On Saturday, January 15th, the Kingsway Boys Track team won the Group IV State Relays at John Bennett Indoor Sports in Toms River, New Jersey. The boy’s team competed with some of the best squads in Group IV around the state. Some of these teams included Cherokee, Washington Township, Rancocas Valley, Elizabeth, and Westfield. Most of these high schools often have solid teams that make it to the State Relays consistently, Kingsway included.

Unfortunately, last year the State Relays were canceled because of Covid-19 and no teams across New Jersey were able to compete for this coveted title. However, in 2020 right before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States, the boy’s track team won the Group IV state relays with huge help from the 4x800m team since at this time they held the fastest time in the nation at 7:47.50. The athletes that ran in that 4x800m squad consisted of Stone Caraccio, Kyle Rakitis, Jeff Heineman, and Ethan Bentley. Although Caraccio and Bently were seniors at the time, Rakitis and Heineman were sophomores and now, in their senior year, are still contributing to a lot of other relay wins. For example, both of them put forward a tremendous effort in the Group IV State Relays as they each ran three different relays during the meet which helped the team accumulate points. They both ran in the Distance Medley Relay, 4x800m Relay, and the 4x400m Relay which takes a lot of training and conditioning. Although Rakitis and Heineman played a big part in winning the State Relay Championship on the distance side, the team’s sprinters definitely contributed a lot towards the win, too. For instance, in the 4x200m, run by Damon Dukes Jr., Mathias Alexander, Benny Liles, and Evan Corcoran, the team won first place overall in their group. They ran a 1:32.59, an extremely impressive time, yet not as fast as that same team ran at the Hispanic Games at The Armory in New York City. In this meet, they ran a 1:31.63 which smashed Kingsway’s old 4x200m school record and their time also got the team ranked top 25 in the United States for the 4x200m. Other athletes who weren’t mentioned in the relays that contributed towards the win include Kyon White, who ran in the Distance Medley Relay in which he placed second, running a 10:56.59. Further, Nick Allen was another athlete who helped score, running in the 4x800m relay, and Thomas Driscoll contributed in the Distance Medley Relay and the 4x800m relay.

Congratulations to Kingsway’s Winter Track Boys Team on their massive State Relay win in Group IV!