Adidas Track Nationals Recap

One reason why track and field is so great in New Jersey is because there are two high-caliber national championships within road-trip distance. The closer one is New Balance Nationals Outdoors in Philadelphia (see recap here), but many local athletes take the longer trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, for Adidas Track Nationals.  Qualification standards at Adidas are generally a bit more relaxed than at New Balance, but that doesn’t mean the competition is any less exciting. Athletes who are the top of their class in Mercer County still suddenly find them surrounded by equally talented athletes from across the country, which leads to valuable experience.

See below for highlights and list of performances from Mercer County athletes!

Note: Athletes at nationals compete under a club team name, which sometimes differs from their school’s name. I tried to spot and write down every result for every local competitor, but if I missed you or your teammate, please let me know on Instagram or email.

Notre Dame Wins National Championship in Shuttle Hurdles

Zamir Jones (Notre Dame) clears the final hurdle in his heat of the 110mH prelims. | Dan Loughlin for MileSplit

Notre Dame’s quartet of star hurdlers are national champions in the shuttle hurdles relay! In the first heat of the first event of the meet, Aldric Crawford, Zamir Jones, Bryce Marsh, and Christopher Young teamed up for the win in another very quick time of 59.29, which was just 0.03 off their NJ #2 time (and school record) from last month. They had to sweat out some fast challengers from the second heat, but the once the heat’s top time of 59.64 flashed on the board, the celebrations were on. The Irish have been so good and so consistent in the SHR all year long – indoors and outdoors – so this championship is well deserved. Catch MileSplit’s interview with the national champions here.

Each of these boys doubled back with solid performances in individual events. Young ran 14.32 for 7th place in the prelims of the championship 110mH. He qualified for the final but ended up not contesting it. Jones went 14.75 in prelims of national elite division to qualify for the finals, where he ran 15.01 for 6th place. Crawford ran the 400mH and took 9th in the championship division with a 55.54. Marsh cleared 6-0.75 in the high jump.

Notre Dame Runs Fastest 4x400m in Mercer County this Year

Notre Dame’s didn’t just have their hurdlers forming relays – their flat sprinters and mid-distance runners (Aldric Crawford, Max Whittle, Amir Mulkey, Jayden Davis) joined the party by running a huge season’s best of 3:22.36 in the 4x400m! That’s the fastest time in Mercer County this season by over 2 seconds. The Irish runners’ FAT splits weren’t available online, but their rough splits looked to be 51-mid, 51-high, 50-low, and 49-mid. Davis, their anchor, got the baton in 3rd place but ended up winning the heat after an epic battle down the homestretch. They finished 5th overall in the national elite division.

In the prior heat, Princeton (Kyle Carr, Fletcher Harrison, Yi-Tian Xiong, and Andrew Foreman) became the sixth Mercer County team to go sub-3:30 this spring with a nice season’s best of 3:29.07.

Other Notable Results

Ewing’s Angel Johnson set two PRs in a four-hour span on Friday. She placed 6th in the freshman 100mH with a 15.52, and then followed that up shortly in the freshman 100m with a 12.77 for 20th place. Those marks are #9 and #6 in Mercer County.

The Ewing sprinter girls (Karis Crossland, Angel Johnson, Leah Daniels, Faith Settles) took 8th place in the championship division of the 800m SMR with a time of 1:51.94.

Stuart Country Day junior Kirsten Brenya flew to a 9-inch PR of 34-10.5 in her last attempt at the triple jump. That’s #3 in Mercer County.

Congrats to the other Mercer County athletes who qualified for and competed at Adidas Track Nationals!

More girls results:

• Lawrence’s Samya Jenkins went 12.64 in the 100m, in addition to running on three relay teams.

• Stuart County Day’s Naomi Williams ran 13.23 in the freshman 100m.

• In the freshman 200m, Stuart Country Day’s Georgia Glanton ran 26.92 and Lawrence’s Faith Jasper ran 28.81.

• Ewing’s Faith Settles ran 1:03.04 in freshman 400m.

• Lawrence’s Alicia Riggins ran 15.25 in the 100mH.

• WWP South’s Yona Choksi jumped 14-7.25 in the freshman long jump.

• Allentown’s Makayla Rondinelli threw 102-0.75 for 11th place in the championship discus.

• There were several local teams in the 4x100m. Ewing (Karis Crossland, Lynsah Rejouis, Bryana Mason, Victoria Seaton) ran 49.42, Lawrence (Faith Jasper, Sasha Glover, Soraya Parks, Samya Jenkins) ran 50.78, Nottingham (Ty’Onna Johnson, Gabriella Allen, Shania Bernard, Arianna Crusoe Gaye) ran 51.13, Notre Dame (Lisa Barber, Ava Fallon, Abby Lobis, D’Njah Tatum) ran 51.88, and Stuart Country Day (Nyla Flamer, Naomi Williams, Alexandra Janiszewski, Georgia Glanton) ran 52.35.

• In 4x200m, Lawrence (Faith Jasper, Sophie Trzaskus, Sasha Glover, Samya Jenkins) ran 1:46.95 and Nottingham (Ty’Onna Johnson, Sydney Conover, Shania Bernard, Arianna Crusoe Gaye) ran 1:50.28.

• In the 800m SMR, Lawrence (Soraya Parks, Sasha Glover, Samya Jenkins, Sarah Conver) ran 1:54.52 for 7th in national elite division, and Nottingham (Ty’Onna Johnson, Sydney Conover, Gabriella Allen, Arianna Crusoe Gaye) ran 1:56.99.

More boys results:

• Ewing’s Dasan Jones ran 11.39 in the championship 100m and 22.67 in the championship 200m, His teammate Dominique Jones ran a 11.70 100m in the freshman division. 

• In the 400m, Robbinsville’s Will Strickland ran 50.93 and Notre Dame’s Christopher Young ran 51.94.

• WWP South’s Sean Maina ran 2:04.86 in the freshman 800m.

• Notre Dame’s Kendrick Mullen cleared 5-9 in the high jump.

• Notre Dame’s Cameron Bailey threw 140-4.75 in the javelin.

• In the 4x100m, Ewing (Kha-neaf Mack Hornsby, Domonique Jones, Calvin Kallie, Dasan Jones) ran 44.51 and Notre Dame (Amir Mulkey, Matt Ryba, Chris Bailey, Tristan Bruce) ran 45.91.

• Allentown’s boys 4x800m (Aiden Schwartz, John O’Leary, Ethan Urig, and Amrit Moehringer) ran 8:43.42.

• Nottingham (Tellon Koduah, Nkemakolam Uduma, Liam Cox, and Mohamed Toure) ran 3:45.05 in the SMR.

• Notre Dame (Matt Ryba, Chris Bailey, Tristan Bruce, Jayden Davis) ran 1:33.53 in the championship 4x200m.

In the 800m SMR, Ewing (Dominique Jones, Calvin Kallie, Kha-neaf Mack Hornsby, Dasan Jones) ran 1:37.89, Notre Dame (Tristan Bruce, Matt Ryba, Amir Mulkey, Max Whittle) ran 1:38.91, and Lawrence (Abram Williams, Isaac Pitts-Parker, Jaquann Coleman, Roman Roberts) ran 1:41.76.