Weekly Recap for May 11-18

While Mercer County’s public schools were prepping for sectionals last week, most of the local non-public schools were also in action with meets of their own. They generated plenty of notable results that shouldn’t go overshadowed by sectionals – like Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville, So.) breaking the Mercer County record with a 4:43 mile!

Prep B States

The larger Prep A schools had their state meet a week earlier, but the smaller Prep B schools competed at their state meet this past Wednesday. That division includes Pennington, Princeton Day, and Stuart Country Day. Full results here.

Tahmere Brown (Pennington, Fr.) won his first – of hopefully many – Prep B championship by running 11.02 in the 100m! He came out of the prelims with only the second-fastest time but then had nobody even close to him when he crossed the line in the final. He later joined forces with King Liu, Mathew Shapiro, and Seamus Manning to give Pennington the win the 4x100m title with a time of 44.88. 

Pennington’s freshman duo of Brown and Mathew Shapiro also went 3-4 in the long jump with big PRs of 20-7 and 20-2.5, respectively. That makes them #4 and #7 in Mercer County this spring.

In the girls 100m, Mercer County runners made up ⅔ of the finalists. Makena Graham (Princeton Day, Sr.) came in with a PR of 13.42 but then ran 13.03 in the finals to take silver. Naomi Williams (Stuart Country Day, Fr.) also ran a nice PR of 13.17 in the prelims and then came back to get the bronze medal in 13.17. Also scoring were Emma Normand (Pennington, So.) in 13.45 for 5th and Nyla Flamer (Stuart Country Day) in 13.78 for 6th.

The Princeton Day girls 4x100m team (Kara Vandal, Zuri Graham, Christina Sarvis, and Makena Graham) ran a season’s best of 53.20 to win gold medals!

Della Gilligan (Princeton Day, So.) started off a good hurdling day with a championship in the 400mH! Her time of 1:07.34 just about equaled her PR from four days earlier at CVCs. She doubled back and got 2nd place in 100mH with a 16.52. Zuri Graham (Princeton Day, Jr.) finished right behind her in the 100mH with a PR of 16.96 for 3rd place.

In the girls high jump, Kirsten Brenya (Stuart Country Day, Jr.) and Kara Vandal (Princeton Day, Jr.) tied for 2nd place with equal clearances of 4-10. Both girls had great horizontal jumps, too. Brenya won the triple jump in 33-3.5, and Vandal took 2nd in the long jump in 17-1 – just an inch off the win.

Eden Ashiavor (Pennington, Fr.) is a double champion in the throws! She launched a massive 14-foot PR of 113-11 to win the discus, and she also threw a slighter PR of 31-11 to get gold in the shot put. Her big discus throw makes her the #2 freshman in New Jersey.

CBA Meet

On Thursday, CBA hosted a big meet for a few dozen non-public and prep schools that weren’t running at sectionals the next day. Among that group was Lawrenceville, Notre Dame, and Wilberforce. Although this was just a regular season series meet – formally called “A Third Night at the Horse Farm 2025” – it ended up presenting some pretty hefty competition. Full results here.

Even with attention growing and expectations rising, Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville, So.) continues to do amazing things every time she touches the track. This time, it was a 4:43.16 mile! The race was a rematch against Oak Knoll’s Reagan Moore, a fellow sophomore who ran a 4:52 1600m in the winter to narrowly beat Bartlett at indoor Prep A States. This time, Moore stuck to Bartlett as they ran the first lap in a blistering 68 seconds, but Bartlett was able to break away by keeping the pedal down and following up with splits of 71, 72, and 70. Bartlett’s time is a 5-second PR, and it makes her #1 in New Jersey and #14 in the United States, even when counting 1600m conversions. It also breaks the Mercer County record! The old mark was 4:46.98 by Christina Rancan (WWP South) from 2016.

Sofia Swindell (Lawrenceville, Sr.) only had two other competitors in the 400mH, but those were all the chasers she needed to push her to a new PR in a NJ #2 1:00.64! Can she be the first Mercer County girl to ever go sub-60? The current record is 1:00.11 held by Kristen Mahon (Notre Dame) from 2007.

In the girls 200m, Rhianna Scott (Lawrenceville, Sr.) matched her PR of 25.68 to get 2nd place, just .03 off the win. Blake Hatwood (Lawrenceville, So.) broke 26 for the first time and ran 25.95 for 4th place. Jael Gaines (Lawrenceville, Jr.) also came home with a PR after running 57.05 for 2nd place in the girls 400m.

In the girls 800m, Alaina Sabo (Notre Dame, Fr.) ran another quick time of 2:17.17 for 6th place. Two spots behind her was Stella Blanchard (WIlberforce, So.), who cut 1.5 seconds off her PR with a 2:21.34.

On the boys side, hurdler Christopher Young (Notre Dame, Sr.) raced a rare 200m and took 6th place in a PR of 22.64. In the boys 400m, Ayodele Joa-Griffith (Lawrenceville, Jr.) finished 4th in 50.05, just ahead of Aldric Crawford (Notre Dame, Jr.) in 50.16. Those were PRs for both juniors, who look poised to go sub-50 very soon.

In the boys distance events, Owen Eldridge (Lawrenceville, Sr.) ran a 3200m PR of 9:44.90, and Bastian Bocklage (Lawrenceville, Jr.) took 4th place in the 1600m with a 6-second PR of 4:39.34.

In the high jump, Kendrick Mullen (Notre Dame, Fr.) cleared 6-0 for the first time, becoming one of just five freshmen in New Jersey to soar that high. Zamir Jones (Notre Dame, Jr.) went 19-6 for 3rd place in the long jump, which was a PR by over a foot.

Cameron Bailey (Notre Dame, Sr.) got 2nd place in both of the meet’s only two throwing events. He threw 47-7.25 in the shot put and 155-4 in the javelin.

NJCTC Season Finale

Notre Dame has the good fortune of getting to compete in two very competitive conferences – the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) and the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference (NJCTC). On Sunday, Notre Dame was at the NJCTC Season Finale. And despite that being the Irish’s third big meet in eight days, they continued churning out very impressive results! Full results here.

After passing on the hurdles events on Wednesday, the Notre Dame boys went hard at the hurdles in this meet. Christopher Young continued his winning ways in the 110mH, running a very quick 14.59. Zamir Jones (Notre Dame, Jr.) also dipped under 15 with a 14.94 for 2nd place. Bryce Marsh matched his PR of 15.21 in the prelims and then got 6th in the finals. In the 400mH, Aldric Crawford won in 55.51, and Matt Ryba kept up his sub-60 streak with a 59.30 for 4th place. 

In other boys events, Kendrick Mullen cleared 6-0 again in the high jump for 4th place, Amir Mulkey got 6th in the 400m with a PR of 51.60, and Simeon Salins chopped 3 seconds off his 800m PR with a 2:04.76.

On the girls side, Alaina Sabo dominated the 800m in 2:17.62, which was her second 2:17 in four days. Jamie Werdel cleared 4-10 for the first time ever in the high jump, taking 2nd place. Abby Lobis continued her steady progression this spring by running a 400m PR of 1:02.74 for 2nd place. Caitlin Sheedy added another 2nd place in the javelin with a throw of 92-10.

The NJCTC opened its season finale up to all non-public schools, and Anna Casciano (Hun, Jr.) took full advantage of that by showing up and winning both the shot put and discus with excellent throws. Her shot put was particularly impressive – she threw 42-5, a 14-inch PR! That lifts her to #1 in Mercer County and #9 in New Jersey. Her winning distance in the discus was 107-10, her second-best throw ever in that event.