The Mariners came into the season with what might have been viewed as less talent at the top than previous years.
Toms River North entered sectionals coming off two consecutive victories. Not only did Tahj Wilson prove that there is still top-tier talent present, but the Mariners displayed a team that has depth like year’s past.
“We graduated a lot of seniors so we weren’t sure if we could get it done,” Wilson said. “We had a lot of guys step up and score a lot of points across the board.”
Wilson won the 800 with a time of 1:59.40 to lead Toms River North to a third-consecutive NJSIAA South, Group 4 title at Rothman Orthopaedics Sports Complex in Toms River.
“It was a little bit of a surprise,” Toms River North head coach Michael Barrett said. “I wasn’t sure whether we’d be able to do it again. I talked to our assistant coach who runs the scores and he said we do so we started putting it in our guy’s heads.”
It was a close battle throughout as the Mariners finished with 53.5 points. Wilson headlined a 4×400 relay squad with Nick Tucker, Grant Merlo, and Marques Alston Jr. that won gold at 3:29.36 in the final event of the night.
“We were down so we knew we had to go win it,” Wilson said. “We all locked in to get the job done.”
This victory closed out Millville, which finished second with 47 points.
Millville got victories from Judah Jones in the 400 at 50.64 and Michael Carr in the high jump with a mark of 6-4.
The battle went right down to the final event of the night and the Mariners needed every part of the team to pull out a victory.
“We still have that top-end talent,” Barrett said. “This year though, it was definitely more like where can we pick up a fourth place? Can we pick up a third? Everyone was chipping in.”
Merlo and Tucker finished second and third in the 400 respectively while Wilson added a third-place finish in the 1,600. The show of depth continued as Declan Rooney earned second in the shout put and J.C. McLean was fourth in the 800.
Williamstown finished third with 44.5 points. Jasiah Gibbons led the way with victories in the 55 (6.41) and 55 hurdles (7.43). Ian Israel Jr. was the runner-up in the 55.
Cherokee got multiple victories in the distance events as Benjamin Realley won the 1,600 (4:27.39) and Maximo Harada won the 3,200 (9:37.02).
Garron Bradley Smith of Southern won the pole vault at 13-0 while Humberto Cuellar of Eastern won the shot put (50-11).
The Mariners gained valuable experience for the upcoming weeks of the postseason and that is invaluable during the most important time of the year.
“We said to the team ‘listen, it’s your time now,’” Barrett said. “We did that from the start of the season and we’ve kind of just been rolling and rolling. Hopefully this keeps us rolling and we’ll see where we can go from here.”
Kingsway girls close out win in final events
It was a close battle on the girls’ side as well. It was any team’s win heading into the home stretch when Aubrey Bishop took the track in the 3,200.
The junior turned in an electric performance, winning the race by five seconds with an 11:10.65. The Dragons ended the night with gold in the 4×400 (4:05.45) to secure the South, Group 4 title with 47 points.
Kingsway topped runner-up Cherokee (36) and Southern, which finished third with 35.25 points. The Rams saw Kara Davis win the 55 with a time of 7.27.
Natalie Dumas of Eastern put on a show once again with multiple victories. The Arkansas commit won the 400 with a time of 56.33, which was just shy of a new meet record. She also won the 800 (2:19.51) while finishing second in the 1,600.
Like Dumas, Rancocas Valley’s La’el Yates came within shouting distance of a meet record. The senior reached a mark of 11-0 in the pole vault to win gold, which is just shy of a meet record of 11-1 that has been held since 2014.
Brianna Growalt of Atlantic Tech cruised in the 55 hurdles with a time of 8.20. Milleville’s Abri Brown won gold in the shot put at 36-1.
Nora Eberle of Toms River North won the 1,600 at 5:02.71 while Madison Muller was victorious in the high jump with a mark of 5-0.
