Boys 2018 State Group Recaps

Here's a look at all six boys State Group Championship meets.

RESULTS AND COVERAGE BOARD

GROUP 4 - Full Results - Videos - Photos

Princeton and East Orange staged an epic battle for the team title while Mario Heslop, Nickolas Mirabelli, Akeem Lindo, Will Hare, and Luis Peralta threw down stunning performances.

Princeton was trailing East Orange, 76-67, with one event left. But Varun Narayan and Nils Wildberg each leaped 22-7 1/2 to place 2-3 for 14 points to give the Tigers a dramatic 81-76 victory. It's the first title for Princeton since winning Group 3 and its 10th overall.

Will Hare had a huge double for Princeton, winning the 3,200 in an NJ #2 9:09.77 and he split 1:54.9 on the NJ #1 4x800 that ran 7:47.89. And Paul Brennan won the discus with a PR of 176-4 and was third in the shot with a 57-3 for the Tigers, which put together a remarkably balanced attack

EO was led by Lindo. He won the 400 hurdles in a NJ #1 52.,75, won the 110 HH in a NJ #1 13.85, and was second in the 100 and third in the 200. EO also won the 4x100 in a NJ #3 42.19 and the 4x400 in 3:16.32. 

Helsop was the biggest star of the entire state this weekend.

The junior at Franklin (he will turn 19 in October so he will be eligble to run next year), nearly won 4 golds. On Friday, he won the 100 in a NJ #1 10.49 and the 400 in a NJ #1 46.73. On Saturday, he won the 200 in 21.55 (he's run a NJ #2 all-time 20.97 this season), and he split 46.4 on the runner-up 4x400 (3:16.79). Heslop also won the 100, 200 and 400 at the Group 4 meet last year.

The Texas A&M-bound Mirabelli not only won the javelin for the second straight year, but his 218-11 broke the overall meet record (all Groups combined) of 216-11 set in 2014 by state record holder Curtis Thompson of Florence. Mirabelli, the state season leader with a 220-10, is chasing Thompson's state record of 224-10.

Peralta, bidding to become the 15th runner in state history to crack 1:50, came close again with a US #5 1:50.41, which lowers his PR and NJ #1 time from 1:50.62. It's the third sub 1:51 this season for the junior from Passaic.

Ray Sellaro became North Hunterdon's first state champion on the track in 20 years by winning the 1,600 in 4:15.47. Nate Sisco is the last state champ on the track for North Hunterdon, winning the Group 3 800 and 1,600 in 1998.

GROUP 3 - Full Results - Videos

This was all about Delsea as the Crusaders rolled to its first state title, which was highlighted by a state record performance from Khaliel Burnett.

Burnett, a senior, soared a US #3 50-9 1/4 to smash the state triple jump record of 50-6 3/4 set in 2013 by Dominique Irons of Haddon Heights as he led a huge field event attack by Delsea. 

Burnett also placed third in the long jump with a 23-0 as Delsea racked up 49 points in the field and  outscored a very strong West Windsor-Plainsboro North team, 65-46.

Delsea also picked up wins from its 4x800 team in a school record and NJ #3 7:49.95, and from Jake Nwosu in the discus (PR of 156-2). Delsea also had three guys go over 50 in the shot put!

One of the biggest highlights of the whole weekend was the baton battle between Deptford and Bridgeton in the 4x100. When the smoke cleared, Deptford won the race in a NJ #1 41.72 and Bridgeton was second in a NJ #2 42.05. 

Josh Lezin of Lakewood unloaded a PR and NJ#3 61-8 to win the shot put, and Damien Dilcher of Brick ran a PR of 4:11.28 to win the 1,600.

GROUP 2 - Full Results - Videos

Pleasantville won its first title in 19 years, Liam Landau smashed a meet record and the Bergen County record, and Devin Hart blasted a red hot distance double to highlight the Group 2 meet.

Pleasantville outscored West Side, 50-37, as the Greyhounds won its third title overall. Pleasantville also won Group 2 in 1996 and '99. 

Sahmir Jones won the 100 and 400 and was second in the 200 for Pleasantville, which also picked up a second in the 400 hurdles and a fourth in the 800 from Quentin Bundy. 

