The Rumson girls and Toms River North boys gave the Shore Conference a sizzling sweep of the sprint medley relays in record-shattering fashion at the New Balance National Championships on Friday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The Garden State rocked both SMR's, placing 1-2 in both races.
In the girls SMR, Rumson burned a blistering meet record 3:50.10, No. 2 in NJ history and No. 4 in U.S. history. Eastern was second in a NJ No. 4 and U.S. No. 12 all-time 3:53.15.
On the boys side, Toms River North ran 3:23.33, No. 6 in NJ history, and Hackensack, running in an earlier heat, placed second in 3:23.62, No. 8 all-time in NJ history.
In the girls SMR, Rumson sophomore Maggie Nitka and freshman senior Cassedy Stypul ran the 200 legs, junior Reese Reynolds Malone followed with a 52.7 carry to move Rumson up to third and then senior Clemmie Lilley, who got the baton 4.47 seconds behind the leader and defending champion Motor City, rallied the Bulldogs from third to first with a monster anchor leg of 2:03.49 to seal the deal for Rumson.
Rumson's 3:50.10 smashed the meet record of 3:54.95 that Motor City ran last year.
The only NJ team that has run faster than Rumson in the girls SMR is Union Catholic, who ran a state record 3:48.33 this past April at the Arcadia Invitational in California.
Natalie Dumas split 2:03.90 on the anchor to rally Eastern, who also ran under the previous meet record, from sixth to second place. This came bout 2 hours after Dumas won the 400 hurdles for the second straight year in a meet record and N.J. No. 2 all-time 55.99!!!!
In the boys SMR, Hackensack, which received a 1:49.88 anchor from junior Seven Garcia, ran 3:23.62 in the ninth of the 10 heats to take the lead. But Toms River North, knowing it had to run its fastest to overtake Hackensack, did just that by stopping the clock at 3:23.33. That broke the Shore Conference record of 3:25.69 that Toms River North ran when it placed third last year at NB Nationals.
Senior Mordecai Ford (21.7) and sophomore Jael Hester (21.5) handled the 200 legs for Toms River North, senior Mamadi Diawara droppde a 46.7 the 400, and senior Taysaun Wilson, the runner-up n the 800 at the Meet of Champions, finished it off with a 1:52.73 anchor carry.
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