Week Round-up for April 13-19
Even with spring break and the holiday weekend, there was still plenty of racing action around the state last week! Here’s a few of the places where Mercer County schools were in action.
On Wednesday, Princeton Day, Princeton, and Wilberforce brought small crews to the Ridge Night of 1600’s.
On Thursday, Steinert and Wilberforce raced at the Raider Twilight Meet in Hillsborough.
Thursday was also a busy day for other non-public schools. Pennington hosted a meet with Hun, Stuart Country Day, and the New Jersey School for the Deaf. Full results here. Meanwhile, Lawrenceville and the Hill School traveled to Peddie for a tri meet. Full results here.
On a surprisingly warm Saturday, Allentown and Nottingham raced at the Woodbury Relays.
Check out some of the most notable performances below!
Note: This recap only includes FAT-timed meets where results were posted online. So, it doesn’t include the CVC dual meets, which were also full of great performances. That said, I’m trying to gather results from dual meets so that I can share highlights from the past few weeks – if you or your coaches have photos of the results, please send them to trackmercer@gmail.com.
Boys Results
Boys 100m. Sprint times were quick at the Pennington meet. In the 100m, the host’s Tahmere Brown led the way with a PR of 11.13, followed by Hun’s Justin Bibeau in 11.34. Behind them, Hun’s Avery Radom (3rd in 11.43) nicked Pennington’s King Liu (4th in 11.44) in a photo finish. At the Peddie tri meet, Peddie’s Joey Gaston, a football player who transferred to Peddie last summer, took the surprise win out of the fourth heat with a PR of 11.60, beating the top time from the first heat by just 0.04.
Boys 200m. At the Pennington meet, Hun’s Justin Bibeau flipped the script from the 100m, topping Pennington’s Tahmere Brown this time, 23.12 to 23.19. This was the first outdoor track meet for both the sophomore Bibeau and the freshman Brown, who both showed a lot of promise! Pennington’s Seamus Manning ran 23.56 for 3rd place.
Boys 400m. At the Peddie meet, Peddie sprinter Jelanie Cine from Peddie held off Lawrenceville mid-distance runner Ayodele Joa-Griffith for the win, 50.41 to 50.52. The clash of different strengths led to open 400m PRs for both boys.
Boys 800m. Lawrenceville’s Arunav Sarkar won the 800m at the Peddie meet by a commanding margin of 2 seconds, finishing in 2:02.40. Peddie’s Luca Romanelli ran a PR of 2:05.19 for 3rd place.
Boys 1600m. Steinert’s Tyler Hurst impressively soloed a county-leading 4:30.22 at the Raider Twilight meet, which was a three-second PR. He led a strong Steinert squad that put two more boys in the top 10, with Nihar Kolachalama getting 7th in 4:44.93 and Adam Szpakowski taking 10th in 4:50.89. The Lawrenceville milers also had a good day at Peddie, sweeping the top four spots thanks to Mohamed Mohamed (1st in 4:43.96), Bastian Bocklage (2nd in 4:45.57), Julius Jordan (4:47.22), and Taksh Gupta (4th in 4:48.01). Princeton’s Felix Farrugia went 4:48.26 at the Ridge Night of 1600’s, and Hun’s William Carey ran 4:55.80 for the front half of his 1600-800 double victory at the Pennington meet.
Boys 3200m. At the Peddie meet, Lawrenceville’s Bastian Bocklage doubled back from the 1600m to win the 3200m in 10:19.29, his second PR of the day.
Boys 110mH. Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson ran an excellent 110mH hurdles time of 15.43 – a new PR – for 2nd place at the Peddie meet behind Hill’s Trevon Foster. At the Ridge Night of 1600’s, Princeton’s Yi-Tian Xiong trimmed a few hundredths off his own PR with a 15.69 for 3rd place.
Boys 3000mSC. Allentown’s Landon Kent made the most of his shot at the steeplechase, running a very solid 10:13.88 for 4th place in his first go at the event.
Boys Jumps. At the Peddie meet, Lawrenceville’s Ayo Britto continued his undefeated season in the high jump with a clearance of 6-2. His teammate Aslan Aksu won the pole vault by equaled his PR of 13-0 in his first vault of the season.
Boys Throws. Lawrenceville’s Ben Lahlou threw 129-11 to win at the Peddie meet. Over at Pennington, Hun’s Luke Wafle dominated the discus with a 10-foot PR of 127-0, and he also won the shot with a two-foot PR of 49-9.
Boys Relays. Allentown’s sprinting quartet of Cedric Mbachu, Matthew Woode, Gavin Alvarez, and Scott Jordan were double winners in their division at the Woodbury Relays! They won the 4x200m in 1:30.27 and then came back a short while later to win the 4x100m in 43.05, the fastest time in the county this year. In the 4x100m at the Pennington meet, Pennington edged Hun 45.13 to 45.87.
