TCNJ High School Invitational Recap
Spring track has officially arrived, and with it came the first week of invitationals! Mercer County hosted two of the biggest meets in New Jersey this weekend. First, on Friday, Lawrenceville hosted the Prep Relays — check out a recap of that meet and the Rebel Relays here. Then, on Saturday, TCNJ hosted the TCNJ High School Invitational.
After a brief post-pandemic hiatus, high school track is back at TCNJ! A lot of schools had apparently been waiting for its return, since almost 40 of them registered for this new edition. Among them were Ewing, Hamilton West, Hopewell Valley, Lawrence, Nottingham, Princeton, Robbinsville, Steinert, Thrive Charter, Wilberforce, and WW-P South. Even with cool weather and scattered showers, the meet was full of impressive performances and exciting races. TCNJ played a great host – including with its newly resurfaced track – and this meet will surely become a staple in early-spring schedules for schools across Central Jersey.
Check out some highlights below, and see the full results here. I also took a few photos at the meet — some are below, and I put some others in this Google Photos album.
Girls Results
Girls 400mH. Steinert’s Hailie Zimmerman ran a huge race in Heat 2 of the 400mH, cutting two seconds off her PR to win her heat by 4 seconds and take 2nd place overall. Her time of 1:06.18 was a new school record and put her just ahead of WW-P South’s Anastasia Kudin, who ran 1:06.32 for 2nd in Heat 1. WW-P South’s Saraiah Hoover claimed the final medal with a 1:07.78 for 6th place.
Girls 2000mSC. The way Princeton’s Phoenix Roth powered to victory in a quick 7:33.02, you wouldn’t have known that it was her first time racing over steeples. Hopewell Valley’s Maddie LaChance also ran well and got 2nd in 8:05.81. Two other Bulldogs, Sophia Pellegrino (4th in 8:43.67) and Chelsea Cahall (8th in 8:58.13), also proved their mettle by jumping through water pits on a chilly morning.
Girls 4x100m. South Brunswick took the win out front, but behind them was a tight finishing between four Mercer County schools. Ewing was the best of that group, taking 2nd in 51.12. Just behind them was Steinert in 3rd with a 51.26. Lawrence came from way back on the anchor leg to grab 4th in 51.37, and not far behind was Princeton in 5th with a 51.67. Finishing just outside the medals was Hamilton West, who got 7th in 53.54.
Girls Mile. Hopewell Valley’s Sydney Young kicked off her outdoor season with a dominant win in the mile. She sat in 2nd place for the first lap before taking control on the second lap, maintaining a 3-second cushion all the way to the line in 5:19.25. Ewing’s Teagan Walker, running on her future home track, had one of the fastest kicks of the day to grab 3rd place in 5:24.06, a new school record. Princeton’s Rosemary Warren also moved up throughout the race and finished 8th in 5:39.30.
Lawrence’s Alicia Riggins clears the last hurdle en route to an exciting victory in the 100mH.
Girls 100mH. Lawrence’s Alicia Riggins ran a great race to overtake South Brunswick’s Emmanuella Koroma late for her first win of the season. Her time of 15.57 was just 0.03 off her wind-aided PR, despite the cool conditions this morning. Ewing freshman Angel Johnson took 4th in 16.00 in her invitational 100mH. WW-P South’s Adama Turay (5th in 16.35) also came home with a medal. Two other girls who ran well were WW-P South’s Saraiah Hoover (8th in 16.75) and Ewing’s Bryana Mason (9th in 16.78). Last year, only twelve Mercer County girls broke 17.00 all season, but this year we already have four from just this meet!
Girls 100m. Not long after her big anchor leg in the 4x100m, Lawrence’s Samya Jenkins executed another excellent race to win the open 100m in 12.72. Hamilton West’s Zairra Galloway, a senior who hasn’t done track since her sophomore year, reintroduced herself to the scene with a big PR of 13.06 for 3rd place. Steinert’s Anaiss Matos got the 5th place medal with a 13.11.
Wilberforce’s Adeline Edwards leads Princeton’s Lena Murray in the leadoff leg of the 4×800m.
