In the world of Essex County girls track, Columbia is king. On Friday at Livingston High School, the Cougar girls proved it once again, blowing away the field for their fourth county relay championship in the last six years.

Columbia notched 91 points, 32.5 more than second place Livingston. The local girls finished in first or second place in nine of the 16 events. Headlining the dominant performance for Red and Black were Jasmine Carter (4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Kelsey Jackson (4x100, 4x200, 4x400) and TyVonna Johnson (4x200, 4x400, 4x800).

“I expected them to do well,” said Columbia head coach Lisa Morgan. “What they were trying to do was go for some records. With Melissa David being a senior, I was trying to go for the record in the 4x800.”

The girls missed the record by less than a second, but the team of Brittney Jackson, Johnson, David and Jade Johnson ran a 9:29.6, beating runner up Caldwell by nearly 37 seconds. The girls also took first in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800 and the sprint medley. They took home a second place finish in the distance medley relay, the 4x1,600 and the team javelin.

In the five events that the locals won, their combined margin of victory was 1:01, a lifetime in track terms. But Morgan is not about to overconfident and assume that her team is unbeatable, pointing out that there is still a ways to go in the season.

“You never know. Teams are getting better as we’re getting better. So you can never take anything for granted,” Morgan said. “Everyone is working to do their best.”

Up next for Columbia are the conference championships beginning on Tuesday in Morristown.

“The competition gets a little tougher, so I’m going to put my best team forward,” Morgan said. “We’re moving into individual championships now. We will really see who steps up and who continues to do well.”