Recap: The Winner’s Circle at the Horse Farm

There aren’t too many meets between MoCs and nationals, but Lawrenceville, Wilberforce, Princeton, and Notre Dame managed to get some of their top athletes into a limited-entry meet hosted by CBA on Wednesday night, The Winner’s Circle at the Horse Farm. Here are some of Mercer County’s top performances against that high-caliber competition. Full results here.

The girls 200m was a battle between the top two hurdlers in the state, as Union Catholic’s Taylor Aska held off Lawrenceville’s Sofia Swindell, 24.11 to 24.38.  That was only Swindell’s second time running the 200m this season, but it still puts her at #1 in Mercer County and #11 in New Jersey.

Lawrenceville also put two girls in the top 6 in the 400m, with Rhianna Scott grabbing 3rd place in 56.39 and Jael Gaines taking 6th in 58.00.  

One of the standout performances of the day was by Wilberforce sophomore Stella Blanchard in the girls 800m. Running in the second-fastest heat, she hit the bell in 6th place but then proceeded to dust everyone on the next lap, winning her heat and taking 3rd place overall in a time of 2:14.59. That was a huge 5-second PR for the rising mid-distance star, who is now Mercer County’s #1 in the 800m and #3 in the 400m. And just to showcase the sophomore’s range, she’s also #18 in the 200m and #24 in the 1600m.

Also in the girls 800m, Lawrenceville freshman Yasmin Willie took 15th place in 2:20.82, Princeton’s Mila Trkov finished 25th in 2:27.02, and Wilberforce’s Emily Prothero ran a 6-second PR of 2:28.14.

As a side note, Wilberforce’s 800m girls are now ranked #1, #2, #14, #15, and #19 in Mercer County. They’re loading a 4x800m at nationals, which will be fun to watch. 

The girls 1600m was also fast. Princeton’s Kajol Karra led the way for Mercer County runners by trimming a few tenths off her PR with a 5:05.27 for 11th place. Wilberforce’s Laura Sallade was next in 5:11.64 for 17th, followed by two more Princeton girls, Lena Murray in 5:14.16 and Grace Hegedus in 5:16.71. That was a 5-second PR for Murray, an 800m specialist who is now #9 in Mercer County for the 1600m. 

In the boys high jump, Notre Dame freshman Kendrick Mullen pulled off an upset by clearing 6-2 for the win. That new PR puts him in a 3-way tie for the #1 freshman in New Jersey. His teammate Bryce Marsh took 4th place in 5-8.

Lawrenceville’s Arunav Sarkar was the top Mercer County boy in the 800m, running a season’s best of 2:00.21. His teammate Bastian Bocklage ran a 2-second PR of 4:37.11 in the 1600m.