Sectionals Boys: Kinsler, Jones, Jha, Williams, Skillman pace a big weekend for the CVC boys

For most teams and athletes in Mercer County, sectionals is the highlight and focal point of the spring season. Athletes at all levels have goals for sectionals, ranging from making the team to winning a sectional title.

Perhaps no goal carries more weight than a top-6 finish, which earns you not just a medal but also a ticket to the group championships. Below are all the Mercer County boys who accomplished that feat, along with a few who came close with admirable efforts.

And congratulations to all the seniors who finished off their high school athletics careers on a high note at sectionals!

Sprints

One of the biggest performances of the weekend went to Julius Kinsler (WWP South, Sr.), who won the Central Group 4 sectional title in the 400 with a blistering PR of 47.68. That time is NJ #2 and chopped over a half-second off his school record from CVCs the week before.

Despite coming in as the reigning sectional champion, Kinsler’s victory was no foregone conclusion — he was actually seeded 2nd behind Manalapan's Crue Brown, the silver medalist from the indoor Meet of Champions. In an epic battle between two of the state's best quarter-milers, Kinsler held off Brown by just 0.08 seconds. A couple hours later, Kinsler qualified for groups in his second event, placing 5th in the 200m in 22.48.

Over at Central Group 3 sectionals, the Ewing sprinters were on fire and carried the Blue Devils to a 5th-place finish in the team standings.

Dasan Jones (Ewing, Sr.) continued his recent dominance in the 100m, as the CVC champ took the crown at Central Group 3 sectionals. He won his first sectional title with a quick 10.80, one of the fastest wind-legal times by a Mercer County boy in the last decade.

Jones’s teammate Kha-Neaf Mack Hornsby (Ewing, Sr.) had his own big breakthrough to take the silver medal. After running a PR of 11.00 in the prelims, he PR’d again in the final with a 10.96 — now MC #7 — in a tight finish where 2nd through 4th were separated by just .05. That clutch race wasn't just his highest finish ever at sectionals, it was his first sectionals medal in an individual event, indoors or out.

Jones and Hornsby also doubled back in the 200 on Saturday, where Jones took 3rd in 22.49 and Hornsby finished a split second behind him in 22.51 for 5th to advance to the group meet.

Ewing also shined in the sprint relays. To kick off the meet, Jones and Hornsby teamed up with Zaydin Boyce and Domonique Jones to place 3rd in the 4x100 in a season’s best of 42.65. That blazing time was under the old meet record, and the fastest time in the county this spring. Then the Blue Devils closed out the meet with Sammil Conteh, Tristan Thompson, Domonique Jones, and Dasan Jones running 3:29.99 for 5th in the 4×400m to advance to the group meet.

In Central Group 2, Will Strickland (Robbinsville, Sr.) advanced to groups in the 400m for the third consecutive track season after placing 4th in 51.55.

In Group 1, Thrive Charter’s quartet of Teriyon Page, Tyandre Hobbs, Marcellus Merrit, and Anthony McBride became the Titans’ first runners to qualify for groups after placing 2nd in the 4x100m in 44.52. Two of those boys also advanced in individual events: the senior Page finished 5th in the 100m in 11.38, and the sophomore McBride placed 5th in the 200m with a PR of 23.16.

Back in Group 4, two other boys gave it everything they had but came just short of advancing out of a very competitive section. Aydun Hines (WWP South, Sr.) came agonizingly close twice: in the 100m final, he finished just 0.01 behind 6th place in 11.03, and then in the 200m he was just 0.05 out of the medals with a 22.62. Terrance Williams (Hightstown, Sr.) also made the 100m final and finished right behind Hines in 11.07 for 8th.

Two other CVC squads earned relay berths. On Friday, Lawrence's 4x100m team of Isaiah Grier, Alexander Nikolov, Jahlil Whitten, and Abram Williams delivered their best race of the season to run 43.55 and grab the final qualifying spot by less than 0.2 seconds. Then on Saturday, Nottingham’s 4x400m squad of Michael Juliano, Victor Millan, Liam Cox, and Dharry Victor teamed up to take 4th place in 3:29.75, just ahead of the Ewing boys.

Hurdles

Yi-Tian Xiong (Princeton, Jr.), the CVC champ from the week before, fared well in a very competitive Central Group 4 110mH, running 14.61 in the final to earn the 2nd-place medal. That was a nice upgrade from his 6th-place finish from last spring.

Amal Stewart (Hightstown, Sr.) also reached the final in Central Group 4 and ran 15.08, the second-fastest time of his career, to finish just barely outside the medals.

In Central Group 3, Ewing’s hurdlers helped pad the Blue Devils’ point totals. In the 400mH on Friday, Marvin Dimanche (Ewing, Jr.) and Tyson Brown (Ewing, Jr.) went 4-5 with times of 59.45 and 1:00.03 to both qualify for groups. Brown had an even bigger result in the 110mH on Saturday, running a PR of 15.18 — now MC #7 — to earn a 4th-place medal.

