Week 3 Recap: Kicking off winter break with big efforts at SJTCA #5

This was a quieter week in New Jersey track, with most athletes relaxing to start winter break and gearing up for the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival tomorrow. But a quiet week didn’t mean a slow one for the Mercer County athletes that did compete!

Nearly 40 schools closed out fall semester by heading to Ocean Breeze in Staten Island for the SJTCA #5 meet on Monday. Among that group was Ewing, Hamilton West, Hopewell Valley, Notre Dame, Steinert, and WWP North. On the Saturday after Christmas, a smaller group of schools braved the snow to attend the Merli Invitational at the Bubble in Toms River, and that included Nottingham.

See below for some highlights from these Week 3 meets.

Boys Sprints & Hurdles

Aldric Crawford (Notre Dame) finishes the 400m at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit.

In the 400m at SJTCA #5 400m, Mercer County boys showed out and put three boys in the top 10. Notre Dame senior Aldric Crawford led the way in 4th place with a 50.98, breaking 51 for just the second time indoors even after doubling back from the 55mH. His junior teammate Amir Mulkey used a very strong second lap to beat not just his indoor PR but even his open outdoor PR with a 51.16, which got him 6th overall here. Ewing’s Dasan Jones finished 10th in 52.25.

Notre Dame’s Jayden Davis took 13th in the 200m at SJTCA #5 with an indoor PR of 23.56. He placed just ahead of Ewing sophomore Domonique Jones, who just about matched his outdoor PR with a 23.60 for 15th place. In the 55m, Hamilton West’s Jamel Cheeseborough-Williams won his heat and placed 30th overall in 6.98, breaking 7 for the first time.

In the 400m at the Merli Invitational, Nottingham sophomore Michael Juliano earned the 3rd-place medal with a PR of 54.30.

In the hurdles, Notre Dame senior Zamir Jones picked up his first-ever individual win at a major meet by taking the 55mH at SJTCA #5 in 7.65. Not only did he trim a few more hundredths off his PR, but he also got some revenge by narrowly outleaning Hunterdon Central’s Kasey Kinsley, who had done the same to Jones at the Poreda Invitational. Jones’s teammate Aldric Crawford took 6th in that same race with a 8.05.

Boys Distance

Agrim Jha (WWP North) and Finnegan Curley (Hopewell Valley) run at the front of the 3200m at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit

In the 3200m at SJTCA #5, WWP North sophomore Agrim Jha took advantage of his lingering XC fitness to produce a very strong season debut of 9:24.52 for 2nd place at SJTCA #5. That time is just 3 seconds off his outdoor PR from last spring and puts him at NJ #3 right now. While he would have liked the win here, it’s not a bad result to finish just 1 second behind Morris Hills’ Nicholas Falcone, who took 6th at last winter’s Meet of Champions in 9:14.

Right behind Jha, Hopewell Valley junior Finnegan Curley finished 3rd in a 9-second PR of 9:39.04, proving that his big step-up during this past XC season will translate to some big 3200m races this year.

In the 1600m, Steinert senior Tyler Hurst looked sharp in his season opener, running a county-leading 4:34.40 to take 2nd place. He used a big kick to finish just 2 seconds behind the winner and to hold off two other boys who finished within a half-second behind him. In the next heat, Hopewell Valley’s Colin Vickery (8th in 4:42.79) held off WWP North sophomores Rohan Varma (10th in a PR of 4:44.47) and Sushanth Karri (13th in 4:47.09), as the three boys went 1-2-3 in their heat.

Ewing junior Landyn Loesch was Mercer County’s top finisher in the 800m at SJTCA #5, running an indoor PR 2:07.92 for 14th place overall and 3rd in his heat, just a half-second off of 1st.

Boys Field

Notre Dame sophomore Kendrick Mullen took 2nd place in the high jump at SJTCA #3 after clearing 6-2 on his third attempt. That was his first time ever making it over 6-2 indoors. 

Notre Dame’s Aldric Crawford finished 3rd in the long jump after going 20-10.25 on his final jump, which was his second-farthest jump ever. Mercer County had two more boys surpass 19-6, with Hamilton West senior Jamel Cheeseborough-Williams jumping 19-8.25 for 7th and Notre Dame senior Zamir Jones going 19-6.75 for 8th.

(A few weeks ago, Track Mercer missed a big performance at the SJTCA #1 meet, where Cheeseborough, in his first ever indoor long jump, flew 21-3 to win SJTCA #1. So he starts this winter season right where he was to finish last spring season: the top of the Mercer County leaderboard.)

Damario Marshall (Hamilton West) skips his way to 2nd place and a new PR in the triple jump at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit

In the triple jump at SJTCA #5, Hamilton West senior Damario Marshall joined the 40’ club with a big PR of 41-3 for 2nd place, which is #1 in Mercer County. Steinert senior Arlington Michel finished 5th in 38-1.75, on a busy day where he also ran the 55m and 200m.

