NJ's only Champion from Thursday, Nickolette Dunbar set a state record in the shot put. / Photo by Don Rich for MileSplit
An action packed first day at Penn Relays with a schedule devoted to the girls events. Below are some of the top finishers and qualifiers that moved on to the Championship of America (COA) in their respective event. Each event header is linked to the full results where you can check out who else performed well.
| Throws
Girls Shot Put Championship | NJ Champion | Nickolette Dunbar of Whippany Park breaks the NJ State Record and Penn Relays Meet Record with a mark of 50-07.75. That is also the new US#1 throw this year. The previous state record was set by Nicole Sims of Plainfield back in 1991 at 49-2.75. Dunbar is coming off a fantastic indoor season where she won the Meet of Champions shot with a throw of 47-11.25 and had a previous season / career best of 48-11.25.
Girls Discus Championship | Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic placed third overall and was the top american in the Girls Discus with a personal best throw of 149-2.25! That is NJ#1 and US#17 so far this year. [Interview]
Girls Javelin Championship | Alyssa Whipkey and Megan Sax Vanderwyden of Pennsville both placed top ten in the Javelin Championship. Whipkey ninth with a mark of 132-06.25 and Sax Vanderwyden 10th with a similar measurement of 132-05.75. Both girls were already atop the state javelin rankings with their marks from the Woodbury Relays.
| Sprints
Girls 4x100m Trials | Paramus Catholic led the charge for New Jersey schools finishing 34th overall with a NJ#6 time of 49.36. The girls also earned the third alternate spot for the Tri-State 4x100m race on Saturday at 1:45 pm.
Also in the top 50 out of the 616 teams listed: Lenape in 41st with a time of 49.57 NJ#9, Union Catholic 46th with 49.80.
Girls 4x400m Trials | Columbia runs a NJ#1 time of 3:49.64 for the second best overall and first american time of the meet! That qualifies them as the second seed in the Championship of America race on Saturday at 4:20 pm. Here were their splits! Emilie Cowan (55.58), Briana Reckling (58.18), Dahria Lewis (59.84), Cheyenne Trigg (56.05)
Union Catholic posted a NJ#3 3:57.48, sans Sydney McLaughlin, for 17th overall. Lenape clocked in with the 24th fastest time of 3:59.53, now NJ#5 and qualified as the fifth seed in the Philadelphia Area 4x400m on Saturday at 5:15 pm.
| Distance
West Windsor Plainsboro South placed second in the Girls Distance Medley Championship running a NJ#1 US#5 time! / Photo by Brandon Miles for MileSplit
Girls 4x800m Trials | Ridge finished 10th overall and fourth among Large Schools with a NJ#2 time of 9:24.32. With that they qualified for the Championship of America race on Friday at 1:10 pm! Ridge's splits were as follows: Liz Newman (2:23.71), Kelly Van Baalen (2:19.30), Emily Hirsch (2:21.78), Abigail Regner (2:19.54). Good luck ladies!
NJ had two other schools in the top 20 for the 65 teams that ran. Randolph was 14th overall with a time of 9:31.51, Union Catholic 17th with 9:33.00 NJ#4, and Red Bank Catholic 19th with 9:33.78 NJ#5!
Girls Distance Medley Championship | West Windsor Plainsboro South girls rip an 11:54.49 for second overall in the Championship of America and US#5 NJ#1! Splits were: Deirdre Casey (3:39.17), Kathryn Schoenauer (1:00.64), Edlyn Gulama (2:18.59), Christina Rancan (4:56.10).
Lenape finished seventh running 12:16.79 for NJ#3 this season.
Girls Mile Run Championship | Ciara Roche of Freehold Twp breaks five minutes in the mile placing fourth at Penn Relays! That is NJ#2 on the converted 1600m list. Also placing top ten was Lauren Sapone of Red Bank Regional running 5:06.92 for 10th and NJ#3, Rachel Suss of Metuchen right on her back with a NJ#4 5:06.93.
Girls 3000m Championship | Carleen Jeffers of Ridgewood placed 7th with a time of 9:52.73! Eve Glasergreen was 10th with a time of 9:57.93, Devon Grisbaum 14th with 10:06.46, and Grace Dwyer 15th at 10:08.38.
| Hurdles
Girls 400m Hurdles | Daijah Davis-Hines of Timber Creek HS placed seventh on Thursday running 63.17, the new NJ#2 standard. Thaila Cooper of Kingsway was also top ten with a ninth place finish running NJ#5 this season with 63.45.
| Jumps
Kristina Langan of Wayne Hills vaulted to a new state leading height on Thursday. / Photo by Kathy Leister for MileSplit
Girls High Jump Championship | Gabrielle Bennett of Winslow Twp was ninth with a height of 5-04.25.
Girls Long Jump Championship | Jersey's top finisher was Kathryn Schoenauer of West Windsor Plainsboro South in 14th with a jump of 17-03.75.
Girls Triple Jump Championship | Domonique Panton of Freehold Twp placed fourth with a NJ#2 mark of 39-8.75!
Girls Pole Vault Championship | Two in the top ten! Kristina Langan of Wayne Hills cleared 11-11.75 for fourth, a new NJ#1 vault! Nicole Macco of Matawan Reg placed seventh at a height of 11-05.75.