Brown, who set a national record in the 600M last winter, had a 46.4 anchor leg in a come-from-behind 3:22.7 victory at the Hudson County Coaches Relays at Lincoln Park, Jersey City, a place where the winds never quite stop blowing in April. McCombs ran a 47.6 anchor as Old Bridge led from start to finish in a 3:21.8 victory at the Blue Devil Relays in Westfield.

The two will run in successive seeded sections during the lengthy Saturday morning session of class 1600-meter relays at Franklin Field. Both will likely take the baton in the middle of the field so will have ample opportunity to demonstrate their talents in a catch-up situation.

The top New Jersey entries in the 1600R should be Seton Hall Prep and Camden, who have respectively ran 3:21.3 and 3:21.4 in runaway victories at separate meets on April 9. There is, however, some question about Camden’s entry as the school does not appear in either of the South Jersey races. However, Paul VI is listed twice in one race, so the lists are obviously not exact at this point.

New Jersey’s best hope for a set of watches this year appears to be in the boys’ distance medley where Colts Neck and Christian Brothers were among the national leaders indoors. Surprisingly, the 2003 winner, Northport of New York, which was also among the indoor leaders, has not entered the race, choosing instead to place the anchorman of that earlier team, Kevin Tschirhart, in the individual mile. The principle challengers to the NJ pair will be Newton North of Massachusetts, anchored by Chris Barnicle, and North Rockland, New York, which split the Monmouth County neighbors at the indoor Easterns.

The New Jersey-Massachusetts rivalry evokes memories of what didn’t happen at Penn 32 years ago when Vince Cartier anchored Scotch Plains to a runaway victory. Missing from that race was the star-studded New Bedford team which came to the New York Relays the next week and ran stride-for-stride with the Raiders for two and a half miles before Henry Silvia ouleaned Vince at the finish line. There could be a similar duel this time between Barnicle and Colts Neck sophomore Craig Forys, who coasted a 4:19 anchor last Saturday as his team set a 10:37.7 record at the Holmdel Relays.

While Colts Neck and CBA have not gone really all out yet this spring, they might do so this weekend, though in different events. Colts Neck will be running the 3200R at the revived New York Relays at the new Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island on Saturday, while CBA will probably center on the 6000-meter relay at the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Relays on Sunday at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence Twp. This meet usually is the weekend after Penn, but that is Mother’s Day this year.

Both of the state’s top girls’ distance medley teams ran fast warm-ups last weekend. Ocean City, which won the event at the Nike Invitational in Landover last month, won the Div. III race by more than a minute at the West Deptford Relays in 12:10.9, while Roxbury defeated the state’s other main Penn entry, Msgr. Donovan, by 50 yards in 12:16.8 in the Morris Hills Relays in Denville. There is a surprise in the New York entry for this one as well as the top two indoor teams, Saratoga and Suffern, have chosen to run the 3200R under the new Penn policy which restricts schools to just one of the two distance relays.

This policy has not gone over well with some New Jersey coaches who were looking to score well in both races. Most have chosen the DMR, with Ridgewood, Cranford and Phillipsburg, the latest qualifier, joining Colts Neck and CBA in the boys’ event. Ridgewood has the top outdoor time in the state at present with a second-place 10:21.18 at Arcadia, Calif., on April 9. Phillipsburg ran 10:28.2 last Saturday at the Blue Devils Relays. Seton Hall Prep chose the 3200 after running 1-2 in the Morris Hills Relays in 10:31.45 and 10:37.53, giving up a sure team win to test its 1200 legs against each other in that one. (Under the prejudicial national rules, only one entry can score in a track relay event, while state titles are regularly decided by B teams in the totally analogous sport of swimming.)

Ocean City was the only New Jersey team to make the girls’ 3200 final last year and its 9:37.9 win at West Deptford is the fastest in the state this spring, so the state will have little hope of a qualifier in this event.

In the 400R, Ocean Twp’s young team came through with a 47.9 win at the Holmdel Relays and has at least an outside chance of making the championship race. Camden Wilson ran 48.9 at West Deptford and Piscataway and Jackson have both run 49.2 in earlier meets to give them a shot at the consolation and area races. For the boys, Irvington has run 42.7 and Camden and Old Bridge 43.0 apiece, so a championship berth may be out of reach.

Notre Dame had an outstanding effort in a non-Penn event while winning the Mercer County Relays title last Saturday at Steinert. The Irish ran 1:01.1 with one regular devoting himself to other events---including the intermediate hurdle team race. Tiquan Underwood showed that he is fully recovered from a broken ankle suffered in the football season as he led the SHR win and went 44-0 in his first effort this spring in the triple jump, where he has set state sophomore and junior records the past two years.

Sharing the spotlight with the NJCTC and New York Relays this weekend will be the Woodbury Relays at West Deptford, the Willingboro Relays, the new Raider Relays at Hillsboro and the Rebel Relays at Howell, which was postponed from the rainy April 2 weekend.