Week 7 Recap: Record-breaking mid-distance efforts highlight a packed week

Another weekend snowstorm shuffled the meet schedule, but there was still lots to recap for the week of January 19-25!

• On January 19 Trenton and WWP North lined up many of their best athletes at the NJ Conference Clash 2026 at Ocean Breeze.

• Also on January 19, Peddie hosted the CVC / Peddie Invitational 2026, which most local schools attended. While most top athletes sat out this meet in favor of the state relays, there were a few lofty performances that climbed the county leaderboards.

  On January 20, Ewing, Hightstown, Robbinsville, and Thrive Charter competed in a packed SJTCA #13 meet at the Bubble in Toms River.

• On January 21, Lawrenceville hosted its LVS Senior Day Invite at the Tsai Fieldhouse. Lawrence and Stuart Country Day were among the ten teams joining in on senior day.

• On January 23, Princeton Day brought a few runners to the Armory in Manhattan for the Dr. Sander Scorcher 2026. 

• On January 24, Lawrenceville and Wilberforce were well represented at Ocean Breeze for the Puma New York International Showcase. 

Here are the busy week’s most notable performances in each event group.

Girls Distance

Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard takes command of the race with 200m to go in the girls invitational 800m at the Puma New York International Showcase 2026. | Laurel Wassner (@exl.sportsmedia) for MileSplit

Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard pulled off an incredible victory in the invitational 800m at the New York International Showcase. Running in the second-seeded heat, she patiently sat in 3rd place for the first 400m before dropping the hammer and negative splitting her way to a 2:14.33, handily winning her heat and even beating the top time laid down by the faster-seeded heat. That new PR makes Blanchard NJ #7 in the open 800m this year, and it’s the 4th-fastest indoor 800m ever run by a Mercer County girl (and the fastest ever run by a NJSIAA competitor).

In other action at the New York International Showcase, Lawrenceville’s Rory Laubach and Yasmin Willie also had strong races in the invitational 800m, with Laubach taking 13th in 2:23.18 and Willie running a season’s best of 2:24.65 for 18th place. 

In Friday night at the Armory, Princeton Day freshman Kayla Peckens impressed in the full mile by running 5:21.10 for 12th place at the Dr. Sander Scorcher. That was effectively a 5-second PR over her 1600m best and puts her at #4 in the county this winter.

Lawrence’s Izzy Meth won an exciting 1600m at LVS Senior Day in 5:33. She had to overcome a strong challenge from Lawrenceville’s Essie Chafin, who took the lead twice in the final 400m only for Meth to seal it with a big final 30m. The senior Chafin still came away with a new indoor PR of 5:34.44.

At the NJ Conference Clash, WWP North’s Evelyn Yang finished top-20 in the 800m with a season’s best of 2:31.90 for 18th place (after doubling back from the 1600m), and her teammate Sara Secora entered the 1600m country leaderboard with a 5:38.45 for 21st place.

In the 3200m at the New York International Showcase, Lawrenceville’s Charlotte Aitken-Davies ran a big PR of 12:05.02 for 8th place in the varsity 3200m, just ahead of her teammate Chafin in her own PR of 12:10.06 for 9th.

Girls Sprints

At the New York International Showcase, Lawrenceville’s Jael Gaines and Blake Hatwood delivered strong sprint doubles. Gaines took 11th in the invitational 300m in 41.69, which is roughly equivalent to a 58-mid 400m. Hatwood placed 29th in the 60m with an 8.15, a PR in the uncommon distance. In the more common 200m, both girls were terrific: Hatwood chopped over a second off her PR to take 30th place in 26.05, and Gaines similarly delivered a season’s best of 26.45 for 39th. Those are the #1 and #3 times in Mercer County.

At that same meet, Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard doubled back from her record-setting 800m to blast a county-leading 58.47 in the 400m, finishing 16th overall.

Hightstown senior Aijah Somerselle put on a show at SJTCA #13: she earned wins in the 55m in 7.51 and the 200m in 26.89, and she even added a 3rd-place finish in the 55mH with a 9.63. She’s now top-6 in the county in all three of those events. Her junior teammate Jenna Ntori also produced a strong showing with 4th-place finishes in both the 55m (7.69) and the 200m (27.99 PR).

Ewing’s sprinters similarly racked up some nice results at SJTCA #13. Karis Crossland finished 11th in the 55m with a season’s beat of 7.85, while Lynsah Rejouis and Victoria Seaton went 4-5 in the 55mH with times of 9.65 and 9.76. 

At the CVC / Peddie Invitational, Nottingham’s Ty’Onna Johnson, who generally specializes in the shorter sprints, stepped up to the 400m and clocked the fastest time of the day with a 1:06.10. That’s currently #18 in Mercer County for the open 400m. 

