Mercer Coaches Relays Recap

Last Saturday, Ewing hosted the Mercer Coaches Relays on a beautiful, breezy day. See full results here, and check out the highlights below.

WWP South’s Julius Kinsler and Notre Dame’s Jayden Davis lock in on their teammates with 50m to go in the 400m leg of the SMR. | Track Mercer

Boys Sprints & Hurdles

In an epic 4x400m, Notre Dame, Hightstown, and Nottingham handed off dead even at the final exchange, and all three anchor legs took the lead at some point on the last lap. But down the homestretch it was Notre Dame that had the most steam, and they took the win in NJ #12 3:28.14 over Hightstown (2nd in NJ #15 3:28.59) and Nottingham (3rd in NJ #19 3:29.71).

The SMR was also fast one, as Notre Dame (1st in 3:36.75) and WWP South (3:39.72) both ran faster than any Mercer County school had this past winter. The Irish got a boost from Amir Mulkey’s big split of 1:58.1 on the anchor leg.

Ewing had a great day in the sprints, sweeping the 4x100m and 4x200m. Their 4x100 victory came in front of a competitive field — Lawrence (2nd in 44.11) and Notre Dame (3rd in 44.24) kept it close throughout. In the 4x200m, Ewing prevailed by a more comfortable margin over WWP South (2nd 1:32.35).

Ewing also won the 3x400mH relay with a combined time of 3:00.52, led by Tyson Brown’s time of 58.62. Notre Dame was the class of the field in the SHR, finishing 8 seconds clear of 2nd place in NJ #4 1:01.23

WWP North’s Paul Wittenberg begins to open a gap with 400m to go in the 1600m. | Track Mercer

Boys Distance

The boys 4x800m was exciting from start to finish, as three teams pushed each other to fast early-season times. WWP North pulled out a close win in NJ #16 8:18.32, ahead of Princeton in NJ #18 8:21.54. Mixing it up with those more storied distance programs — and finishing less than 2 seconds back — was Nottingham, who impressed with a 3rd-place finish in NJ #20 8:23.23. That was the Northstars’ fastest 4x800m time in almost ten years. 

Hopewell Valley won a relatively tight competition in the DMR by just five seconds over Hightstown, 11:11.60 to 11:16.68.

In the individual 1600m, WWP North's Paul Wittenberg wasn’t afraid to frontrun on a windy day. And although Princeton’s Saboor Qureshi stuck with his hot pace most of the race, Wittenberg pulled away over the last 500m to not just win but impressively set a new PR of 4:28.41. Qureshi hung on for 2nd place in 4:35.57, and Steinert’s Tyler Hurst won a four-way battle for 3rd place in 4:37.06.

Boys Jumps

In the high jump, Allentown’s two-man team of Dylan Voehl and Justin Okorie took 1st place with a combined height of 11-6, enough to edge Hamilton West by just 2 inches. Notre Dame’s Kendrick Mullen posted the highest mark with a 6-0 clearance.

Notre Dame's Aldric Crawford led the Irish to a the long jump relay win with a PR of 22-3.50. Hamilton West dominated the triple jump relay, with Damario Marshall (40-10.25), Brian Boswell (40-4.25), and Khalil Hardwick (40-3) all jumping PRs over 40’. The only boy to beat the Hornets’ trio was Lawrence’s Lloyd Mah Jr, who posted his own big PR of 41-6.

Boys Throws

The shot put relay was evenly matched, with the top four teams separated by less than 3 feet. Princeton claimed the team win in 117-2, led by Dimiter Petrov in 43-5.75. Hightstown's Christian Houvig was the top thrower of the day with a 46-7.75, leading the Rams to 2nd in 116-5. Steinert was right behind them in 115-8.25 for 3rd place, just ahead of Notre Dame in 114-2.5 for 4th place.

In the discus relay, Princeton edged Hightstown by an even tighter margin, 318-3 to 315-11. Nottingham’s Tylin Douglas had the farthest throw of the day at 120-5. 

Steinert won the javelin relay with a combined distance of 355-8, with Allentown's Dylan Voehl earning the individual win in 144-3.

Notre Dame’s Gabriella Mandell fires up anchor leg Alaina Sabo after handing off in first place in the SMR. | Track Mercer

Girls Sprints & Hurdles

The girls 4x400m featured a dramatic finish between Wilberforce and Notre Dame. The Irish ran their fastest 4x400m time in five years, but it wasn’t quite enough to hold off Wilberforce and their anchor Stella Blanchard, who split a blistering 57.41 to barely overtake Notre Dame at the line, 4:10.05 to 4:10.19.

Notre Dame did earn a fast win in the SMR, though. Their three strong sprint legs gave anchor Alaina Sabo a healthy cushion, and then Sabo split fought off a charge from WWP North’s Allison Lee to take the win, 4:11.55 to 4:14.36. 

In the 4x100m, Notre Dame’s squad ran 50.36 to win convincingly, over 1 second ahead of Nottingham (2nd in 51.46) and Hightstown (3rd in 51.59). Ewing dominated the other two short-sprint relays, taking the 4x200 in 1:43.38 and the SHR in 1:04.29.

In the 3x400mH, Ewing’s trio of Lynsah Rejouis, Athena Green, and Victoria Seaton edged Hopewell Valley by just a half second, 3:49.16 to 3:49.68. Princeton Day’s Della Gilligan posted the posted time of the day, a 1:07.21.

Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young powers away with 300m to go on her way to winning the 1600m. | Track Mercer

Girls Distance

Wilberforce loaded their DMR team to not just dominate this race but also post the #3 time in New Jersey this spring, running a 12:19.75.

Hopewell Valley won the girls 4x800m in 10:05.28 after a close race the whole way against Princeton (2nd in 10:07.98) and WWP North (3rd in 10:13.80).

Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young gave the Bulldogs two distance wins on the day after taking the individual 1600m in 5:11.03. That result marked a successful return to action for the junior Young, who had missed the last half of the winter season. 

Ewing’s Bryana Mason clears 5’ for her first time ever to lead the Blue Devils to the high jump relay win. | Track Mercer

Girls Jumps

In the high jump relay, Ewing took first with a combined height of 9-8, led by a 4-inch PR of 5-0 by sophomore Bryana Mason. WWP North was right behind at 9-6, with another sophomore Anamika Sertil also clearing 5-0.

Notre Dame swept the horizontal jumps. In the long jump relay, the Irish’s Kailyn Mullen had the best individual jump of the day at 16-11 to lead her team to a combined distance of 47-5.50. Hopewell Valley finished about 6 inches back in 2nd place at 46-10.24.

In the triple jump relay, Notre Dame won by 2 feet with a combined distance of 95-6.50 thanks in part to D'Njah Tatum’s nice PR of 34-5.50 being the longest on the day. WWP North was second at 93-03.50.

Girls Throws

In the shot put relay, Ewing dominated by almost 10 feet with a combined distance of 95-03.49. The Blue Devils were led by Zoey DeSouza's 36-11.75 — also the best individual throw of the day. Hopewell Valley was second at 86-10, with Uchenna Obidike throwing 35-9.

WWP North dominated the other two throws. In the discus, they placed all three girls in the top 9 for a combined distance of 283-10, almost 20 feet ahead of Allentown in 2nd place. Then in the javelin, Abigail Power (96-07) andEva Gedrich (92-11) finished 1-2 in the individual standings to pace the Knights to a combined distance of 265-4 — over 35 feet ahead of the runner-up.