In other field events at SJTCA #5, Hopewell Valley’s Will Flannery tied his indoor pole vault PR with a 9-6 for 9th place, and Notre Dame’s AJ Briggs threw a season’s best of 37-10.5 in the shot put for 17th.

Girls Sprints

Angel Johnson (Ewing) and Nina Dixit (WWP North) compete in the 200m at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit

Ewing sophomore Angel Johnson had a busy and successful day at SJTCA #5, complete the sprints/hurdles triple in the hardest way possible: running all three events back-to-back-to back. She opened by taking 6th in the 55mH with a time of 8.91. Next on the straightway was the 55m, where she ran 7.60 for 12th place. That was followed immediately by the 200m, and Johnson once again came through to win her heat and place 10th overall in 26.80.

Two other girls produced great 200m/400m doubles. Ewing sophomore Faith Settles won her 200m heat in 27.33 to get 17th overall and then came back in the 400m to run a big indoor PR of 1:01.19 for 5th place. WWP North junior Nina Dixit took 21st in the 200m with a 27.52 and followed it up with an indoor PR of 1:03.25 in the 400m for 17th place. 

Leah Daniels (Ewing) charges off the line in the 400m at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit

The Blue Devils actually had two girls in the top 5 of the 400m, led by senior Leah Daniels delivering an excellent performance for 3rd place in 59.66. That was her first time going sub-60 in a Ewing uniform. Hopewell Valley’s Elizabeth Eckel also ran well in the 400m, breaking her indoor open PR with a 1:03.13 for 14th.

Ariana Crusoe Gaye (Nottingham, right) leans for the win in the 55m at the Merli Invitational. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit

Over at the Merli Invitational, Nottingham junior Ariana Crusoe Gaye had a nice day, highlighted by winning the 55m in a photo finish. She and South Brunswick’s Maya Dubois were both clocked at 7.63, but Crusoe was credited with the win. Crusoe Gaye also took 4th in the 400m with a 1:05.31.

The Northstars’ Ty’Onna Johnson also earned some hardware at the Merli Invitational. She took 3rd in the 55mH with a 10.73 and 5th in the 55m with a 7.89.

Girls Distance

In the 1600m at STJCA #5, Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young stuck to Eastern Regional’s Natalie Dumas — the best mid-distance runner in the country — for 1200m before Dumas pulled away and Young cruised in for 2nd place in 5:19.95, a nice season debut in the 1600m. Also in that race, Young’s teammate Anna Wilson ran 5:36.13 for 13th place, a 6-second improvement over her race the week earlier.

Elsie Rey-de-Castro (Hopewell Valley) and Sara Secora (WWP North) compete in the 800m at SJTCA #5. | Mathfact for MileSplit

In the 800m, Hopewell Valley’s Elsie Rey-de-Castro and WWP North’s Sara Secora both ran indoor PRs, with Rey-de-Castro (7th in 2:29.19) finishing just ahead of Secora (9th in 2:03.07). Those were indoor PRs for both girls. Finishing just a couple seconds back from them was WWP North’s Evelyn Yang, who took 14th place in 2:32.07.

Girls Field

In the high jump at SJTCA #5, WWP North sophomore Anamika Sertil took 3rd place after clearing 4-10 on her first attempt in her first indoor meet. Notre Dame’s Jamie Werdal also tied her PR of 4-10 for the second straight meet and finished 5th. Hopewell Valley’s Uchenna Obidike finished right behind them in 6th place with a 4-8 clearance. 

Mercer County’s top three long jumpers at SJTCA #5 all placed in the top 10 and finished within 0.75 inches of each other: Hopewell Valley’s Tessa Goodman (8th in 14-8), Notre Dame’s D’Njah Tatum (9th in 14-7.75), and Hopewell Valley’s Katherine Williams (10th in 14-7.25).

Hamilton West senior Alexis Johnson had a big triple jump to take 3rd place in 33-6. That’s over a foot farther than her outdoor PR, and it’s already farther than anyone from Mercer County jumped last winter.

In the shot put at SJTCA #5, Hopewell Valley’s Uchenna Obidike had a great season-opening throw of 34-4.75 to take 3rd place. That’s just an inch off of what she threw to take 6th at groups last winters.  Ewing’s Jayla Little also broke into the top 10 with a 30-10.75 for 8th place.

Out of the 72 throwers at SJTCA #5, four more Mercer County girls placed well and threw over 28 feet: Hopewell Valley’s Vanessa Bartnikowski (16th in 28-9), Notre Dame’s Danielle Marsh (18th in 28-8.75), Ewing’s Amani Johnson (20th in 28-4), and WWP North’s Eva Gedrich (21st in 28-3). Almost hitting that mark was WWP North sophomore Abigail Power, who won her flight — by a lot — with a throw of 27-10.5 for 23rd overall in her first-ever track meet.