In other sprinting results, WWP North’s Nina Dixit took 17th in the 200m at NJ Conference Clash with a season’s best of 27.48, and Stuart Country Day sophomore Georgia Glanton took 4th at the LVS Senior Day 55m in 7.73, chopping almost .2 off her PR.

Girls Field

There was strong lineup of girl throwers at the CVC / Peddie Invitational. WWP North’s Eva Gedrich launched a 16-inch PR of 31-7.5 for the win, and her sophomore teammate Abigail Powers also PR’d by almost a foot to earn 2nd place in 30-7. Others going over 29’ at Peddie were Hightstown’s Jaiden Bosley (3rd in 29-1) and Notre Dame’s Danielle Marsh (4th in 29-0). 

The farthest throw of the week actually went to Lawrenceville sophomore Madison Boone, who tossed a 3-inch PR of 32-9.5 for 7th place at the New York International Showcase. Her teammate Olivia Allison also threw a big season’s best of 29-10 for 17th place there.

At SJTCA #13, Robbinsville’s Mahjanae Fowler set a new shot put PR of 27-1.25 for 3rd place, and her teammate Meghann Hansen cleared 8-6 in the pole vault for the first time ever for a 4th-place finish.

Both horizontal jumps saw new names at the top of the county leaderboards this week. In the long jump, Hightstown sophomore Chloe Lewis took over the top spot with an indoor PR of 16-5.25 for 2nd place at SJTCA #13. In the triple jump, Stuart Country Day’s Kirsten Brenya won at LVS Senior Day with a season’s best of 34-1, which is #32 in New Jersey and tied for #1 in Mercer County. Lawrence sophomore Angima Olando also had a great jumping day at LVS Senior Day, setting PRs in both the long jump (14-9 for 6th) and the triple jump (31-4.25 for 4th).

Also surpassing 30’ in the triple jump this week were WWP North juniors Jada Sands and Aditi Revuri, who took 4th and 5th at the NJ Conference Clash with marks of 30-6 and 30-1.5.

Boys Distance

Lawrenceville’s Ayodele Joa-Griffith stops the clock with a new Mercer County record in the 600m at the LVS Senior Day Invite 2026. | 2L Race Services

It was a small meet but a huge performance: in the 600m at the LVS Senior Day Invite, Lawrenceville mid-distance star Ayodele Joa-Griffith became the first Mercer County boy to ever break 1:23, soloing a blistering 1:22.67 for the win. Perhaps most impressively, Joa-Griffith negative-split his way to the record, clocking laps of 27.2, 28.3, and then 27.1. He broke the previous county record of 1:23.16 held by Notre Dame’s Jeff Zoda from 2002. (WWP North’s Kian Jackson also ran a 1:23.0 handheld time in 2015.)

Three days later at the New York International Showcase, Joa-Griffith returned to his habit of dropping hot times in the more common 800m, running a 1:55.30 to win his heat and place 4th overall.

Joining Joa-Griffith in the sub-2:00 club this week was WWP North long-distance star Agrim Jha, who broke the barrier with a 1:59.23 for 2nd place at the NJ Conference Clash. That’s the fastest open 800m indoors by a CVC boy since 2020. The Knights placed two more boys in the top 10 at that meet, with Akash Myadam (7th in 2:05.70) and Veejhay Roy (8th in 2:05.94) both setting indoor PRs.

WWP North similarly packed four boys into the top 15 in the 1600m at the NJ Conference Clash. Sophomore Rohan Varma led the way with a huge, 11-second PR of 4:33.74 for 4th place. He was closely followed by junior Paul Wittenberg, who set his own indoor PR of 4:34.68 for 7th. Sophomore Sushanth Karri and freshman Ashvin Avineni went 2-3 in the second heat with times of 4:41.19 and 4:42.11, which got them 13th and 15th overall. 

In the full mile at the New York International Showcase, Lawrenceville’s Arunav Sarkar took 5th in his division with a 4:36.11. His teammate Bastian Bocklage earned the W on his senior day in a dramatic 1600m, digging deep in the final strides to hold off Neshaminy’s Dylan Rooney by less than .1, 4:39.46 to 4:39.55. 

Robbinsville’s Nish Seshadri and Hightstown’s Mateo Abad-Delgado also ran strong 1600s and went 2-3 at SJTCA #13. Seshadri earned 2nd place in 4:44.10, and Abad-Delgado crossed a half-second later in 4:44.72.

Lawrenceville also had three boys set PRs in the 3200m at the New York International Showcase: Hejyule Bae-Robinson (9:53.03 for 4th place), Julius Jordan (9:56.73 for 7th), and Bastian Bocklage (10:02.68 for 11th) are now #3, #5, and #6 in the county this winter.

