Week 2 Boys: Sprint battles at Peddie and Bob James, plus Bill Bruno, Jim Mitchell, and more
The winter track season is heating up, and the results are rolling in fast! Mercer County schools were in action almost every day this past week.
On Monday, Peddie hosted Allentown, Hightstown, Notre Dame, Pennington, and WWP South for the Peddie Winter Invitational.
On Thursday, Hun, Princeton Day, Princeton, Stuart County Day, and Pennington competed in the Bob James Invitational at Jadwin Gym on the Princeton University campus.
On Friday, Ewing brought some rising stars to the Bubble in Toms River for the SJTCA Frosh and Novice meet.
On Saturday, the Bubble played host to the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic, which was the first big invitational on the Bubble’s newly resurfaced track. Allentown, Hun, Lawrence, Nottingham, Stuart Country Day, and Trenton got to try it out.
Also on Saturday, Lawrenceville brought a few athletes up to the Armory for the large Jim Mitchell Invitational.
On Saturday and Sunday, a handful of athletes from Peddie and Pennington competed at the Bishop Loughlin Games at Ocean Breeze.
See below for some of the most notable BOYS results from Week 2.
Boys Sprints
Ayodele Joa-Griffith (Lawrenceville) lines up alongside Olympic gold medalist Quincy Wilson (Bullis) ahead of the invitational 500m at the Jim Mitchell Invitational. | Laurel Wassner for MileSplit
Lawrenceville senior Ayodele Joa-Griffith was one of six boys invited to participate in the 500m at the Jim Mitchell Invitational, and he made the most of it by taking 2nd place in 1:04.81. That’s a great time, roughly equivalent to a 49.3 400m. The only person ahead of him in this race was Bullis’s Quincy Wilson, who holds multiple national records plus an Olympic gold medal — so that’s pretty good company.
Pennington’s Tahmere Brown started his sophomore season at full speed, racking up three wins in four days. At the Peddie Winter Invitational, he won the 45m in a quick 5.53, followed closely by Hightstown senior Terrance Williams in 5.61. The 45m is an uncommon event, but it’s worth noting that both boys ran faster than Brown ever did in three attempts last season — and Brown went on to run 6.57 for the 55m that year. So both Brown and Williams are off to a very strong start this season.
Brown and Williams got a rematch in the 200m, and Brown once again prevailed in a close finish, 23.92 to 24.06. Peddie senior Joseph Gaston finished 3rd in that event after dropping a 24.64 to win his heat by almost a full second. Peddie senior Luke Chon won the 400m at his home invitational in 53.53.
At the Bob James Invitational, Brown took the 55m in 6.65 to claim his third win of the week. He pulled away in the final strides to overcome a strong challenge from Hun senior Warren Hernandez, who clocked an impressive 6.70 — just off his PR of 6.66 — in his first meet for his new school. Princeton Day’s Nathan Bennett took 5th overall in 6.80.
Later that night, Bennett showed off his sprint endurance by winning the 200m at Bob James in 23.74. That was his first ever time running the 200m at an invitational, indoors or out, though he’s previously had success in the 400m. Hernandez delivered a big effort out of Heat 2 to finish 2nd overall in 23.88, an indoor PR. Brown finished 3rd in Heat 1 and 5th overall in 24.66.
Briyon Ellerbe (Trenton) gets the stick from Derrick Carter heading into the anchor leg of the 1400m SMR at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic. | Tom Smith for MileSplit
At the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic, Trenton’s Derrick Carter had a big day. First, in the 55m, he posted a 6.84 in the prelims and then a 6.80 in the finals to take 6th place. A short time later, he teamed up with Brandon Fishburne, Zimere Williams, and Briyon Ellerbe as the Trenton 1400m sprint medley team took 1st place, running 3:16.93 to beat Manalapan by 4 seconds. After a quick rest, Carter and Ellerbe were back on the track, along with Landon McQueen and Ronnie Solomon, as the Trenton 4x400m took 3rd place in 3:40.71.
