Winter Track Week 1: Sizzling Season Openers at Poreda Invitational
While results have been trickling in over the prior week or two, it was the Poreda Invitational on Saturday that really kicked off the winter track season for Mercer County. Allentown, Ewing, Hopewell Valley, Hun, Notre Dame, Nottingham, Princeton Day, Trenton, and WWP South all joined host Lawrenceville at the Tsai Fieldhouse, along with other nearby contenders such as Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central. The environment was electric, and so were the results!
Below are a few highlights from each event. See full results here.
Boys Highlights
Corey Woodson (Lawrenceville) clears the final hurdle en route to winning the 55mH with one of the fastest times in the state. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit
Boys 55mH. After running a quick 7.70 at the Lawrenceville Opener a week earlier, Lawrenceville senior Corey Woodson took another tenth off that PR with an incredible 7.60 to win here. For context, that time would’ve finished as NJ #17 last winter! Hunterdon Central’s Kasey Kinsley took 2nd place in 7.68, followed by a trio of Irish hurdlers that went 3-4-5 in the final. Zamir Jones finished just a hair behind Kinsley in a PR of 7.69, Aldric Crawford took 4th in 7.84 (after setting a PR of 7.78 in the prelims), and Bryce Marsh crossed a few hundredths later in 7.88.
Boys 55m. Ewing senior Dasan Jones squeaked into the final with his casual prelim-winning time of 6.88, but he held nothing back in the final and blasted a nice PR of 6.60 out of Lane 1 to cross the line first. 2nd place went to Trenton junior Derrick Carter, who ran an outstanding debut of 6.70 in his first-ever 55m race. Princeton Day junior Nathan Bennett likewise introduced himself on the winter track scene with a 6.78 for 6th place. WWP South senior Aydun Hines actually posted the second-fastest time of the day, crushing a 6.63 in the prelims — a massive PR by almost 0.3 seconds.
Boys 1600m. Lawrenceville junior Arunav Sarkar powered away from Hunterdon Central’s Noah Engelhardt over the last 1000m to easily win in 4:36.20. Hopewell Valley’s Colin Vickery finished 4th in the fast heat and 5th overall with a time of 4:49.03. In Heat 2, WWP South senior Aradhya Vijay unleashed a blistering last 400m and overcame some elbows in the final straight to win the heat and take 3rd overall in 4:47.30, his first official sub-5 race. His classmate Aarav Bhamre wasn’t far behind in 4:50.89, which got him 6th overall.
Boys 400m. WWP South’s Julius Kinsler officially opened his senior campaign with a fast win, taking the 400m in 50.62. Princeton Day’s Nathan Bennett doubled back from the 55m to take 2nd in this race with a 51.47, his second PR of the day. He prevailed in a tight, back-and-forth battle in the final 100m against Hunterdon Central’s Kasey Kinsley, who took 3rd in 51.56.
Boys 800m. Lawrenceville star Ayodele Joa-Griffith wasted no time showing off his next-level fitness this season. After winning the 1000m at the Coach Saint Invitational the night before, Joa-Griffith soloed a big indoor PR of 1:55.21, an incredible time that only eleven New Jersey boys beat all of last winter.
Notre Dame junior Amir Mulkey also opened his season with a new indoor PR of 2:03.36 for 2nd place. Behind him, Seton Hall Prep’s Logan Barnett finished 3rd in 2:05.14, barely ahead of Hopewell Valley’s Finnegan Curley (4th in 2:05.17) and closely followed by WWP South’s Sean Maina (5th in 2:05.65). In heat two, Trenton’s Briyon Ellerbe narrowly held off Notre Dame’s Simeon Salins for the heat win, 2:07.12 to 2:07.24, which were indoor PRs for both boys.
Boys 200m. WWP South’s Julius Kinsler won his heat in an indoor PR of 22.80, which got him 2nd place overall behind Seton Hall Prep’s Taylor Daniels in 22.71. Ewing’s Dasan Jones doubled back from his 55m win to get 3rd here with a 23.10, his second PR of the day. Notre Dame senior Jayden Davis finished 5th in 24.00.
