Week 6: SJTCA #12, Big Red Invite, and More
It was a busy week in New Jersey track and field — and that even before considering the NJSIAA state relays, which will get their own recap. Check out highlights below from three other meets where local athletes showed out and continued climbing the Mercer County leaderboards.
SJTCA #12
Last Monday, Ewing, Hightstown, Hopewell Valley, and Steinert were among the among the 40 schools who showed up to a very competitive SJTCA #12 meet at Ocean Breeze.
Boys Highlights
Starting with the distance events, Hopewell Valley’s Finnegan Curley impressed in his first 1600m year of the year, using a huge last 400m to move from 6th to 2nd and finish just .2 off the win in 4:32.95. That time is #1 in Mercer County this season and his third straight PR across all distances.
Curley’s teammates Colin Vickery (13th in 4:40.76) and Julian Hiraldo (15th in 4:42.10) also came away with new PRs. The Hopewell Valley boys 4x800m (Silas Allevik, Mason O’Connor, Hiraldo, and Patrick Broker) placed 3rd with a CVC-leading time of 8:46.52.
In the 800m, Steinert’s Tyler Hurst took 11th overall after winning his heat by almost 2 seconds with a 2:01.24. That’s an indoor PR and currently sits at #1 among CVC boys in the open 800m. Hightstown’s Mason Johnson placed 9th in the 3200m with a big PR of 10:14.34.
Hightstown’s sprinters had a historic day — both their boys and girls 4x200m teams set school records! On the boys’ side, the Hightstown quartet of Daniel Young, Dru Chin, Benjamin Glatt, and Terrance Williams dominated their heat by over 5 seconds to win in 1:35.05, which got them 12th overall here. Individually, Terrance Williams finished in 6th place in the 55m with a season’s best of 6.66, which is #4 in the county this winter.
In the 4x400m, Ewing (Tristan Thompson, Landyn Loesch, Domonique Jones, and Dasan Jones) ran a county-leading 3:30.16 to take 4th place. Two of those boys, Dasan Jones and Tristan Thompson, also ran well in the 55m: Jones placed 14th (out of 138 boys) with a 6.73, and the freshman Thompson impressed in his very first 55m race by dominating his heat with a 6.87, which earned him 32nd place overall and ties him for #8 in Mercer County this winter.
In the field events, Ewing’s Tyson Brown finished 2nd in the high jump after tying his outdoor PR with a 5-10. In the triple jump, three Mercer County athletes surpassed 39 feet and placed well: Ewing’s Kelin Green (3rd in 39-8), Steinert’s Arlington Michel (4th in 39-6.25), and Ewing’s Oluwadarasimi Ogunyinka (7th in 39-3.25). In the shot put, Hightstown senior Justin Edwards PR’d by 18 inches with a 45-7.25 to earn 7th place out of 79 throwers.
Girls Highlights
Ewing sprinters Angel Johnson and Leah Daniels continued their rapid progression this winter by running more top times in the girls 55m. The sophomore Johnson blasted a 7.35 to dominate her heat and take 2nd place overall. That was a PR by .14 and elevates her to NJ #24. The senior Daniels similarly impressed and finished right behind Johnson. She dropped her PR from 7.44 to 7.38 — which puts her at NJ #30 — to take 5th place.
The Hightstown girl sprinters matched their boy counterparts by breaking their school record in the 4x200m. The team of Chloe Lewis, Jenna Ntori, Madison Kelly, and Aijah Somerselle stopped the clock at 1:48.57 for 5th place overall.
Hopewell Valley had several distance girls finish Top 10 in their events. Junior Anna Wilson had a big breakthrough race in the 1600m, using a strong effort through the middle of the race to take 3rd place in 5:20.22. That’s 5 seconds even faster than her outdoor PR. In the 800m, Sydney Young took 5th in 2:25.30, while her classmate Elsie Rey-de-Castro followed closely with an indoor PR of 2:27.71 for 7th place. Rey-de-Castro, and Wilson then teamed up with Chelsea Cahall and Maddie LaChance as Hopewell Valley placed 4th in the 4x800m with a 10:37.56.
Hightstown’s Siena Rivera pulled off a very impressive distance double. She opened by running a 3200m PR of 11:49.02, which was 3rd place out of the girls at this meet and 4th among Mercer County girls this winter. She doubled back in the 1600m to run a season’s best of 5:29.21 for 5th place.
In the field events, Hopewell Valley’s Uchenna Obidike threw an all-conditions PR of 37-1.5 for 5th place, which is #2 in Mercer County this winter. She also took 2nd place in the high jump after clearing 4-10.
Big Red Invitational
On Saturday, Princeton and Lawrenceville — along with a few representatives from Stuart Country Day and Wilberforce — were in action at the Tsai Fieldhouse for the Big Red Invite. Lawrenceville’s fast facilities once again produced some of the area’s top results.