Boys Hurdles
Princeton’s Yi-Tian Xiong, who had a breakout spring season in the 110mH, opened his junior campaign in strong form by running a big PR of 7.87 in the 55mH at the Bob James Invitational. He took 4th behind a trio of very fast times, led a 7.66 from Hunterdon Central senior Kasey Kinsley. At Jim Mitchell, Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson likewise posted a 7.87 to take 4th place in the final.
Notre Dame’s Bryce Marsh won the 45mH at the Peddie Winter Invitational over Hightstown’s Amal Stewart, 6.68 to 6.81, while Lawrence’s Alexander Nikolov placed 8th at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic in 8.26.
Boys Distance
John O’Leary (Allentown) flies down the homestretch for the win in the 1600m at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic. | Tom Smith for MileSplit
At the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic, Allentown senior John O’Leary got his second win of the season by taking the 1600m with a time of 4:38.98, using a big kick to catch Rumson-Fair Haven’s David Pinsly and win by just a half second. His teammate Sarth Shah finished 4th in 4:44.34. Not only did Shah PR by 4 seconds, but he outkicked three other boys who finished within a half-second of him.
In the 1600m at the Bob James Invitational, Princeton senior Saboor Qureshi made his move with 600m to go to pull away from his sophomore teammate Lachlan Arnold and eventually take the win in 4:39.21, which is a new all-conditions PR. Arnold followed across the line in 2nd place and picked up a new indoor PR of 4:42.42.
At the Jim Mitchell Invitational, several Big Red boys posted nice times for the full mile. Junior Arunav Sarkar led the way with a 4:36.03 for 13th place out of Heat 1, while sophomore Julius Jordan (23rd in 4:42.17) and senior Mohamed Mohamed (24th in 4:42.24) teamed up for big races — and even bigger kicks — to take 2nd and 3rd in Heat 3.
At the Peddie Winter Invitational 1600m, Hightstown senior Mason Johnson finished 2nd in 4:48.27. The race came down to the wire, as Holy Ghost Prep’s Nicholas Giordano took the win by a mere 0.07 seconds.
In the 800m at the Peddie Winter Invitational, the host’s Elie Meyer ran away with a big win and stopped the clock at 2:01.52. His classmate Luca Romanelli gave Peddie a 1-2 finish with his 2nd-place effort in a time of 2:05.52.
At the Bob James Invitational, Princeton junior Fletcher Harrison used a strong, evenly paced race to take 4th in the 800m in 2:03.37, an indoor PR that nearly topped his outdoor PR. At Bill Bruno, Nottingham sophomore Michael Juliano won his heat and placed 8th overall, running 2:09.03 in his first ever race at the Bubble.
Boys Field
In the shot put at the Bob James Invitational, Princeton junior Eddie Del Cid showed off some big improvements he made over the fall. In his season opener, he broke his PR by over 3’ and shattered the 40’ barrier with a 43-0.5, which was good for 4th place.
At the Peddie Winter Invitational, Hightstown swept the shot put podium thanks to a trio of strong seniors: Christian Houvig (1st in 41-4), Justin Edwards (2nd in 39-3), and Shawn Lobo (3rd in 37-3.5). And at Bill Bruno, Allentown’s Damon Swain added an inch to his all-conditions PR with a 39-6 for 11th place, and Lawrence’s Dakota Karas threw a huge 3’ PR of 38-8 for 14th.
In the long jump at Bob James, Princeton junior Oliver Spagnoli took the win with a big leap of 20-4.5, which is a new indoor PR and his second-farthest jump ever counting outdoors. Peddie had two good jumpers at the Bishop Loughlin Games: sophomore Yoel Ajari bounded 38-10.25 in the triple jump for 12th place, and junior Kadin Huling flew 18-11 in the long jump for 21st place.
In the high jump, Notre Dame’s Kendrick Mullen cleared 6-0 for the first time this year to take the win at the Peddie Winter Invitational over his senior teammate, Bryce Marsh, who went 5-10 for 2nd place. Allentown’s Dylan Voehl also cleared 6-0 over at Bill Bruno, which got him 2nd place there.