Boys 3200m. Allentown senior John O’Leary made his move with a 1600m to go and gradually pulled away to take the win in 10:08.25. Behind him, Lawrenceville’s Hejyule Bae-Robinson used a 30-second bell lap to kick from 6th to 2nd and earn a 3200m PR of 10:12.07. He crossed at the front of a blanket finish that also included Lawrenceville’s Bastian Bocklage (3rd in 10:12.30), Lawrenceville’s Mohamed Mohamed (4th in 10:12.75), and WWP South’s Dhruv Kumar (5th in 10:13.00). Only nine Mercer County boys went sub-10:15 all of last winter, and five boys just accomplished that in this year’s first meet!
Boys 4x400m. Hunterdon Central took the win in the 4x400m with a 3:31.94. A few seconds back, Notre Dame won the battle for 2nd place in 3:35.99, ahead of Hillsborough from heat two in 3:37.99.
Boys Pole Vault. Hopewell Valley junior Will Flannery tied his indoor PR in the first meet of the season, clearing 9-6 to take 2nd place behind Hunterdon Central’s Ryan Shalley in 12-0.
Boys High Jump. One of best duels of the day was in the high jump between Notre Dame’s Bryce Marsh and Allentown’s Dylan Voehl. After both boys cleared 6-0 on their last attempt, Marsh took the lead with a first-attempt clearance of 6-2, tying his PR. Voehl had never jumped 6-2 before, indoors or out, but he cleared it on his final chance here to stay alive. Neither boy was able to clear 6-4 — so Marsh took the win with fewer misses — but they each earned three cracks at a height that only a small handful of CVC jumpers have cleared in recent years. In other action, Ewing’s Tyson Brown got over 5-8 for 3rd place in his first indoor high jump.
Zamir Jones (Notre Dame) soars through the air in the long jump at the Poreda Invitational. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit
Boys Long Jump. Notre Dame’s Aldric Crawford won with a mighty leap of 21-2.5, a distance that already exceeds what anyone jumped in this event last winter. His classmate Zamir Jones also had a great start of the year and went over 20’ for the first time with a 20-1 for 2nd place. WWP South sophomore Rishav Patnayak approached the 20’ barrier with a big PR of 19-1 for 3rd place, just two inches ahead of Lawrenceville’s Michael Ma in 4th with a jump of 18-11.
Boys Shot Put. Lawrenceville transfer student Jabrahlyn Jones is taking well to his new school, winning the Poreda Invitational with a huge throw of 50-7. That beat his outdoor PR by 6 inches in his first ever major indoor meet. WWP South’s Aidan Edwards showed off his impressive lineman strength from this past football season by taking 2nd place here in 45-1.5, which is a 2-foot indoor PR and within a foot of his outdoor PR.
Boys Triple Jump. In a tight contest that saw the top five jumpers all finish within 14 inches, two Ewing juniors came out on top. Oluwadarasimi Ogunyinka joined the 40’ club with a big jump of 40-0 to take 1st place, while Kelin Green went 39-7 for 2nd place in his first triple jump ever. Notre Dame senior Bryce Marsh finished 5th in 38-10.
Girls Results
Angel Johnson (Ewing) leans for the win in the 55mH at the Poreda Indoor Invitational. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit
Girls 55mH. Ewing sophomore Angel Johnson got a fantastic start and then narrowly held off a hard charge from Hillsborough’s Stella Martinez over the final hurdles to take the win in a blazing 8.65. That’s a huge PR and a very fast season opener — for context, it’s faster than anyone from the CVC ran all of last winter. Her teammate Karis Crossland took 4th in 9.44, just ahead of Notre Dame’s Nora Schmitz in 9.49 for 5th.
Girls 55m. Hillsborough senior Emma Stibtiz (1st in 7.30) and her freshman teammate Luciana Damiano (2nd in 7.38) gave the Raiders a 1-2 finish, but they were followed by a pair of Ewing girls who also ran very well. Senior Leah Daniels picked up where she left off last winter, running a big PR of 7.44 for 3rd place in her first 55m of the year. Sophomore Angel Johnson, running on a whole eight minutes of rest following her 55mH win, finished just 0.05 later in 7.49 for 4th place. Nottingham sophomore Ariana Crusoe Gaye followed closely in her own PR of 7.55 for 5th place.
Girls 1600m. This race featured a great duel between WWP South junior Risha Rao and Princeton Day freshman Kayla Peckens. Rao opened up a big early lead in the first 1000m, but then Peckens slowly reeled her and even pulled up on Rao’s shoulder with 250m to go. But it was Rao who found another gear on the last lap to pull away for the win, 5:30.20 to 5:32.67, as both girls ran all-conditions PRs.