In other distance results from the LVS Senior Day, Lawrencevillle’s Mohamed Mohamed closed hard in the 600m to move from 4th to 2nd in 1:29.33, and his teammate Jordan won the 1000m by over 2 seconds with a 2:44.22. Top distance results from Lawrence included Alden Smith PR’ing in the 1000m (2:48.71 for 4th) and Harrison Petrick doing the same in the 3000m (10:13.88 for 3rd). 

Boys Sprints

Hightstown senior Terrance Williams delivered an outstanding sprint double at SJTCA #13. He opened by taking 2nd in the 55m with a season’s best of 6.64, which is currently #42 in the state. He followed that with a 200m PR of 23.20, which again earned him a 2nd-place medal. Both times are #3 in Mercer County this winter.

At the NJ Conference Clash, Trenton’s Derrick Carter sprinted a 6.87 in the 55m prelims to grab the last qualifying spot for the final, where he leveled up with a 6.77 to take 5th place out of 199 racers. He also doubled back with a very strong 200m and scored 9th place in a PR of 23.31, which is #4 in Mercer County.

It was a fast sprinting day at the LVS Senior Day Invite. Jaquann Coleman (Lawrence) dropped a 55m PR of 6.83 to win his heat and place 3rd overall. His classmate Alexander Nikolov similarly won his heat with an almost equal PR of 6.85 — his second PR in a 30-minute span — to get 5th place. Lawrenceville’s Cassius Lawson was just a split second behind with his own PR of 6.87 for 7th. Those are the #9, #10, and #11 times in Mercer County this winter.  In the 300m, Coleman doubled back from the 55m and took 2nd place in 37.57, his second PR of the day. His Lawrence teammate Jahlil Whitten was just behind him in 38.13 for 3rd.

Robbinsville senior Will Strickland, one of regions top long sprinters, impressed in his season debut at the open 400m by running an indoor PR of 51.88 for 3rd place at SJTCA #13. He doubled back in the 200m and took 7th in 23.86.

In other 400s this week, Princeton Day’s Nathan Bennett finished 14th at the Dr. Sander Scorcher with a 52.50, and Steinert freshman Adrian Matos took home the win at the Peddie / CVC Invitational with a 56.45 to crack the county’s top 20.

In the hurdles, Lawrence’s Alexander Nikolov broke 9 for the first time with a 7.97 for 4th at the LVS Senior Day. He’s one of just six Mercer County boys under 9.0 this winter. At SJTCA #13, CVC boys took two of the top three places in the 55mH: Hightstown’s Amal Stewart ran a season’s best of 8.15 for 2nd place, and Ewing’s Tyson Brown finished 3rd in 8.37. 

Thrive Charter got some very strong representation at SJTCA #13 from seniors Brent Zoeduah and Christian Semexan. In the 55m, they both won their heats (back to back), with Zoeduah going 7.06 for 19th overall and Semexan right behind him in 7.10 for 20th. The duo placed similarly well in the 200m, with Semexan running 24.50 for 16th and Zoeduah crossing in 25.03 for 21st.

In the 60-meter sprints at the New York International Showcase, Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson placed 10th in the 60mH with a time of 8.54, and his teammate Cassius Lawson took 23rd in the 60m with a 7.39. 

In the relays, the Trenton 4x400m team set a season’s best of 3:38.23 for 3rd place at the NJ Conference Clash.

Boys Field

Lawrenceville’s Joshua Witherspoon launched a bomb of 51-9 on his second attempt to win the New York International Showcase, and that massive PR is now the longest throw of the winter by a Mercer County boy. That came a few days after his teammate Jabralyn Jones had beaten him to the 51’ mark by throwing a PR of 51-1.25 to win the LVS Senior Day Invite. The Big Red revealed a third 40’ thrower this week, with senior newcomer Brian Gomez throwing 40-5.5 for 4th place at LVS Senior Day. 

The Peddie / CVC Invitational shot put was loaded with many of the region’s best throwers. Hightstown’s Christian Houvig took the win with a throw of 47-9, continuing his streak of 47’+ throws this month. He was followed by WWP North’s Sean Chen, who broke his PR — which he set at the Group 3 Relays the day before — by 15 inches to earn 2nd in 46-0. Another Ram, Justin Edwards, threw his second-best mark ever for 3rd place in 44-4.5, and another Knight, Jason Lee, inched closer to the 40’ mark with a new PR of 39-6. Princeton’s Eddie Del Cid rounded out the top 5 with a 39-1.

In the high jump at that same meet, Hamilton West’s Daveron Jallah took the win in 5-8, tying his PR. Notre Dame’s Cole Hines took 2nd after also clearing that same mark for the first time ever. That makes them two of just eight Mercer County boys to achieve that height this winter.

Robbinsville sophomore Thomas Weis added a full foot to his pole vault PR to win SJTCA #13 in 10-6, which is #2 in Mercer County this winter.

In the horizontal jumps, Lawrenceville’s Michael Ma extended his long jump PR to 19-2.5 for the win at LVS Senior Day.