Boys Highlights
Lawrenceville’s Ayodele Joa-Griffith continued his incredible season in the 800m, this time lowering his indoor PR to 1:54.25 to win the Big Red Invitational. That time is #2 in New Jersey this winter!
His teammate Arunav Sarkar also set an indoor PR with a 2:00.54, using a strong last lap to narrowly outkick Deagan Hopkins (now at the George School) for 2nd place. (And that was with Sarkar doubling back from winning the 1600m in 4:34.35, which is #2 in Mercer County.) Close behind them, Princeton’s Fletcher Harrison set an all-conditions 800m PR of 2:01.60 to take 4th place.
In other notable distance results, Princeton’s Saboor Qureshi raced one of his first ever 3200s and won in 9:56.51, and Lawrenceville’s Julius Jordan broke the 4:40 barrier in the 1600m with a 4:38.16 for 3rd place.
In the sprints, Princeton’s Kyle Carr took 2nd place in the 55m with a new PR of 6.76, which is #5 in Mercer County. He also doubled back to take 7th in the 200m with a season’s best of 24.03.
Princeton’s Yi-Tian Xiong wins the 60mH over Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson at the Big Red Invite. | 2L Race Services
The 55mH was a duel between two of the county’s top hurdlers, Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson and Princeton’s Yi-Tian Xiong. Xiong won this round, running a PR of 7.72 in the 55mH prelims and then an 8.25 in the 60mH final. Woodson took 2nd in both contests, with a 7.87 in the 55mH and a 8.37 in the final.
Lawrenceville pole vaulter Aslan Aksu soared to a new PR of 13-2, clearing the NJ #10 height on his third and final attempt. The Big Red also had a pair of throwers sweep the shot put, with Jabralyn Jones going 50-6.75 for 1st place and Joshua Witherspoon throwing a PR of 48-9.25 for 2nd place.
Girls Highlights
In the girls 800m, Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard ran away with the big win in 2:18.13, which is not just an indoor PR but also #11 in the state this winter. She towed the next four finishers to new indoor PRs, including Lawrenceville’s Rory Laubach (2nd in 2:22.30) and a trio of Princeton girls: Kajol Karra (3rd in 2:23.97), Lena Murray (4th in 2:24.50), and Grace Hegedus (5th in 2:24.98).
In an extremely close 200m, Lawrenceville’s Blake Hatwood ran an indoor PR of 27.36 in the first heat, only for Princeton’s Simone Henriques to run .001 seconds faster in the second heat to take the overall win. But Hatwood still came away with one win on the day, taking the 55m with a 7.53.
In other sprints, Lawrenceville’s Jael Gaines ran the fastest open 400m of the year in Mercer County with a 59.61 for the win. In the hurdles, Princeton freshman Johanna Kraft won both the 55m hurdles prelim (in 9.21) and the 60m hurdles final (in 9.86), in addition to running a 27.66 in the 200m for 4th place there.
In the field events, winners included Princeton’s Ngozi Okeke-Agulu (season’s best of 16-0 in the long jump), Stuart Country Day’s Kirsten Brenya (31-5 in the triple jump), Lawrenceville’s Aurielle Ellington-McIntosh (PR-tying 4-8 in the high jump), and Lawrenceville’s Madison Boone (32-0.5 in the shot put).
Other Meets
While SJTCA #12 was going on at Ocean Breeze on Monday, the Bubble in Toms River was playing host to the Mid-Winter Classic. Allentown, Hamilton West, Nottingham, and Steinert all brought athletes to compete in the novice and freshman events there.
Nottingham’s Michael Juliano, a sophomore in his first season of track, had a breakthrough 800m race and finished 2nd in a 3-second PR of 2:06.01. That’s #6 among CVC boys in the open 800m this winter.
Other top-6 finishers at the Mid-Winter Classic include:
Nottingham’s Victor Millan took 4th in the boys 800m in 2:11.95.
Nottingham’s Matthew Alvarez and Allentown’s Liam Pecci went 5-6 in the boys 1600m, running 5:02.38 and 5:03.77.
Hamilton West’s Daveron Jallah took 4th in the boys high jump with a 5-4 clearance.
Allentown’s Abigail Van Ness finished 4th in the girls 800m in 2:51.67.
This past Saturday, Hun competed in a small meet against a few private schools from Pennsylvania. Some highlights include:
Warren Hernandez lowered his 55m PR to 6.69 (#6 in the county) to finish in 3rd place.
T.J. Tift finished 4th with a 6.89 and 1st in the 400m in 55.25, both of which are #12 in Mercer County right now.
Sophomore Crawford Boone won the shot put in 43-6.5 at his first ever track meet for Hun.
Lulu Cattaneo chopped 12 seconds off her 1600m with a 5:38.89 for 2nd place.