Colonial Division Boys: Jha and Wittenberg spark WWP North to team title

WWP North wins team title with 10 boys in the top 20

WWP North’s Rohan Varma (center left) and Ashvin Avineni (center right) run together in a giant pack in the early stages of the Colonial Division race at the CVC Divisional Championships. | Track Mercer

The NJ #12 WWP North boys passed their first test of the postseason, taking down a strong Princeton squad to win the Colonial Division at the CVC Divisional Championship on Thursday.

As usual, the Knights’ incredible depth was on full display. Their whole top seven placed in the top 13 and ran 16:40 or faster, and they had a remarkable spread of just 65 seconds between their first finisher and their seventh. And that’s especially impressive given that their boys at the front of the race, Agrim Jha and Paul Wittenberg, were moving!

Jha and Wittenberg opened the race with a 5:18 mile — fairly conservative given their abilities — before really taking off, splitting 5:04 for the second mile and then letting loose in the final mile. The sophomore Jha used a blistering kick to pull away from Wittenberg towards the end and capture the individual title in 15:35 after covering the last 1.1 miles at 4:43 pace. The junior Wittenberg crossed just 8 seconds later in 2nd place with a 15:43. Those were both boys’ first sub-16:00 5Ks, and they’re now sitting at #8 and #14 on the state leaderboard for flat 5Ks.

The fast times for WWP North didn’t end there. Between the 16:26 mark and the 17:04 mark, more and more Knights just kept pouring across the finish line. Freshman Ashvin Avineni led this large group, running 16:26 for 7th place in just his second major 5K. Sophomore Rohan Varma crushed his PR by over a minute to place 9th in 16:30, and senior Andy Chi also went well under the 17:00 barrier for the first time with a 16:34 for 10th. Sophomores Soham Shah (11th in 16:36) and Sushanth Karri (13th in 16:40) followed closely and set PRs as the Knights’ #6 and #7 runners.

For good measure, WWP North fit three more boys into the top 20. Veejhay Roy went sub-17:00 for 17th in 16:55, while Vibhav Kumar (19th in 17:03) and Shreyan Kagitala (20th in 17:04) both set impressive PRs.

Jha and Wittenberg talk about their big improvements this year

WWP North’s Paul Wittenberg (right) and Agrim Jha (left) run at the front of the Colonial Division race at the CVC Divisional Championships 2025. | Track Mercer

This has been a banner year for the Knights’ frontrunners Jha and Wittenberg, who are currently ranked #13 and #16 in NJ.com's individual state rankings. Dedication and consistency have played a big role in their meteoric rise.

“I’ve been way more consistent this summer than I’ve ever been,” said the junior Wittenberg. “Having that base built up really brought me into the season ready for solid workouts and good races. I’m feeling a lot stronger than I have in previous years.”

It’s been the same story for the sophomore Jha. He didn’t focus so much on running in the summer heading into freshman year, but that changed this past summer. “This year, I definitely paid a lot more attention to long runs and stuff like that. I increased my mileage a lot, and I tried to be more consistent with it.” 

Wittenberg’s big jump in performances this year has also given Jha a new training partner for hard workouts, which has been mutually beneficial. Their complementary skillsets mean that someone is able to push every workout, whether it’s long tempos or fast intervals.

“He’s like the distance guy and I’m like the shorter distance guy,” Jha explained.

“For stuff that’s like tempo, I’m usually in front,” agreed Wittenberg. “But he’s really good at outkicking me.”

Regardless of who leads, it’s clear that their partnership is lifting them and their team to new heights. “We try to train together, and it happens in races too,” Jha said. “In races, when we’re able to work together, it’s better for the whole team.”

Princeton leads the rest of the field

Princeton’s Saboor Qureshi finishes in 3rd place at the Colonial Division race at the CVC Divisional Championships 2025. | Track Mercer

Princeton put up a great fight in the team battle, finished just 15 points behind WWP North in 2nd place. Princeton has lots of firepower also, and it was actually the Tigers who got three boys across the line first. 

Saboor Qureshi delivered an excellent result to lead Princeton. The senior stuck with Jha and Wittenberg for over a mile and, although they pulled away over the second half, Qureshi still negative-split the race and came away with a nice new PR of 15:55. That’s a very fast time — for perspective, even though it was 3rd in this race, it’s still the 5th-fastest time in course history. 

His teammates Finn Wedmid and Lachlan Arnold finished close behind after running big PRs themselves. The junior Wedmid ran 16:17, a very impressive result despite running alone in “no man’s land” for almost the entire race. The freshman Lachlan Arnold went out a little more conservatively and then used a big kick to close the gap on Wedmid and pass a few other boys in the process, finishing in 5th with a time of 16:19.

Senior Braedyn Capone (15th in 16:46) and sophomore Aleric Deess (18th in 17:02) both ran great PRs to round out the scoring for Princeton, whose top five averaged 16:28.

WWP South took 3rd place, led by Aron Zola’s 6th place finish in 16:20. That was a 12-second PR for the star sophomore. Junior Dhruv Kumar also sliced a few more seconds off his PR to take 12th place in 16:40, and sophomore Harsh Sharma finished just behind him in 14th place with a time of 16:43, his first sub-17:00. Robert Luan finished just outside the top 20 with a 20-second PR of 17:06 for 21st place.  

Princeton Day was the best of the rest, claiming 4th place just 6 points ahead of Notre Dame. Senior Grayson McLaughlin led the way with a season’s best of 17:06 for 22nd place. His classmate Alexander Chia ran a great race to finish just behind him with a new PR of 17:11 for 24th place. 

Notre Dame finished 5th in the team standings. The Irish got great races from their junior trio of Timothy Ellingson (16th in 16:48), Markus McParland (23rd in 17:08), and Simeon Salins (27th in 17:22), who all placed in the top 30 with big PRs.

Steinert was led by senior Tyler Hust’s 8th-place finish in a season’s best of 16:30. Sophomore Billy Conway came through as the Spartans’ #2 runner in a new PR of 17:24 for 31st place, and senior Adam Szpakowski followed in 42nd with a time of 17:49, just a couple of seconds off his own PR.

Hightstown rested many their top runners but gave some of their other guys a chance to carry the team. Senior Javin Spearman led the Rams here with 43rd-place finish in 17:55, and junior Howard Stewart wasn’t far behind with a new PR of 18:10 for 49th place.

Trenton got nice results from their top three boys, who all went sub-19:30. Junior Malik Kiawu led the crew with a 76th-place finish in 19:04, and he was followed closely by seniors Briyon Ellerbe (81st in 19:19) and Fernando Martinez Castelan (85th in 19:29).

Full results available here.