Alexander Nikolov (Lawrence, Jr.) was right behind Brown in the 110mH, taking 5th in 15.23 to cap a strong weekend that included a leg on the Lawrence’s qualifying 4x100m relay.

Rashad Campbell (Trenton, Jr.) just missed advancing in the Central Group 4 400mH, but his 8th-place finish of 58.25 was a breakthrough nonetheless. It’s nearly two full seconds faster than his previous best and puts him at MC #4 right now.

Victor Millan (Nottingham) and Isaiah Walker-Underwood (Lawrence) start off on the third leg of the 4×800m at Central Group 3 sectionals on May 16, 2026. | Photo by mason_through_the_lens

Distance

The distance events at sectionals were headlined by two fantastic duels in Central Group 3 between Agrim Jha (WWP North, So.) and Jay Adimala (Colts Neck, Sr.). In the 3200m on Friday night, the two distance stars dropped the hammer over an incredible last two laps, separating from the pack but not from each other. In a thrilling photo finish, Jha outleaned Adimala to earn his first outdoor sectionals title, 9:26.62 to 9:26.64.

They ran it back on Saturday morning in the 1600m, where they dropped similarly fast, close finishes but with the order flipped. This time, Jha had to settle for the silver medal behind Adimala, 4:22.77 to 4:23.24, to set up another big showdown at the group championships.

Jha wasn’t the only Knight with big races in Central Group 3. Not far behind him and Adimala in the 3200m was Paul Wittenberg (WWP North, Jr.), who ran 9:32.96 for 3rd place to secure another trip to groups. The Knights also qualified two more boys in the 1600m as Sushanth Karri (WWP North, So.) and Rohan Varma (WWP North, So.) finished together in PRs of 4:30.36 and 4:30.38 for 5th and 6th to claim the last two spots on the groups squad. Those are the #8 and #9 times in Mercer County this season.

Jha, Wittenberg, and Varma also joined with Krrish Sheth on WWP North’s stacked 4×800m team, which won the sectional title by less than a second over Red Bank Regional, 8:06.99 to 8:07.61.

Even apart from WWP North, Central Group 3 was loaded with CVC medalists.

Tyler Hurst (Steinert, Sr.) was double qualifier in the shorter distance events. He opened his weekend by taking 3rd in the 800m with a season’s best of 1:58.80, and then he earned another bronze medal in the 1600m with a time of 4:29.34.

In the 3200m on Friday, Finnegan Curley (Hopewell Valley, Jr.) secured his spot at groups with 4th-place finish in 9:39.19, and Alden Smith (Lawrence, Sr.) followed in 9:54.00 for 5th place to earn his first sectionals medal.

Patrick Broker (Hopewell Valley, So.) pulled off one of the more impressive same-day doubles: just a short while after running a huge 800m PR of 2:00.19 to place 8th in that event, he punched his ticket to groups with a 3200m PR of 10:05.37 for the 6th place medal.

Behind WWP North in the 4×800m, three more CVC schools qualified for the Group 3 Championships.

First among that group was Ewing (Landyn Loesch, Jayden Studivant, Ibrahim Songu, and Shazad Singh), who took 3rd place in a school record of 8:12.48. The Blue Devils are now #3 on the Mercer County leaderboard, just 6 seconds outside #1.

Lawrence (Isaiah Walker Underwood, Wade Bullard, Alden Smith, and Benjamin Liu) ran a season’s best of 8:31.03 to finish 5th and earn a ticket to groups, and Nottingham (Michael Juliano, Victor Millan, Liam Cox, and Gabriel Toure) will join them there after finishing right behind them in 6th at 8:33.66.

‍Allentown’s 4×800m team of Luke Alessi, Scott Kochenour, Liam Pecci, and Ryan Heissler also advanced out of Central Group 2, placing 6th in 8:25.62.

At Central Group 4 sectionals, Saboor Qureshi (Princeton, Sr.) had a strong two-day stretch. He placed 6th in the 3200m with a PR of 9:38.77 to advance to groups, and then he added his second PR of the weekend in the 1600m with a 4:29.08 for 7th place, just outside the medals. He’s now Top 5 in the county in both events.

In Group 2, John O’Leary (Allentown, Sr.) added two more sectionals medals to his career haul by running a PR of 9:48.54 for 5th in the 3200m and then coming back the next day with a 4:32.52 for 5th in the 1600m.

Two other boys came close but just missed qualifying out of Central Group 3. Julian Hiraldo (Hopewell Valley, So.) finished 1 second outside the medals in the 1600m but still came away with a new PR of 4:31.82 for 7th. Earlier in the 800m, Liam Cox (Nottingham, Sr.) finished 7th in 1:59.96 but came back the next day to help lead the Northstars to qualification in both the 4x800m and 4x400m.

