Group 4: Eastern Girls, North Brunswick Boys Win 1st Titles






The Eastern girls and North Brunswick boys made history when both squads hoisted the team championship trophy for the first time ever at Monday's NJSIAA Group 4 Relays at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

DUMAS LEADS EASTERN GIRLS TO FIRST TITLE

In the girls competition, junior Natalie Dumas, the New Balance National champ in the 400 hurdles last spring, had a hand in 36 of the 37 points that Eastern scored as the Vikings outscored runner-up Livingston, 37-26. Dumas anchored the winning SMR (4:17.73) and victorious 4x400 (4:07.17), and ran on the 4x200 (1:46.53) and the DMR (12:38.47), which both placed second. Eastern's other point came when the shuttle hurdles squad finished sixth. 

NORTH BRUNSWICK WINS FIRST TITLE IN DRAMATIC FASHION


It was a race to 30 points, and North Brunswick got there first to capture its first title in a meet that came right down the wire with several teams in contention.

In a meet that saw five teams separated by just seven points in the final team standings, North Brunswick, in second-place (four points behind Washington Township) heading into the meet-concluding 4x400, finished third in 3:27.71 to pick up six points for a winning total of 30.

Washington Township, in first place with 28 points before the 4x400, placed sixth for one point for a final total of 29. South Brunswick won the 4x400 in 3:26.23 to finish third in the team standings with 27. Edison was fourth with 25 and Williamstown scored 23 points to place fifth. 

North Brunswick also finished second in the shuttles (29.80), second in the high jump, and second in the pole vault.    

The biggest highlight of the meet came in the shuttle hurdles when Camryn Thomas, Jael Hester, Mordecai Ford and Mamadi Diawara combined to finish first in an All-Groups meet record of 29.09, breaking the record of 29.45 set by Deptford in 2019.

Toms River North's 29.09 just missed its Bennett Center record of 28.88 that they ran earlier this month at the Ocean County Relays.