New Jersey was fresh off a weekend of Group State Championship glory and it seems they decided to continue the party right into Tuesday's Eastern States Championships.
- Mario Heslop 200m State Record, Ties 55m Record
- Shelby Bigsby Now the Fourth New Jersey Girls Ever Over 50 Feet
The biggest performance of the night came from Franklin Twp's junior Mario Heslop. Because when is one state record enough? First he tied the state record in the 55m dash when he won finals with a 6.26, matching the 2011 en route performance by Damiere Byrd of Timber Creek when he won the 60m at New Balance Nationals Indoor.
Then Heslop came back to the 200m finals and toasted the field for a 21.09 US#3, that broke the state record of 21.34 by a whopping .25! The previous record holder was Adian Sanderson of Ewing who ran 21.34 back in 2004 at this same meet.
Next up is Shelby Bigsby of Montclair who joined the 50 footer club in the shot put. She won with a final throw of 50-02, becoming just the fourth girl in New Jersey history to break 50-00. She is US#1 this season and has thrown undefeated with 12 straight victories.
This meet was so jam packed with New Jersey greatness we have to go event by event.
Field
A lot of great performances here, gearing up for a wicked Meet of Champions and a strong showing at Nationals. Already mentioned above is Shelby Bigsby's throw of 50-02. New Jersey won eight out of a possible ten field event golds.
- Girls Triple Jump - Paramus Catholic junior Tiffany Bautista continues to excel with a PR of 39-1.25 to win gold. She also placed second in the long jump with a mark 18-10.
- Boys Triple Jump - Khaliel Burnett of Delsea is just the fifth boy to jump over 49 feet indoors, he won Eastern's with a mark of 49-01 US#3 this season. The defending outdoor Meet of Champions winner in this event.
- Girls High Jump - Jenna Rogers had lighter meets at Sectionals and Groups just advancing as she needed but when required the fire is right back on and she clears 5-08 to win Eastern States.
- Boys High Jump - Jadon Watson of JFK Paterson cleared 6-08 for the third time this season to win gold.
- Girls Long Jump - Winslow junior Tionna Tobias hit a nice PR to win gold with 19-08.25 US#4.
- Boys Long Jump - Garrett Robinson of Bridgewater Raritan won the long jump with a personal best mark of 22-10.25
- Girls Pole Vault - Francesca Porambo of Bernards cleared 12-06 for the first time to lead NJ in third. That moves her up to NJ#3 this season tied with Haley Horvath who PR'd with 12-06 at Group Champs over the weekend.
- Boys Pole Vault - NY took the win on this one but New Jersey had THREE boys clear 15-00 at the same meet! Including Tyler Hrbek, Simon Schenk, and Seth Kricheff. Man oh man is the Meet of Champions going to be fun.
- Boys Shot Put - Union Catholic's Brandon Patterson throws over 57 feet for the fifth time this season with his 57-05.5 win.
Individual Track
Of course we already highlighted Mario Heslop's epic night in the 55m and 200m dashes. Take a look at some of these personal best performances.
- Girls 55m - Sydney Hawkins fresh off her Group 4 state championship this weekend put up a season best 7.03 NJ#1 US#10 to finish second to New York's Toshel Goffe at 6.97.
- Girls 55H - Woah! Atlantic City junior Claudine Smith just dropped .12 off her best 55m hurdles time! She won Easterns with an 8.05. That cracks the top 15 nationally and ties the state lead this season.
- Boys 55H - Al-Tariq Dunson of East Orange Campus and Isaiah Greene of West Side went down to the thousandth of a second to decide their head to head run to the line. Dunson came out on top at 7.312 while Greene was second with 7.319. Both attributed 7.32 tied for NJ#2 this season behind Akeem Lindo's 7.31 from Groups.
- Girls 200m - Shakira Dancy of Winslow Twp takes back NJ#1 with her second place 24.63.
- Girls 400m - Another major PR came in the 400m with Ajae Alvarez's 56.78 win, this is the first time the Egg Harbor Twp senior has broken 58 seconds including outdoors!! She now ranks NJ#2.
- Boys 400m - Nick Parisi of Seton Hall Prep earned gold with an indoor PR of 49.56 to win. Markus Bagley second out of an unseeded heat 49.81!
- Girls 800m - Kayla Rosario of Sayreville placed fifth running 2:17.22, just .01 off her indoor PR.
- Boys 800m - Dominic DiNardi! Where was this? The Hillsborough senior dropped major time off his career best to place second at 1:55.20 NJ#4. Great run, previous indoor best 1:58.13 and outdoor 1:57.61. Just in time for MOCs.
- Girls 1 Mile - Sophomore Kate Rathman of Cherokee placed third running 5:13.16.
- Boys 1 Mile - Matthew Schaefer of Colts Neck takes fourth with a time of 4:24.13.
- Girls 2 Mile - In her Eastern States Championships debut Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland Regional wins the 2 mile running 11:17.28. Just the second race of the season for Aldridge who's taken on a light schedule this year to likely gear up for a healthy outdoor season.
- Boys 2 Mile - Ronald Kigen of St. Benedict's Prep runs to a third place finish at 9:43.93.
Relays
A gold medal sweep for the girls and a 50/50 split with NY for the boys.
- Girls 4x200m - Winslow Twp continues to shine US#4 first place finish at 1:39.75.
- Boys 4x200m - Elizabeth put up a great effort against Uniondale of NY coming up just short for second at 1:29.85 NJ#2. Great run.
- Girls 4x400m - Rumson-Fair Haven cracks the top 20 nationally and ranks NJ#2 with their 3:56.85 win in the 4x4 Tuesday night. Sophomore Lily Orr's split listed at 56.38....
- Boys 4x400m - Toms River North ran a NJ#5 time of 3:24.87 to win gold.
- Girls 4x800m - The Ridge girls run to a gold medal finish with their 9:16.56 NJ#2 US#7.
- Boys 4x800m - The North Hunterdon boys fought hard with Rancocas Valley for second with North Hunterdon at 7:57.11 and RV 7:57.28. Northport of NY won this one at 7:58.26.
- Girls DMR - North Hunterdon ran 12:07.65 to move up to US#3 NJ#1 in 2018. Ellie DiMarcello with a 5:04.46 over the last 1600m leg.
- Boys DMR - Hopewell Valley brought home the gold with a 10:16.72 NJ#1 US#4 time. Also anyone else see that 4:11.82 split for Drew Maher on the Shore Regional DMR?
New Jersey was fresh off a weekend of Group State Championship glory and it seems they decided to continue the party right into Tuesday's Eastern States Championships.