By TOM WILLIAMS

Ocean City junior pole-vaulter Lane Owens, senior hurdler Kevin King, senior long jumper Sophia Gresham and the Raiders’ 4×800 meter boys relay team both advanced to the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC) with performances this weekend at the State Group 3 Meet at Central Regional High School in Bayville.

The seven OCHS athletes will compete in the MOC at Northern Burlington Regional High School next Saturday (June 8).

Sophomore Tyler Greene, junior Anthony Conte, senior Gavyn Fox and junior Luke Kramer ran the 4×800 relay in 8 minutes, 1.83 seconds, less than four seconds behind first place Morris Hills. Those Raiders had finished second in the South Jersey Meet last weekend.

Owens, King and Gresham qualified for the MOC as wild cards. The top three in each group qualified along with the best nine remaining performances. They both were among that group of nine in their events.

Owens, who was second in the South Jersey meet the week before, finished fourth in the state meet with a throw of 176 feet, six inches.

King, a South Jersey hurdles champion during the indoor season, ran the 110 meter hurdles in 15.04 seconds, which was good enough to advance him to the final meet.

Gresham, who set the school record last year with a leap of 18 feet, 2 inches, finished seventh this weekend in the state long jump with a leap of 17-9.5 to finish seventh in Group 3. She had finished fourth in the South Jersey meet the previous weekend.