Weekly Recap (Apr 27 to May 3)

The largest meet of the week was Mercer Coaches Classic – which got its own recap and photo album – but there were plenty of other action-packed meets this week! Here are a few highlights that you shouldn’t miss.

Holmdel Night of 3200s

Monday night was the Night of 3200s at Holmdel, where many local distance stars got a chance to shine. (Full results here.)

Allison Lee (WWP North, Jr.) dominated a stacked girls race, running a NJ #4 10:27.79 to win by 15 seconds. That was a PR for Lee by 10 seconds. It was also her first major race since indoor season, but she’s clearly gotten herself back into incredible shape.

Izzy Meth (Lawrence, So.) also took over 10 seconds off her PR in a big breakthrough race, running 10:59.32 to slip under 11:00 and break the Lawrence school record.

Other top girls included Teagan Walker (Ewing Sr.) in 11:23.06, Ava Donnelly (Lawrence, So.) in 11:43.27, and Sara Secora (WWP North, So.) in 11:43.61.

On the boys side, the highlight was Agrim Jha (WWP North, Fr.) winning his heat with a huge PR of 9:21.64. That’s #1 in Mercer County this season, and it got him 11th overall in this meet. That was one of his first 3200m races ever – he didn’t do it during winter track – but he clearly has the talent for it! According to MileSplit, that’s the 9th-fastest freshman 3200m time ever in New Jersey.

Burke Thompson (Hightstown, Sr.) also chopped 6 seconds off his PR with a 9:33.44 for 22nd place overall.

Finnegan Curley (Hopewell Valley, So.) ran 9:48.13, a 10-second improvement over his PR from winter track. Three other boys broke 10 for the first time: Mateo Abad-Delgado (Hightstown, So.) won his heat in 9:53.07, Veejhay Roy (WWP North, Jr.) ran 9:57.73, and Paul Wittenberg (WWP North, So.) barely snuck in at 9:59.95. Also, Soham Shah (WWP North, Fr.) got very close, going 10:03.10. 

In case you’re counting, that’s five freshmen or sophomores who ran 10:03 or faster. There’s plenty of up-and-coming distance talent in Mercer County!

Poreda Invitational 2025

Closer to home, there were some good results at Lawrenceville’s Poreda Invitational on Wednesday. (Full results here.) Here are some rapid-fire highlights:

• Gavin Alvarez (Allentown, Sr.) ran a 49.80 400m to win the meet and break the Allentown school record. 

• The boys 100m was fast and super close. Matthew Woode (Allentown, Sr.) won in 11.16, just ahead of Kyle Carr (Princeton, So.) in 11.22, Cedric Mbachu (Allentown, Sr.) in 11.23, and Scott Jordan (Allentown, Sr.) in 11.26.

• Ben Lahlou (Lawrenceville, Sr.) threw a county-leading PR of 154-2 in the discus.

• In the boys javelin, Simon Obregon (Princeton, Jr.) barely edged his teammate Devin Levy (Princeton, Sr.) for the win by a single inch, 139-8 to 139-7.

• Martha Olorunnisola (Allentown, Sr.), running in her first major track meet in two years, won the 100m in 12.69.

Prep A States

On Friday, Peddie hosted the NJSIAA Prep A Track Championship, which also included Lawrenceville, Hun, Blair, and Pingry. Lawrenceville swept the team titles! Their girls won pretty handily with 199 points ahead of Peddie in 2nd with 115 points. The boys competition was closer, with Lawrenceville in first with 149 points, Pingry second at 130, and Peddie just behind in 125. (Full results here.)

Lawrenceville swept both the boys and the girls prep state titles in both winter track and spring track. Hopefully there’s enough room in their new fieldhouse for all those trophies! 

Here are a few notable PRs and other top performances.

Girls 1600m. Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville, So.) continued her streak of incredible races, this time running a NJ #3 4:46.86 1600m! She got out like a rocket, running her first 400m in a blazing 67 seconds before settling into 72-73 the rest of the way. That’s a new 1600m PR, and it’s just about equal to the 4:48.36 she ran for a full mile at Millrose in February. It’s a school record, and it’s #2 all-time in Mercer County, just a second behind Christina Rancan (WWP South) from 2016.

Behind Bartlett, Courtney Cane (Peddie, Sr.) also had an excellent solo effort, running an NJ #13 5:03.66. That’s her second-fastest 1600m time ever.

Girls 100m. Blake Hatwood (Lawrenceville, So.) ran a PR of 12.56 in the prelims before going on to win the finals in 12.68. She later completed the 100m/200m double victory with another PR of 26.00.

Girls High Jump. Tessa Hughes (Peddie, Jr.) won in 5-2, but she had to jump for longer than she might’ve expected after Madeline Hughes (Peddie, Fr.) cleared a PR of 5-0.

Girls Throws. Anna Casciano (Hun, Jr.) had a great day with two wins and two PRs. She threw a NJ #10 41-2 in the shot put and followed that up with a 111-5 in the discus.

Boys 100m. Michael Bradley (Lawrenceville, Sr.) blitzed a big PR of 10.81 to get 2nd place behind Pingry’s Graham Hougton. That’s NJ #10 for Bradley. Avery Radom (Hun, Jr.) also PR’d with a 11.17 for 4th place.

Boys 800m. Ayodele Joa-Griffith (Lawrenceville, Jr.) took the win in 1:57.49, but Baker Pott (Peddie, Sr.) made him work for it by running a season’s best of 1:57.80 for 2nd place. 

Boys 1600m. At the Prep Champs, Arunav Sarkar (Lawrenceville, So.) took 2nd place in 4:31.21, followed by his teammate Mohamed Mohamed (Lawrenceville, Jr.) in 4:35.26 for 3rd place. Those were PRs for both boys. Mohamed doubled back later to run an outdoor 3200m PR of 10:02.36.

Boys 100mH & 400mH. Jelani Cine (Peddie, Sr.) won the 110mH with a big PR of 14.62, which was his first time under 15. Dasyer Bullock (Peddie, Jr.) won the 400mH in a PR of 58.44.

Boys Discus. Parker Hamilton (Peddie, Sr.) won the shot put thanks to a new PR of 54-4, and he needed almost every inch because Luke Wafle (Hun, Jr.) threw a four-foot PR of 53-11. Similarly, in the discus, Wafle threw a 20-foot PR of 147-11, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat Ben Laulou (Lawrenceville, Sr.), who threw 149-3.

Puma East Coast International Showcase 2025 

On Saturday, Lawrenceville brought a few of its best runners to the Puma East Coast International Showcase 2025 in Maryland, one of the fastest invitationals of the year. (Full results here.)  Despite most of these Big Red athletes having competed the afternoon before at Prep States – an admirable display of team-first mentality – they still dropped some incredible times against top competition.

After running 14.02 in the 100mH last month, Sofia Swindell broke the 14 second barrier – and the Lawrenceville school record – with a 13.96 in the prelims and then a 13.90 for 5th place in the final! That’s NJ #3 and US #38 among wind-legal times.

The school records keep falling at Lawrenceville, and this time it was Rhianna Scott in the 400m – she ran a 56.08 to win her division at the meet! This record was perhaps less expected, because it came thanks to a massive 2-second PR by Scott. She now sits at NJ #7.

On the boys side, Ayodele Joa-Griffith cut a few tenths off his 800m with a 1:54.40 for 3rd place. That’s #3 in New Jersey this spring.