Groups Girls: Blanchard quadruples, Lee and Gilligan win state titles
Mercer County’s best took on the rest of the state at the NJSIAA Group Championships last weekend, and they put on a show.
Across three sites — Franklin (Groups 1 and 4), Northern Burlington (Groups 2 and 3), and Buena (Non-Public A and B) — fifteen Mercer County girls and four relay teams punched tickets to the Meet of Champions, tons of other athletes earned medals, and seniors across the county closed out their high-school careers with lifetime bests.
Congrats to these group champions and other qualifiers for the Meet of Champions!
Stella Blanchard (Wilberforce, Jr.) — 1st in NPB 400m, 1st in NPB 800m, 1st in NPB 1600m
Allison Lee (WWP North, Sr.) — 1st in G3 3200m
Della Gilligan (Princeton Day, Jr.) — 1st in NPB 400mH
Wilberforce (Laura Sallade, Emily Prothero, Eve Szeliga, Stella Blanchard) — 1st in NPB 4×400m
Makayla Rondinelli (Allentown, Sr.) — 2nd in G2 discus
Sydney Young (Hopewell Valley, Jr.) — 2nd in G3 1600m
Ti'Kayla Smith (Nottingham, Jr.) — 2nd in G3 javelin
Eve Szeliga (Wilberforce, Sr.) — 2nd in NPB 800m, 3rd in NPB 400m
Laura Sallade (Wilberforce, Sr.) — 2nd in NPB 1600m
Maya Dubois (Notre Dame, Jr.) — 3rd in NPA 100m, 5th in NPA 200m
D'Njah Tatum (Notre Dame, So.) — 3rd in NPA 100mH
Gabriella Mandell (Notre Dame, Fr.) — 3rd in NPA 400mH
Abigail Power (WWP North, So.) — 3rd in G3 javelin
Mahek Singh (Robbinsville, Sr.) — 4th in G2 javelin
Angel Johnson (Ewing, So.) — 4th in G3 100mH
Notre Dame (Gabriella Mandell, Lisa Barber, D'Njah Tatum, Maya Dubois) — 4th in NPA 4×100m
WWP North (Allison Lee, Sara Secora, Anita Bhatia, Evelyn Yang) — 5th in G3 4×800m
Kajol Karra (Princeton, Sr.) — 6th in G4 3200m
Grace Hegedus (Princeton, Jr.) — 8th in G4 3200m
Princeton (Mila Trkov, Kajol Karra, Lumnezia Meggers, Lena Murray) — 9th in G4 4×800m
Princeton (Maddie Hamlin, Johanna Kraft, Ngozi Okeke-Agulu, Simone Henriques) — 10th in G4 4×100m
Distance
Stella Blanchard (Wilberforce) charges to the win in the 400m, her second of four titles at the Non-Public B Group Championships. | Al Amrhein for NJ.com
The weekend’s defining performance came from Stella Blanchard (Wilberforce, Jr.) at the Non-Public B championships — she swept the 400m, 800m, and 1600m while also anchoring the winning 4×400m. She opened by running 2:09.42 in the 800m on Friday, started off Saturday by winning the 400m in 56.07, and then added the 1600m win in 4:54.63. She capped it all by joining Laura Sallade, Emily Prothero, and Eve Szeliga to dominate the 4×400m in 4:05.79, with Blanchard splitting 56.8.
All Blanchard’s wins had little to do with her competing in the smallest group — she remarkable times placed her in the Top 6 in the merge for her three individual events.
It wasn’t just Blanchard who had a banner day for Wilberforce. Eve Szeliga (Wilberforce, Sr.) is headed to MOCs in three events after running big season’s bests in both the 800m, where she ran 2:16.28 for 2nd place, and the 400m, where her 3rd-place time of 58.76 earned her the last wildcard qualifier. (She also split 58.8 on the winning 4×400m.) Szeliga now sits at #3 in Mercer County in both the 400m and 800m.
Laura Sallade (Wilberforce, Sr.) also added an individual event to her Meet of Champions schedule by taking 2nd place behind Blanchard in the 1600m with a PR of 5:02.99, which is #4 in the county.
Another title-winning distance run came in Group 3 from Allison Lee (WWP North, Sr.). After crushing a historic 1600m on Tuesday, she opted just for the 3200m at groups, and she made her lone event count by blazing a 10:14.34 in a dominant performance. Lee opened a 7-second gap on the first lap and never looked back, winning by nearly 25 seconds. That sets her up for a fantastic Meet of Champions showdown between her and the Group 2 champion, Leah Starkey from Ocean Township.
Joining Lee at MOCs out of Group 3 will be Sydney Young (Hopewell Valley, Jr.), who finished 2nd in the Group 3 1600m with a 5:08.41. On the third lap, she led the charge that pulled her and eventual winner Gabriella Pelov from Montville away from the pack and into auto-qualification territory.
The Group 4 3200m was a story of successful teammwork as Kajol Karra (Princeton, Sr.) and Grace Hegedus (Princeton, Jr.) ran side by side for almost the whole race and pushed each other to the Meet of Champions. Karra finished 6th in 11:03.58, Hegedus following two seconds back in 11:04.99 for 8th, and both cleared the MOC wild card cutoff by less than 4 seconds.
