The 200 for Group 3 featured some of the best the Garden State has to offer, including Winslow Township’s Jaia James, who would ultimately come out on top and take home the gold.

James had a stellar performance at the South, Group 3 sectionals, setting a PR in the 100 prelims with a 11.90, second-best in the state only behind Kent Place’s Christina Nwachuku who has a 11.70, and finished first in the finals with a 12.01. She also took the win in the 200 with 24.79, also a PR and sixth-best in the state.

James came into Day 2 of the Group 1 & 3 championships with some hardware, as she took the gold in the 100 on Friday with a 11.94.

James talked about getting redemption for last year, where she finished third in the 100 and fourth in the 200.

“Last year was not my best meet at all, I did very poorly so I was like this year, being my last year as a senior, I’m going to give my for every race,” said James.

On Saturday, James scored her second gold of the meet, winning the 200 with a 25.05. The race was close on the curve and even on most of the straight, but James would pull away at the end to finish with the best time.

She also elaborated on pushing hard in the curve.

“I wanted to catch as many people as I could there to put me in a good position for a straight away because I knew thats where you usually fall apart, so the goal was just to get out on the curve and get ahead there.”

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Bakari Tice may be reached at btice@njadvancemedia.com.