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Mario Heslop turned in one of the greatest performances in meet history at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Saturday at Northern Burlington High School in Columbus.
The junior at Franklin did something no other boy had ever done in the 50 year history of the meet by winning the 100 and 400, and he nearly won a third gold when he came from way back with a sizzling split of 45.7 to bring his team across the line in second place in the 4x400.
Heslop started off his historic performance by winning the 400 in 47.05. Then he won the 100 in 10.66 (10.52 in trials) to become the first boy to ever win the 100 and 400 at the same M of C. Olympian Dennis Mitchell of Edgewood won the 100 in 1983 and the 200 and 400 in 1984, but he never tried the 100/400 double at the same meet.
Heslop had planned to try to win the 100, 200, 400, but those plans were derailed when he cramped up after the 100, which forced him to scratch in the 200.
But by the time the meet-concluding 4x400 came around, he was good to go and dropped that electrifying 45.7 anchor split. Heslop, who will turn 19 this October, will enter his senior season with four individual M of C titles (he won the 200 and 400 indoors). He also has a shot at the state records in the 100 (10.35), 200 (20.93) and 400 (45.71).
