Week 2 Girls: Big throws, fast 1600s, and quick sprints highlight Bob James, Bill Bruno, Peddie, 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 GIRLS results from Week 2.
Girls Sprints
At the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic, Lawrence star Samya Jenkins opened her junior year by placing 3rd in the 55m in 7.51. Behind her were a pair of Nottingham girls who finished in the top 20: junior Ariana Crusoe Gaye ran 7.76 to win her prelim and finish 10th overall, while senior Ty’Onna Johnson took 19th with a 7.92.
At the Jim Mitchell Invitational, Lawrenceville senior Jael Gaines — who has traditionally focused on the long sprints but has already raced more 55s this winter than in the prior three years combined — took 14th in 7.56. She also jumped in the 300m there, where she ran 43.19 for 26th place.
Foluke Oladeji (Peddie) comes flying into the homestretch in the 200m at the Peddie Winter Invitational. | Jeff Barth for Peddie
At the Peddie Winter Invitational, the 45m showdown between Peddie’s Foluke Oladeji and Hightstown’s Aijah Somerselle was too close to call — literally, the girls were awarded a tie for 1st place in a time of 6.36. But Oladeji won the tiebreaker by taking the 200m in 26.91, ahead of Somerselle’s 27.66. Both of Oladeji’s times were PRs for the sophomore. Hightstown junior Jenna Ntori earned 3rd place in the 45m after running a 6.55 out of the second heat.
At the Bob James Invitational, Princeton sophomore Simone Henriques took the 55m in 7.84, as her junior teammate Maddie Hamlin also finished in the top 3 with a 7.91. Stuart County Day senior Georgia Glanton, running in her first indoor meet, won the fourth and final heat by a mile to almost match Hamlin with a 7.92 for 4th place overall.
Henriques nearly pulled off the 55m/200m double at Bob James, finishing 2nd in 200 with a 27.86, just two tenths behind Lorna Brackenridge from the George School. Glanton finished 5th in 28.80, again by dominating the last heat of the day.
In the 400m at Bob James, Princeton seniors Kacey Howes and Grace Zeng went 2-3, with Howes taking 2nd in 1:05.43 and Zeng right behind her in 1:05.89 for 3rd. At the Peddie Winter Invitational, Hightstown senior Karli Kelly won the 400m in 1:06.82.
The Lawrence girls posted one of the best relay finishes of the week when they finished 2nd in the 1400m sprint medley relay at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic. Their time of 4:00.55 was less than a second off of winner Manasquan.
Girls Hurdles
Peddie star Tessa Hughes kicked off her senior year with a win in the 45mH at the Peddie Winter Invitational, lowering her school’s facility record to a 7.06. Notre Dame’s Nora Schmitz, coming off a big 55mH PR of 9.49 two days earlier, finished 2nd behind Hughes in the 45mH with a 8.01.
Interestingly, Hughes and Schmitz both pulled off the rare hurdles / shot put double at the Peddie Winter Invitational — despite Schmitz having never thrown before and Hughes having only ever done it as part of a pentathlon. Schmitz got some revenge in the circle and topped Hughes, 27-11.25 to 25-0, as both girls threw surprisingly well to place 3rd and 4th.
Ewing junior Victoria Seaton won the 55mH at the SJTCA Frosh/Novice meet at the Bubble on Friday. She broke the 10-second barrier for the first time with a 9.87. In fact, Seaton had an all-around great day after finishing 1st in the 55mH, 2nd in the 55m in another PR of 8.02, and 5th in the long jump with a 13-6.5.
Girls Distance
Yasmin Willie (Lawrenceville) leaders her heat of the 600m at the Jim Mitchell Invitational. | Laurel Wassner for MileSplit
At the Jim Mitchell Invitational, Lawrenceville sophomore Yasmin Willie dropped a huge race in the seeded 600m, winning her heat and placing 7th overall with a school record of 1:40.69. For context, the World Athletics scoring tables equate it with a 2:21.8 800m, so that’s a very strong early-season result.
Hightstown sophomore Siena Rivera was a double-winner at the Peddie Winter Invitational, taking the 1600m in 5:31.00 and the 800m in 2:31.10. But her competition didn’t make it easy — she had to come from behind in both races, and her total margin of victory across the two events was just 1.0 second! In the 1600m, Peddie’s Shanel Tan finished just 0.3 seconds back with a great effort of 5:31.30, which beat even her outdoor PR. In the 800m, Peddie’s Victoria Vahl ran an indoor PR of 2:31.80 to finish just 0.7 behind Rivera.
At the Bob James Invitational, Princeton’s top distance duo of Kajol Karra and Grace Hegedus returned to action after a long and strong XC season. Karra went wire-to-wire to win in 5:18.77, with Hegedus tracking her closely the whole way for 2nd in 5:20.39. A little further back, their teammate Eowyn Deess used a big kick to take 4th in 5:32.85, which is an indoor PR and her second-fastest 1600m when counting outdoors. Princeton junior Lena Murray scored an easy victory in the 800m at Bob James, running 2:29.97 to win by almost 9 seconds.
Izzy Meth (Lawrence) kicks for 2nd place in a close four-girl race in the 1600m at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic. | Tom Smith for MileSplit
At the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic, Izzy Meth finished 2nd in an exciting 1600m that saw the top four girls all finish in the span of 0.8 seconds. With a new indoor PR of 5:21.08, she crossed just 0.3 seconds behind Manalapan star Jessica Abbott, who took 4th in this event at the Meet of Champions last spring. Mercer County’s top finisher in the Bill Bruno 800m was Allentown freshman Addison Frascella, who ran a PR of 2:38.12 for 8th place.
Girls Field
Hun’s Anna Casciano followed up on her victory at last week’s Poreda Invitational with two even bigger bombs this week, including a 43-6 to win the Bob James Invitational! That was a 2.5-foot indoor PR, and it even topped her outdoor PR by more than a foot. That’s an absolutely elite performance: for comparison, a throw 43-6 would have finished last winter at #4 in New Jersey and Top 50 in the United States. Casciano backed that up with another huge throw two days later, going 42-7.5 to dominate at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic.
Casciano isn’t the only local thrower in great shape this winter. Lawrence’s Madison Wallace added a foot to her PR with a throw of 29-8.75 for 7th place at Bill Bruno. At Bob James, Princeton sophomore Mia Abrams-Sartor also impressed with her own 3-foot PR of 26-6 for 2nd place, while Stuart County Day’s Georgia Glanton rounded out the top 3 with a 26-0.5 in her first time throwing the shot put at a major invitational. Earlier at the Peddie Winter Invitational, Notre Dame senior Danielle Marsh claimed 1st place with a throw of 29-8. That was just enough to edge Hightstown senior Jaiden Bosley, who threw 29-5.5 for 2nd place.
In the high jump, Notre Dame’s Jamie Werdal won the Peddie Winter Invitational with a clearance of 4-10, tying her outdoor PR from this past spring. At Bill Bruno, Allentown junior Caitlin MacInnes cleared 4-8 to tie for 8th place.
At the Bob James Invitational, Stuart County Day senior Kirsten Brenya had a good day in the horizontal jumps. She won the triple jump on her last attempt with a 33-1, and then she finished 2nd in the long jump in a strong 15-2. Brenya is already known as one of the county’s best in the triple jump and high jump, but this was surprisingly her first time contesting the long jump at any major meet, indoors or out. Brenya followed that up with another great triple jump of 32-7 for 2nd place at the Bill Bruno Holiday Classic.