Weekly Recap for May 19-24

This past week was a bit of a lull between sectionals and groups, but there were still a few notable meets that allowed athletes to either extend their seasons or tune up for the upcoming championships. Here are some of the top performances by Mercer County athletes at those meets.

1600 Night at the Nest 2025

The second annual Night at the Nest was incredible. Allentown’s meet was designed for fast 1600m times, and the runners who showed up were not about to let some rain and cool temperatures slow them down. For 25 straight heats, there were fantastic efforts and too many PRs to count!

The performance of the meet goes to WWP North’s Allison Lee, who was the top girl with an incredible NJ #4 4:51.82! Running in a heat with mostly boys, she was sitting in 8th place as the pack went through the 800m in 2:26 before moving up on the third lap and kicking it in with a 70-second final lap to get 3rd place in her heat. That’s a 6-second PR for the junior Lee. Her time beat out the 4:55.66 that Eastern Regional’s Natalie Dumas ran in the prior heat.

Three other Mercer County girls went sub-5:10. Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young ran an outdoor PR of 5:06.37, Wilberforce’s Laura Sallade set a 3-second PR of 5:06.80, Lee’s teammate Zui Chinhalkar was the 5th-place girl with a 5:07.35. Very close to breaking the 5:10 barrier was Notre Dame’s Alaina Sabo, whose 5:10.10 was a 7-second PR. Sabo is now among the top 5 New Jersey freshmen in both the 800m and 1600m.

Seven more girls went sub-5:20. Princeton teammates Kajol Karra and Phoenix Roth ran almost identical times out of different heats, finishing in 5:14.79 and 5:14.80. WW-P North’s Sara Secora ran a big 6-second PR of 5:15.51. Wilberforce’s Adeline Edwards ran a season’s best of 5:16.85, and Princeton’s Grace Hegedus ran a quarter-second PR of 5:16.93. Claire Dumont from Hopewell Valley broke 5:20 for the first time with a 5:17.35, and Lena Murray’s PR of 5:19.09 gave Princeton four girls under 5:20.

While the top girls were spread out across several different heats, the top boys all went head-to-head in one exciting heat. The winner was Colts Neck’s John Shapiro in 4:19.38, but behind him there were some great times from Mercer County boys. First out of that group was WW-P North’s Subomi Allison. The 800m star flashed his speed with a final lap of 62.7 – the fastest in the field – to finish 5th overall in a big PR of 4:21.88. The senior finished just ahead of his freshman teammate, Agrim Jha, who ran 4:22.50. That’s a 6-second PR for Jha and makes him the #2 freshman in New Jersey. Hopewell Valley sophomore Silas Allevik finished just a couple of seconds back in 4:25.69 for 8th place.

In the second-to-last heat, Notre Dame’s Max Whittle dropped the field with an extraordinary bell lap to win by 3 seconds and go sub-4:30 with a 4:28.98, which was good for 9th place overall. The runner-up in that heat was WW-P South’s Aditya Deshpande in a new PR of 4:31.53.

East Brunswick Sprint Series #2

The highlight of Thursday’s East Brunswick Sprint Series was the first event, where Toms Rivers North broke the national record in the shuttle hurdles relay with an incredible 55.93. But not to be overlooked in that race was Notre Dame, who took 2nd place in their own very quick time of 59.27. Despite the weather being 50 degrees and raining, the team of Aldric Crawford, Bryce Marsh, Zamir Jones, and Christopher Young ran a great race to break their school record by over a second. Notre Dame became just the second Mercer County school to ever go sub-60 in the SHR. Trenton has gone faster just a couple of times, including when it set the county record of 57.94 in 2003. The Irish’s mark this week easily qualified them for New Balance Nationals, so they should have another shot to go even faster.

Other Highlights

On Saturday night, several local runners competed against a mix of high schooler and club athletes at the Garden State Twilight meet. Peddie’s Tessa Hughes did the hurdles double, winning the 400mH in a season’s best of 1:03.43 – which lifted her to #2 in Mercer County this season – and then taking 3rd in the 100mH with a 15.32. In the 3000m, WWP South’s Shravan Pradeep won by 2 seconds with a 8:50.60.

At the Cherokee Final Countdown meet on Thursday night, Robbinsville’s Will Strickland won the 400m in 50.31, just off his PR of 50.10. Despite the name of this meet, Strickland will get another chance at the 400m this season after qualifying for next week’s group championships

At the Ridge Last Chance / Novice Invitational on Monday night, Ewing’s Victoria Seaton won the 100mH in 18.06 and took 3rd in the triple jump with a 30-5. That jump was a 4-foot PR, and it puts the sophomore at #19 in Mercer County. Her freshman teammate Angel Johnson won the 200m in 27.28.

At the Tim Grant Invitational on Wednesday, Princeton Day’s Della Gilligan won the infrequently contested 300mH in 1:07.30. Finishing in 2nd place was Stuart County Day’s Kirsten Brenya, one of the county’s top high jumpers and triple jumpers, who ran 51.76 in just her second hurdle race of the year.