Girls Results
Girls 100m. In her first race on the straightaway this season, Lawrenceville’s Sofia Swindell blasted a school record of 11.89! She’s just the second NJ girl to go under 12 this season. Her teammate Blake Hatwood also ran a great PR of 12.83 for 2nd place. At Raider Twilight, Steinert’s Anaiss Matos ran 13.18 for 13th place, and at the Pennington meet, Hun’s Neena Williams won her season opener with a PR of 13.43.
Girls 200m. At the Peddie meet, the Peddie’s Tessa Hughes outdueled Lawrenceville’s Rhianna Scott in a fast 200m, 25.71 to 26.28. That was Hughes’s first outdoor 200m in a couple of years, but it beat even her indoor PR. Over at Pennington, the host’s Emma Normand, who was narrowly beaten in the 100m, was victorious in the 200m with a 27.69. At Raider Twilight, Wilberforce’s Stella Blanchard was the top Mercer County girl with a 27.51 PR for 15th place.
Girls 400m. Two of Lawrenceville’s 400m stars showed off their talent at the Peddie dual meet, where Rhianna Scott and Jael Gaines went 1-2 in 58.35 and 58.54. At Raider Twilight, Steinert’s Hailie Zimmerman ran a PR of 1:01.28 for 6th place, just ahead of Wilberforce’s Gwen Mersereau, who took 8th in 1:01.71.
Girls 800m. There were lots of fast 800s this week! At Raider Twilight, Wilberforce’s Laura Sallade PR’d with a very impressive NJ #7 time of 2:16.46, finishing 2nd just behind Maura Green from North Hunterdon. She was followed by her teammates Stella Blanchard (3rd in 2:23.18) and Adeline Edwards (2:23.61). At the Peddie meet, with Peddie’s Matilda Kardashi prevailed in an exciting finish with Lawrenceville’s Yasmin Willie, 2:21.70 to 2:21.80. That was a four-second PR for the senior Kardhashi, and it was also an outdoor PR for the freshman Willie, who similarly ran 2:21 indoors. Just behind those top two, Lawrenceville’s Rory Laubach was pulled to a PR of 2:23.38. At the Ridge Night of 1600’s, Princeton’s Mila Trkov ran a 2:25.68 for 4th place.
Girls 1600m. At the Peddie meet, Peddie senior Courtney Cane, who committed to Lehigh University this week, took the win in a quick 5:13.16, a few seconds faster than her season opener from last year. Princeton’s Kajol Karra (5:14.86) and Wilberforce’s Laura Sallade (5:16. also had a nice season openers at the Ridge Night of 1600’s. Behind Cane at the Peddie meet, Lawrenceville’s Essie Chafin went sub-5:30 for the first time, getting 2nd place in 5:29.73.
Girls 3200m. Lawrenceville’s Blair Barlett is back in action for the spring season, and she wasted no time dropping eye-popping times – starting with a NJ #1 3200m of 10:20.41! That’s just off her all-conditions PR of 10:18 (for two miles) from this past winter. Like in that race, she was racing against the boys and still almost pulled off the win here.
Girls 100mH. Shortly after running a NJ #2 time in the 100m, Sofia Swindell ran another NJ #2 time of 14.02 in the 100mH! It took a superb race to beat Peddie’s Tessa Hughes, who ran a PR of 14.78, which is NJ #5.
Girls 3000mSC. At the Woodbury Relays, Allentown senior Madeline Ruchelman showed her toughness by running the rarely contested high school girls 3K steeple, and she even brought home a medal thanks to her 12:51.77 for 4th place.
Girls 4x100m. Pennington won the 4x100m at their home meet in 50.78, making them the first team under 51 seconds this season. Nottingham’s 4x100m team ran 51.63 for 6th in their division at the Woodbury Relays.
Girls Jumps. At the Peddie meet, Peddie freshman Madeline Hughes cleared a county-leading height of 4-10 in what was apparently her first high jump competition! Other winners at that meet include Lawrenceville’s Rhianna Scott with a long jump of 17-0 and Stuart Country Day’s Kirsten Brenya with a triple jump of 32-9. Lawrenceville’s Audrey Cheng won the pole vault by clearing 11-0 for the fifth meet in a row, counting indoor.
Girls Throws. At the Pennington meet, Hun’s Anna Casciano won the discus with a throw 101-1 and the shot put with a throw of 38-9.75. Her teammate Mya Smith gave Hun a sweep of the throws, winning the javelin with a big PR of 99-0. In the javelin at the Woodbury Relays, Nottingham’s Zi’Asia Williams hit triple digits for the first time with an 11th place throw of 102-0. At the Peddie meet, Lawrenceville’s Reagan Daly won the discus with a PR of 90-4, and her teammate Jesslyn Bentum won the shot put in 29-11.5.