Hart, a junior at Pt Pleasant Boro, won the 1,600 on Friday in 4:12.23 and the 3,200 on Saturday in a NJ #1 and Group 2 meet record 9:05.06. Hart, who has won three M of C titles (3,200 indoors and outdoors and in XC), will be heavily favored to win his 2nd straight 3,200 at the M of C this Saturday.

One of the top performances in the state this season was turned in by Liam Landau, a junior at Pascack Hills, who cleared a Group 2 record, county record and NJ #1 15-7 1/2 to win the pole vault.         

GROUP 1 - Full Results - Videos - Photos

When the final team scores were announced, the football field at Franklin High School turned into a gymnastics tumbling mat and a dance floor as Shabazz athletes and head coach Damon Harrison started doing back-flips and broke out some dance moves.

The Bulldogs also dumped two Gatorade jugs of water on Harrison as they celebrated its first ever state title.        

Shabazz won the championship with 41 points. Metuchen, Buena and Cresskill also finished tied for second with 28.

Dante Artis led the charge for Shabazz by winning the 200 and 400, placing sixth in the 100 and running on the winning 4x100 (42.99). 

Drew Maher of Shore Regional was the biggest individual star in the distance races in the Group 1 competition.

The Penn State-bound Maher completed the 800/1600 double for the third straight year with times of 1:53.28 and 4:17.18. Maher, the indoor M of C 1,600 winner, finished his career with 10 state Group titles (indoors and outdoors combined) 

NON-PUBLIC A - Full Results - Videos - Photos

There are some things in New Jersey track and field that are just inevitable. One of those is that Christian Brothers Academy and Union Catholic will throw everything they have at each other to win this title.

And that's what happened again this weekend when the two parochial powerhouses went back and forth in a great slugfest that wasn't decided until the very end.

Union Catholic held an 11 point edge on CBA with four events left, but the Colts picked up 11 points in the shot put, six in the 200, nine in the 3,200 and 10 in the 4x400 to rally for 104-93 victory over UC.

CBA (four titles) and UC (three titles) have now combined to win the last seven Non-Public A titles. 

It's the third straight title for CBA and it gave the Colts a state record 22 state titles and a state record total of 100 state championships in all three seasons combined!

That's right-100!!!

The breakdown-28 XC, 27 indoor relays, 23 indoor individual, and 22 outdoors. 

CBA had several athletes come up big.   

Tim McInerney won the 800 (1:54.17), and the 1,600 (4:17.06) and ran on the winning 4x800.   

Dan Mead won the shot put (59-3 1/4) and discus (PR of 174-10) and Andrew Canale won the 400 in a PR of 48.16, ran a school record 21.82 to place third in the 200, and split 48.2 as the anchor on the winning 4x400.  

UC picked up wins from Conor Reilly in the PV (13-6) and from Krishna White in the triple jump (46-3), and had a number of other athletes step up to keep the Vikings in the hunt for the title. White also placed 2nd in the LJ and fourth in the HJ. Sophomore Elijah Brown had a great meet for UC by placing third in both the 400 (48.85) and the 800 (1:56.32)

Sincere Rhea of St. Augustine and St. Peter's Prep's 4x100 also made their presence felt.

Rhea, the indoor M of C winner in the 55 hurdles, won the 400 hurdles (a PR of 54.62) and 110 hurdles (a PR of 14.03). 

St. Peter's Prep anchor Markus Bagley caught Seton Hall Prep right at the line, 42.33 to 42.39, to give his team the win in the 4x100 in a meet record! 

NON-PUBLIC B - Full Results - Videos

Mater Dei won its second straight title and C.J. Licata of Gill St. Bernard's doubled and smashed a record.

John Spinelli won the 3,200 and was third in the 1,600, and Patrick Osborn won the 800 in a big PR of 1:55.59 and ran on the winning 4x800 to help Mater Dei outscore Dwight-Engelwood, 99-63 for its ninth state title overall.

Mater Dei also picked up a win from its 4x800 team, and Isaiah McClain had a huge meet. McClain won high jump, and was third in both the long jump and 100 dash for Mater Dei.

Licata, the state leader in the shot (64-1 1/4) and discus (184-3), won the shot with a throw of 63-0 and broke his own meet record with a 166-0 in the discus.