Moorestown Boys' Track Stars Advance to State Championship

After an injury-racked season, three of the Moorestown boys’ track team’s biggest stars are still alive in the postseason.

Coach Troy Pappas said the team was plagued by injuries throughout the year, missing roughly a half-dozen athletes at any given time. But despite that, the team performed well at last week’s South Jersey Group 3 Sectional Championships in Egg Harbor.

Three boys finished in the top six in their competition to advance to the Group 3 State Championships this weekend at South Plainfield High School. The competition starts Friday.

One of the boys who advanced, Sidney Ruffin, was among the injured this season. Pappas said Ruffin entered last week’s long jump competition with a hamstring injury, which, as you can imagine, is a particularly uncomfortable injury for a long jumper to have.

“He was in pain. He overcame a lot of discomfort,” said Pappas. “It’s the sectional championship. So it’s either you advance or you’re done. He knew that.”

Not only did Ruffin advance by tying for second, but he scored a personal best of 22 feet, 6.5 inches on his final jump.

Jeremy Wilbur finished third in the shot put and second in javelin and T.J. PiPilla finished sixth in the pole vault to advance as well.

Pappas has confidence in his guys—“They are the go-to guys for points at these meets”—but knows the competition will be fierce this weekend. He called Group 3 the “most competitive group for sprinting and jumping in the whole state.”

“If you go by the rankings, we should do pretty well,” Pappas said. “But the paper rankings don’t mean anything if you don’t perform.”

Overall, the boys’ track team finished 3-2 this season, with its two losses coming against Northern Burlington and Willingboro—both of whom won their sectional championships.

“We have very good competition in our division this year,” said Pappas.

If Ruffin, Wilbur and PiPilla place in the top six in their group this weekend, they’ll advance to the New Jersey Meet of Champions June 7 at Old Bridge.

For full results, visit nj.milesplit.com.