Girls 400m. Lawrenceville senior Jael Gaines powered away to a dominant 2-second win in 1:01.10. She was followed by her sophomore teammate Yasmin Willie in 1:03.12 for 2nd place. Willie just barely held off Ewing sophomore Faith Settles, who took 3rd in 1:03.19 after using a furious kick to almost make up a big gap in the final 50m.
Girls 800m. Lawrenceville’s Rory Laubach got out hard for the first 400m and continued distancing the field all the way home, winning by almost 7 seconds in 2:26.19. Hopewell Valley’s Elsie Rey-de-Castro started much more conservatively and then used a big blistering lap to move up several places and take 2nd in 2:32.98.
Girls 200m. This was a battle of girls doubling back from earlier events, particularly with Ewing’s Leah Daniels stepping up from the 55m and Lawrenceville’s Jael Gaines dropping down from the 400m. It was the 55m runner Daniels who prevailed in this 200m, with an indoor PR of 26.22 over Gaines in 26.89. Lawrenceville’s Blake Hatwood took 3rd in 27.63, followed by WWP South’s Logan Mills winning Heat 3 in 27.86 for 4th place overall.
Girls 3200m. Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young took advantage of her superb XC fitness to casually solo a 11:30.45 for a dominant victory in the 3200m.
Girls 4x400m. Hillsborough ran away with the 4x400m in 4:11.96, but it was an exciting battle for 2nd as Lawrenceville (2nd in 4:21.02) prevailed in a close three-way finish over Hunterdon Central (3rd in 4:21.14) and Hopewell Valley (4th in 4:21.80).
Girls Pole Vault. Lawrenceville’s Vivian Blessing and Hopewell Valley’s Avery Rick tied for 3rd place in the pole vault after both clearing 8-0 on their second attempts.
Victoria Seaton (Ewing) executes a smooth triple jump at the Poreda Invitational. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit
Girls Triple Jump. Burlington City’s Nyima Burley jumped far out ahead of the competition and won in 36-4. Behind her, Ewing junior Victoria Seaton set a PR of 31-7.5 for 2nd place, and Hopewell Valley’s Olivia Branham joined the 30’ club with a 30-9 for 3rd place. Those were all-conditions PRs for both girls.
Girls Long Jump. Burlington City’s Nyima Burley swept the horizontal jumps with a 17-2.5 here. But not too far behind her in the long jump was WWP South sophomore Yona Choksi, who cleared 16’ for the first time, indoors or out, to take 2nd place in 16-2.5.
Girls Shot Put. Hun’s Anna Casciano, one of the top throwers in the state, started her senior year with a bang by winning the shot put in 40-4, her second-farthest indoor throw ever. Behind her, three more Mercer County girls threw 30’ and set indoor PRs: Lawrenceville’s Madison Boone (4th in 32-6), Ewing’s Jayla Little (5th in 31-1.5), and Ewing’s Zoey DeSouza (6th in 30-11.5).
Girls High Jump. Notre Dame’s Jamie Werdel was the top high jumper from Mercer County, clearing 4-8 for 3rd place. Her clean sheet through 4-8 was enough to take the tiebreaker over her freshman teammate Kailyn Mullen and Lawrenceville sophomore Aurielle Ellington-McIntosh, who both also cleared 4-8 and tied for 4th place.
Other Week 1 Meets
The Poreda Invitational wasn’t the only action last week. Here are a few highlights from out-of-town meets earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, Allentown went up to Staten Island for the Jack O’Leary Lid Lifter Invitational at Ocean Breeze. John O’Leary placed 8th in the marquee 1600m in 4:35.63 and then doubled back just two events later to take 3rd in the 1000m in 2:50.13. Junior Sarth Shah completed that same tough double and ran times of 4:48.88 (for 16th) and 2:54.50 (for 7th), with that 1600m time being an all-conditions PR. Senior Dylan Voehl won the high jump on a tiebreaker after clearing 6-0.
On Friday night, Lawrenceville took three top athletes to the Armory in New York City for the competitive Coach Saint Invitational. There, Corey Woodson finished 5th in the 55mH in 7.90, Jael Gaines took 2nd in the 400m in 1:00.41, and Ayodele Joa-Griffith earned a come-from-behind victory in the 1000m with a time of 2:35.43.