Schools
Timber Creek Boys' Track Wins Fourth Straight SJ Group III Title
Damiere Byrd, Kevin Potter, Donnie House, and Josh Gray each won individual titles, highlighting a dominant performance for the Chargers in Egg Harbor.
Ask any coach of any sport at any level and they’ll all agree—it is extremely difficult to win a championship.
Ask any coach of any sport at any level about winning four consecutive championships and they’ll likely agree—it’s nearly impossible.
Yet, that’s exactly what Timber Creek boys’ track and field did this past weekend at the Group III sectional championships held at Egg Harbor Township High School.
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The Chargers put on a display that was nothing short of dominant, capturing both the team championship and several individual sectional titles in a showing for the ages.
On Tuesday, head coach Chris Grottini reflected on his team’s incredible weekend performance.
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“We knew going in that we had a good group of kids, but really going across the board, whether they were one of our top kids or someone competing for fourth, fifth, sixth, they all stepped up,” he said.
Among those who stepped up was the highly touted Damiere Byrd who won sectional titles in both the 100-meter dash and long jump.
“Any time Damiere steps out on the track he expects big things from himself,” Grottini said of Byrd, who will attend South Carolina this fall to play football and run track.
Joining Byrd as South Jersey champions were Donnie House, who won the 400 meter hurdles, Kevin Potter, who won the 110-meter hurdles, and Josh Gray, who won the triple jump.
Making Potter’s performance even more impressive was that he competed in four different events, placing no lower than third in any of them.
“For Kevin to jump in and perform so well in that many different events really shows his athletic ability and what type of competitor he is,” said Grottini.
And while what the Chargers have already achieved is certainly impressive, Grottini believes his team’s best days may be ahead of them.
An astounding 13 of his athletes will compete this weekend at the New Jersey Group III State Championships in South Plainfield on Friday and Saturday. House will enter his race in the 400-meter hurdles as the top-seed. Byrd, meanwhile, will enter the 100-meter dash and long jump as the favorite to win both events.
“These guys definitely showed up in a special way this past weekend, and as the meets go on you hope they can continue to step up,” Grottini. “I believe that any of our guys that won the sections will definitely be in the hunt to (win state titles) this weekend.”