Girls 4x800m. After not racing during the winter, Wilberforce is back in the mix and already asserting itself as a major force. Their girls 4x800m team took 2nd place in 10:01.75, thanks in part to a big anchor leg from Laura Sallade. Next to finish was Princeton, running 10:10.60 to edge Sparta in a tight finish. Hopewell Valley also earned a medal with their 5th-place finish of 10:38.91.
Girls 4x400m. Just like in the 4x800m, Wilberforce again strung together an impressive relay team, this time walking away victorious after winning the 4x400m by 5 seconds in a 4:18.12. The Wolverines’ winning relay team included Emily Prothero, Stella Blanchard, Adeline Edwards, and Laura Sallade. A few seconds back, Nottingham held off South Brunswick to get 3rd place in 4:25.12, and Hopewell Valley beat out Ewing for the last medal, 4:32.59 to 4:34.21.
Girls Long Jump. WW-P South’s Adama Turay picked up right where she left off after indoor season, jumping 17-7.5 to match her mark from last month’s MoCs and win this invitational. That’s also a new outdoor best for her. Hamilton West’s Zairra Galloway took 4th with a 16-8 in her first time doing the long jump.
Girls Triple Jump. Steinert’s Anaiss Matos and Hamilton West’s Zairra Galloway grabbed more medals in the triple jump, with Matos getting 5th in 32-5 and Galloway getting 6th in 31-10.25. Not far behind was Hamilton West’s Alexis Johnson, who was 7th in 29-11.
Girls Discus. Despite a slick circle, Hopewell Valley’s Uchenna Obidike started the season strong, throwing 95-9 for a 3rd-place finish. Princeton’s Nishka Singh, a sophomore who is apparently doing track for the first time, had an impressive debut of 93-9 for 4th place. Ewing’s Jayla Little PR’d by 18 feet to take 6th in 88-3.
Girls Shot Put. Hopewell Valley’s Uchenna Obidike added to her medal collection with a 2nd-place finish in the shot put, thanks to a throw of 34-0. That’s an outdoor PR and just a few inches short of her indoor PR. Ewing’s Zoey DeSouza PR’d on her first throw and then went another two feet even farther on her next throw, ending up with a 31-7 for 3rd place. Her teammate Jayla Little again got the 6th and final medal with a half-inch PR of 29-5. That put her just ahead of Nottingham’s Zi’Asia Williams, who threw a 29-2.25 in her first shot put competition.
Boys Results
Boys 400mH. Ewing’s Calvin Kallie took 8th place in 1:00.39, taking over a second off his PR in his first invitational of the season.
Boys 2000mSC. It’s not often that New Jersey runners get to do the steeplechase, but Ewing’s Ibrahim Songu and Hopewell Valley’s Kaj Armendinger were up to the challenge. Both avoided taking a swim, and Songu even came away with a medal after his 7:09.46 got him 6th place.
The WW-P South boys celebrate their DMR win in the rain.
Boys DMR. WW-P South (Sean Maina, Harsh Sharma, Arjun Suresh, and Aditya Deshpande) took the come-from-behind victory in the boys DMR! Suresh moved them from 5th to 2nd on the 800m leg, and then Deshpande made up a 4-second gap on Hunterdon Central over the first two laps before powering away to win by 3 seconds in 11:22.32. Steinert also got a nice run from their anchor Adam Szpakowski, who moved up from 7th to 3rd place in 11:33.89.
Boys 4x100m. Despite the cold weather, WW-P South’s sprinters were on fire, blazing a 43.56 for 3rd place in the 4x100m. That’s more than a full second faster than their season best from last year, and this was just the first weekend! Hamilton West surprised with an 8th place finish out of Heat 4, which they won after outleaning Central Reg at the line. Their 45.32 beat almost everyone in Heats 2 and 3. In its first outdoor track meet as a new school, Thrive Charter ran 45.72 to get 14th place. (Thrive Charter also wins the award for having the fastest throwers 4x100m in the region – their boys took 3rd place in 55.55.)
Tyler Hurst (Steinert), Shravan Pradeep (WW-P South), and Silas Allevik (Hopewell Valley) hit the halfway point in the Mile.
