East Brunswick relays earn All-American status

While the members of the East Brunswick 4x100 team could have been devastated by losing a state title on a disqualification, they elected to use it as motivation to earn something even better.

The East Brunswick 4x100 relay team placed fourth (42 seconds) and earned All-American status while competing in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina on June 17-18. The 4x200 also placed fourth in a time of 1:27.75.

Donald Urschel, Julian Quintin, Tommy Marciante and Leonard Robbins-Lockhart ran the 4x200. Urschel, Dennis Willis, Quintin and Robbins-Lockhart ran the 4x100.

"Being an All-American in two events is beyond sweet," noted Quintin. "Being an All-American kind of blows my mind."

It was obviously a big difference from The Meet of Champions, when East Brunswick thought it had won the 4x100 with one of the best times ever run in New Jersey.

"We were all celebrating and hugging," Quintin said. "You could imagine what we felt like when we saw we had been disqualifed (for an improper handoff).

"Originally, we were only going to run the 4x200 at Nationals. After the disqualification, we knew we couldn't let the 4x100 end like that. We decided to run the 4x100 and we're glad we did."

The runners were driven down to North Carolina in two cars, arriving about 2 a.m. on Friday morning. Later that morning, the 4x200 ran its race. On Friday night, the 4x100 had its qualifying race. The 4x100 finals were on Saturday.

"The whole weekend is just one blur," Quintin said. "It just seems like one big day (laughs). We napped after the 4x200 race. We got some sleep whenever we could."

According to Quintin, somehow the guys were wide awake and ready for the race.

"We weren't exhausted," Quintin said. "When the gun went off, we were in our comfort zone."

Quintin's running career is over now. He will be going to college on a football scholarship to Stony Brook University. Willis and Robbins-Lockhart are also outstanding runners that have ended their careers at East Brunswick. Urschel and Marciante will be back to form the core of two very good relay teams next year.

"It was a good way to end it," Quintin said. "I got the finish I was looking for. With the exception of The Meet of Champions, it was a pretty solid year.

"After what happened in The Meet of Champions, we just needed to have short-term memory loss. If we kept thinking about that, it would have gotten to us. We just had to be mature about what happened. We still had our chance to run our best and see what we could do in the biggest event in the country."

As a results, Quintin, Willis, Urschel, Marciante and Robbins-Lockhart are all All-Americans.