Another noteworthy result came from Sarth Shah (Allentown, Jr.), who broke the 10-minute barrier in the 3200m for the first time with a 9:59.06. That got him 8th place in the competitive Central Group 2 race.

Jumps

Hamilton West bolstered its claim to being the county’s top jumping school by having seven different jumpers win medals across every event.

The long jump is where the Hornets racked up the most points and swept three of the top four spots. They were led by Jamel Cheeseborough-Williams (Hamilton West, Sr.), who backed up his monster performance at CVCs with another leap of 23-0 to win the sectional title by almost 6 inches. His teammates weren’t far behind, with Brian Boswell (Hamilton West, Sr.) taking 3rd in 21-7.25 and Brandon Boswell (Hamilton West, Sr.) placing 4th in 20-8.75. Those were PRs for both boys, who are now #4 and #7 in the county.

Two more Hornet boys medaled in the triple jump, with Damario Marshall (Hamilton West, Sr.) placing 4th at 41-3 and Khalil Hardwick (Hamilton West, Jr.) taking 5th at 40-6.5 to join the long jumpers at groups. Hardwick doubled back in the high jump to finish 4th with a clearance of 5-10, and Daveron Jallah (Hamilton West, Sr.) also cleared 5-10 for a 5th-place ticket to groups. Finally, in the pole vault, Jonah Dixon (Hamilton West, So.) matched his personal best with a clearance of 10-6 for 6th place to give Hamilton West a full seven-boy squad advancing to the Group 3 Championships.

Also impressing at Central Group 3 was Joshua Wilson (Lawrence, Jr.), who cleared 6-2 for a new PR and a second-place medal. He’ll have two teammates joining him at groups: Isaiah Grier (Lawrence, Sr.) took 5th in the long jump after going 20-3 for his first ever 20’ jump, and Lloyd Mah Jr (Lawrence, Jr.) flew 40-3 in the triple jump for the 6th and final medal there.

Another long jumper joining the 20’ club from Central Group 3 was Dylen Pollock (Ewing, Jr.), whose clutch PR of 20-0 earned him the last long jump medal by just 1.5 inches.

Will Flannery (Hopewell Valley, Jr.) also set a timely PR in the pole vault, clearing 11-0 for the first time to finish 4th and advance to the Group 3 Championships. That clearance puts him at MC #2 this spring. Just missing out in 7th place was Herbert Addo (Nottingham, Sr.), but Addo still came away with a new PR of 10-6.

In the Central Group 2 pole vault, county leader Thomas Weis (Robbinsville, So.) was on fire and crushed his previous PR by a full 15 inches with a 12-6 clearance for the 3rd place medal. He’ll also be joined at groups by a few other Redbird jumpers. In the high jump, Dylan Voehl (Allentown, Sr.) and Justin Okorie (Allentown, Sr.) both cleared 5-10 to take the 3rd- and 4th-place medals. In the horizontal jumps, Braxton Rondinelli (Allentown, Jr.) finished 3rd in the long jump at 20-8.5 to advance, and John Mastromarino (Allentown, Jr.) took 5th in the triple jump at 39-8.

In Central Group 1, Teriyon Page (Thrive Charter, Sr.) added the long jump to his event schedule at groups after flying 20-6.75 for a new PR and the 3rd-place medal. High jumper Kim Ross (Thrive Charter, Sr.) cleared 5-10 to place 3rd and secure his spot at groups.

In the Central Group 3 high jump, Tyson Brown (Ewing, Jr.) continued his stellar weekend by clearing 5-10 to earn the last medal and add to a collection that included medals from both hurdling events.

Throws

In the shot put, Marjon Skillman (Thrive Charter, Sr.) was crowned the Central Group 1 champion with a massive heave of 47-7, continuing his remarkable streak of personal bests in every meet this spring. That throw, which puts him at #4 in Mercer County, brought Thrive Charter its first ever sectional title in track & field.

In the javelin, Dylan Voehl (Allentown, Sr.) launched a throw of 163-8 to extend his county-leading PR and take 3rd in Central Group 2, joining his high jump qualification for a two-event trip to the group meet. In Central Group 3, Mohammed Sheriff (Steinert, So.) threw a PR of 137-0 to finish just outside the medals in 7th place.

In the discus, Tylin Douglas (Nottingham, Sr.) advanced out of Central Group 3 with a throw of 131-0, earning 6th place by just 6 inches.

Gabriel Pena Bak (Steinert, Sr.) also had an impressive weekend with two big PRs. In the discus on Friday, he threw a 17-foot PR of 128-0 to place 8th in Central Group 3. Then he came back Saturday in the shot put and threw a 3-foot PR of 46-10, which is #5 in Mercer County and was enough to place 5th and advance to the group meet.