Boys Mile. Two of Mercer County’s top distance runners staged a good duel in the mile, and both came away with new PRs! After a fairly conservative first lap (by their standards), Steinert’s Tyler Hurst and WW-P South’s Shravan Pradeep moved to the front and started leaving the field behind. They traded off the lead in the middle laps before Pradeep dropped the hammer with a 64.3 final lap to win in 4:32.65. Hurst hung on for 2nd place in 4:35.01. Both boys’ times convert to better than their 1600m PRs. Hopewell Valley’s Silas Allevik stuck with the top two for longer than most and finished in 4:38.22, earning a 6th-place medal.
A little farther back, Mercer County packed a ton of milers between 4:42 and 4:48. That included the WW-P South trio of Joseph Maddalon (10th in 4:42.87), Aditya Deshpande (11th in 4:43.66) – who was doubling back from the 1600m in the DMR – and Kevin Lang (13th in 4:45.30), followed by Princeton’s Finn Wedmid (14th in 4:46.40), Robbinsville’s Nish Seshadri (15th in 4:46.94), and Princeton’s Braedyn Capone (16th in 4:48.82). Ewing’s Landyn Loesch finished next in a school record of 4:52.29 for 17th place. A nice start to the season for everyone!
Boys 110mH. Princeton’s Yi-Tian Xiong started the season strong with a big PR of 15.75 to take 2nd place. Ewing’s Calvin Kallie doubled back from the 400mH to earn a 4th-place medal with a 16.15. Lawrence’s Alexander Nikolov finished 7th in 16.40, just ahead of Princeton freshman Ari Rosenblum, who ran a 16.42 for a nice debut.
Boys 100m. WW-P South’s Josiah Cureton snagged the last medal with a 11.54 to win Heat 2 and take 6th overall. Also placing in the top 10 were Ewing’s Dasan Jones (8th in 11.60), WW-P South’s Aydun Hines (9th in 11.62), and Robbinsville’s Will Strickland (10th in 11.63).
Boys 4x800m. In a massive heat with almost 20 teams, Princeton was the top Mercer County school, running 8:32.02 for 3rd place.
Top: At the final exchange in the boys 4×400m, WW-P South gets the stick a few seconds after Mount Olive and Nottingham hand off. Bottom left: Comeback complete for WW-P South. Bottom right: Nottingham also gets around Mount Olive for 2nd place.
Boys 4x400m. Coming into the final exchange, WW-P South was in 3rd place and almost 2.5 seconds back at the final exchange, but you can’t count them out when their anchor leg was an All-American at Adidas Indoor Nationals two weeks ago. Sure enough, Julius Kinsler split an incredible 48.9 to easily give them the win in a quick 3:28.48. The Pirates also got an excellent 50.8 split from Aydun Hines, along with solid legs from Josiah Cureton and Sean Maina. Another surprising and impressive performance came from Nottingham, who challenged for the win the whole way and finished 2nd in 3:30.75. That’s the fastest they’ve run in 3 years, and the season has only just started! The Ewing boys also took home a medal with a nice time of 3:33.72 for 5th place.
Boys High Jump. Ewing’s Jarius Williams took 3rd place in 5-10, giving the senior a PR in his first invitational of the season. His classmate Prince Andrew cleared 5-8 for 10th place.
Boys Pole Vault. WW-P South’s Rayyan Shabab and Hopewell Valley’s Will Flannery both cleared 9-6 in the pole vault, with Shabab getting the tiebreaker based on attempts. They finished 9th and 10th.
Boys Long Jump. Nottingham’s James Walters took 2nd place in 20-4, which was the senior’s first ever time over 20 feet.
Boys Shot Put. Princeton’s Sean Wilton opened his outdoor campaign with a win in the shot put, throwing 54-6. Nottingham’s Ernest Gaykai threw 48-7 to take 2nd place in a nice season opener. Lawrence’s Isaiah Spencer also earned a medal with his 44-11 for 6th place.
Boys Discus. Lawrence’s Ryan Rodriguez threw 140-2 to take the win with a very solid season opener on a wet day. Princeton’s Sean Wilton took 3rd with a 125-07, and Nottingham’s Tylin Douglas set a PR of 121-11 for 4th place.