There’s no greater feeling than to be welcomed back into the Spring Track season with heavy winds and chilly temperatures accompanied with some great early performances to heat up the track. As we roll into our first set of Saturday Invitationals for the season, I decided to head down to cover today’s 5th Metuchen Relays.
The meet got off to an early 9am start, beginning with the 5k. These guys came ready to race as Sean Lyons of Morristown, (North II Group 3 Sectional Champion in the 1600m and 3200m with PR’s of 4:21 and 9:29 respectively) separated early and ran a strong 15:02.09 setting the new meet record. South Brunswick’s Nick Neville and Matt Zamorski went 2-3 running 15:39 and 15:47 respectively. I would not be surprised if we see a sub-15 minute performance next year. Alexsus Vuocolo from Toms River South was the girls’ 5K winner in 18:51.62.
JP Stevens’ shows their strength in the 400m hurdles with wins on both the girls and boys side, a 1:09.15 from Jamina Morris and 54.72 from Mark Cooke. Morris was last spring’s GMC Champion in the 400m Hurdles and Cooke finished third at MOC last spring as well.
Rey Rivera, only a freshman from Old Bridge, edged Union Catholic and anchored their 4x800 to an 8:10 with a 1:59 leg. Hunterdon Central Girls win in a 9:53.
Photo by Aaron Laserna for MileSplit
Piscataway girls’ Sprint Squad displays their dominance with three wins in the 4x100m Relay, 4x200m Relay, and Sprint Medley led by Brionna Pettus. South Brunswick boys take home the win in the 4x100m Relay with a 44.61.
South Brunswick’s Morgan Murray, who finished second at Indoor MOC in the 800m with a 1:54 and split 1:53 at Eastern States Championships, wins the windy 1600m in a 4:32. Keep an eye out for him at Penn Relays and as the season progresses.
Photo by Aaron Laserna for MileSplit
Ivan Gulayev of Metuchen finishes strong on his home track in the 4x200m relay to outkick Old Bridge splitting 22.1, topping off Metuchen’s 1:31 effort. Alex Leto (fourth at Indoor MOC and on the 4x400 who finished second at Indoor Nationals with a 3:16) ran a strong 22-flat lead-off.
Sayreville girls won the Shuttle Hurdles in a time of 1:09.56 alongside the boys All-American Union Catholic Shuttle Hurdle team who finished second at Indoor Nationals, won in a 59.8.
Sean Brennan of Union Catholic threw top marks in both the Discus and Shot Put hitting 160-88 and 49-11 respectively.
Unfortunately I had to leave the meet early, and couldn’t catch the end of the meet. I’ll be providing coverage at the Blue Devil Classic at Westfield next weekend and hoping for warmer weather!
Photos and Highlight video clips will be up soon!
View the Official Results Here