Two CVC 4×800ms are heading to MOCs. In Group 3, WWP North’s team of Allison Lee, Sara Secora, Anita Bhatia, and Evelyn Yang scored 5th-place medals in the with a time of 9:50.54. In Group 4, Princeton’s 4x800m of Mila Trkov, Karra, Lumnezia Meggers, and Lena Murray placed 9th in 9:52.22.
Sprints
Maya Dubois (Notre Dame) finishes strong in the 200m at the Non-Public A Group Championships. | Al Amrhein for NJ.com
Notre Dame’s remarkable sprinters had an incredible weekend, earning numerous spots at the Meet of Champions.
The Notre Dame 4×100m team set the tone on Friday, with Gabriella Mandell, Lisa Barber, D’Njah Tatum, and Maya Dubois combining for a season’s best of 49.13 to finish 4th and claim a wildcard to the Meet of Champions.
Maya Dubois (Notre Dame, Jr.) added two individual events to her Meet of Champions schedule. On Friday, she blazed a 12.18 in the 100m final to finish in 3rd place in Non-Public A and 7th overall in the group meets merge. Then on Saturday she dropped a big PR of 25.24 in the 200m to place 5th and claim the very last wildcard qualifier.
Gabriella Mandell (Notre Dame, Fr.) set a 400m PR of 58.78 to win her heat and take 7th overall in the NPA 400m. That time makes her #4 in Mercer County. She just barely missed adding an open 400m wildcard entry to go with her 400mH ticket from the day before.
In Group 4, the Princeton 4x100m team of Maddie Hamlin, Johanna Kraft, Ngozi Okeke-Agulu, and Simone Henriques chopped nearly a full second off their season best place 10th in 49.18, which earned them a wildcard ticket to MOCs.
Other notable results include Samya Jenkins (Lawrence, Jr.) running a season’s best of 25.35 for a 4th-place medal in the Group 3 200m and Logan Mills (WWP South, Sr.) trimming a few hundredths off her 100m PR at 12.74 for 19th in Group 4.
Hurdles
Della Gilligan (Princeton Day, Jr.) became her school’s first ever individual group champion, taking the Non-Public B 400mH title in 1:02.24. That superb performance was not just the best in Mercer County this year but also elevated her to #10 in New Jersey. The next day, Gilligan added a 3rd-place medal in the 100mH with a 15.68 — another PR.
Joining Gilligan in the 400mH at MOCs will be Gabriella Mandell (Notre Dame, Fr.), who ran her own PR of 1:04.21 for 3rd place in Non-Public A. That impressive result on short rest after running a strong leg on the Irish’s 4×100m to help them qualify for MOCs there also.
In the 100mH, Angel Johnson (Ewing, So.) delivered a big PR in the Group 3 final, where she earned the 4th-place medal in 14.69. That mark is NJ #25 and easily earned her a deserved spot at MOCs. Joining her at in that race will be D’Njah Tatum (Notre Dame, So.), who earned her own MOC ticket with a 3rd-place run of 14.93 in the NPA 100mH.
Yona Choksi (WWP South, So.) earned a Top-10 finish in the Group 4 100mH with a PR of 15.15, which is #4 in Mercer County this spring.
Jumps
Kirsten Brenya (Stuart Country Day, Sr.) has had a tremendous high school career in the jumps, and it isn’t over yet after she uncorked a massive triple jump of 37-0 to claim the silver medal in Non-Public B and advance to the Meet of Champions. That 11-inch PR makes her #1 in Mercer County and #25 in the state this spring.
In the high jump, Anamika Sertil (WWP North, So.) placed 7th in the Group 3 with a clearance of 5-2, and Kailyn Mullen (Notre Dame, Fr.) cleared a 4-inch PR of 5-0 for a 6th-place medal in Non-Public A.
Throws
Mercer County’s girl throwers produced some incredible feats on strength at the group championships.
Makayla Rondinelli (Allentown, Sr.) unleashed the throw of her career when it mattered most, launching the discus 128-8 to take 2nd in Group 2 and punch an automatic MOC ticket. The massive mark is a 7-foot PR, is #1 in Mercer County and is #16 in New Jersey this spring.
The Meet of Champions javelin competition will be stacked with CVC girls. Leading the way at groups was Ti'Kayla Smith (Nottingham, Jr.), who earned a silver medal in Group 3 with a throw of 123-8. Just 3 inches behind her was Abigail Power (WWP North, So.), who had an enormous breakthrough throw of 123-5 to PR by 12 feet, break her school record, and place 3rd in Group 3.
Another javelin thrower, Mahek Singh (Robbinsville, Sr.) continued her stunning trajectory this postseason: after setting a 15-foot PR at sectionals, she threw another 10-foot PR of 116-4 at groups to place 4th in Group 2 and earn a wildcard to the Meet of Champions.
In the shot put, Danielle Marsh (Notre Dame, Sr.) took home the bronze medal in Non-Public A with a throw of 34-3.5.