya know it they did exactly that, 3rd place taking 6 points and a total of 46 on the day. Toms Rive
r North took 2nd in the event to vault themselves ahead of Lenape to take 2nd in the team race with a total of 37 points. Lenape hung in till the end but came up just short with a total of 35 points.
Boys highlights on the night included a US#1 and US#2 in the sprint medley relay by Washington Twp and Absegami. The times are 3:35.13 and 3:35.34 respectively, also Joe Kotran (Toms River North) lead his team to victory in the distance medley with a 4:25 anchor coming from around 25 meters behind. Old Bridge and Freehold Twp battled hard to a 1-2 finish in the 4x55m shuttle hurdles, their times of 31.03 and 31.07 are 1-2 in NJ with Old Bridge taking the victory. Curtis Richburg ran 1:56.9 on the anchor of West Orange's 4x800m team to take 1st and just nip Old Bridge 8:13.11 to 8:13.21