Grace O'Shea of Ramapo broke her own Bergen County record in the 55 hurdles by placing second in a NJ #1/US#2 7.99, the Union Catholic girls cranked out a pair of fast relays and Nils Wildberg of Princeton opened his season by winning the long jump with a NJ#1/US#4 23-4 1/2, at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on Saturday at the 168th Street Armory in New York.
This meet was filled with NJ#1 performances.
In addition to O'Shea and Wildberg, Lauren Princz of Egg Harbor, Louis Akpadago of Nottingham, Claudine Smith of Atlantic City, Jerika Lufrano of Union Catholic, Victoria Vanriele of Gov. Livingston, Orion Joyner of Kingsway, Zachary Hall of Matawan, the Union Catholic girls 4x400, Acasio Pinheiro of Princeton, the Matawan boys SMR, and the Ramapo girls SMR all turned in NJ#1 performances.
The UPenn-bound O'Shea, the NJ Meet of Champions winner in the 55 hurdles last winter, broke the county record of 8.06 that she set when she placed sixth at the New Balance Nationals last March. O'Shea, who finished behind the US#1 7.95 by Christina Warren of Perkiomen Valley (PA), moved into a tie for No. 12 on NJ all-time state list. O'Shea also ran a 25.6 200m leg on Ramapo's third-place SMR that ran a NJ#1 4:12.94.
Matawan's sprint medley relay time of 3:36.61 shot them right up the rankings to US#1 and right behind them in second was South Brunswick running 3:37.93 for US#4. Just eight teams have gone under 3:40 so far this young season.
Union Catholic and Bullis of Maryland hooked up in a red hot 4x400 with Bullis winning in 3:53.90 and UC second in 3:53.95, the two fastest times in the nation this season. Western Branch of Va. was third in a US#3 3:56.57. Union Catholic also placed third in the 4x800 in a NJ #3 9:54.70.
Leena Morant had a 57.32 split and Khamil Evans went 57.49 for UC in the 4x400. Jerika Lufrano had a huge day for Union Catholic. Lufrano won the mile in a NJ#1 5:04.09 and led off the 4x800 with a 2:20.89 carry.
The Dartmouth-bound Wildberg, second in the LJ at the Meet of Champions last spring with a PR of 23-8 1/2, has a great shot of breaking the Mercer County indoor record of 23-10 set in 1985 by Matt Rose of Trenton.
Akpadago, a junior, blasted a NJ #1 6.47 to win the 55 dash. No one else in the state has gone under 6.50.
Princz, who won the 200m as a freshman at the Meet of Champions last June, took over the state lead in the both the girls 55m dash and the 200m. Princz ran a NJ#1 7.12 to place third in the 55, and ran an Atlantic County record 24.92 in the trials of the 200m. Princz was fifth in the 200m final in 24.99.
Smith, a senior, bounded out to a NJ #1 and broke her own Atlantic County record with a 39-1 in the girls triple jump to place second. Lufrano, a senior, won the girls mile in a NJ #1 5:04.09, and Vanriele was second in the 800 in a NJ#1 2:12.42. Vanriele also ran a US#1 1:31.62 at the Glynn Holiday Invite at Ocean Breeze on Friday.
Hall, a senior, ran a NJ#1 49.58 to place fourth in the boys 400. Elijah Brown of Union Catholic, who had the state lead, was fifth in a NJ#2 49.60. Joyner, a senior, improved his state lead in the boys triple jump with a runner-up jump of 45-10 3/4.
Liam Landau of Pascack Hills won the boys pole vault on misses at 15-0, tying him for NJ#2. Conor Reilly of Union Catholic, who has also gone 15-0 this season, was third at 14-6.
The Kingsway boys won the 4x800 in a NJ#3 8:15.71, and ran a NJ#5 10:52.07 to place in the DMR.
In the girls pole vault, Mue Carroll of Matawan and Hope Handlin of Union Catholic each cleared a NJ#2 11-0. Carroll placed fourth and Handlin sixth.