Day 2 of the New Balance Nationals Indoor weekend is complete, here are the New Jersey highlights.
Championship Events
We had a National Championship winning sprint medley courtesy of Union Catholic's 3:58.46! The squad consisted of Sydney Tucker, Khamil Evans, Chidumga Nkulume, and Leena Morant. With New Jersey track and field Legend Sydney McLaughlin looking on from the infield, Morant closed a 2:12 on the anchor leg and they had a three plus second lead on the field. Now rank second all-time in New Jersey indoor history only behind Columbia HS's 3:57.19 from 2014 when they took home the Championship race as well.
The boys SMR gave us an exciting finish between Bronxville (NY) and St. Benedict's Prep. During the final 800m St. Benedict's Prep had a solid lead but the 1:50.17 anchor by Matt Rizzo was to much to handle. Bronxville won 3:27.34 to 3:27.55, St. Benedict's Prep with All-American status in second. Greg-Anthony Jones, Malachi Little, Isaiah Sanchez, and Alfred Chawonza on that squad. Bergen Catholic was close to All-American finishing just outside the top six in seventh running 3:32.13.
We almost had a Championship in the one mile race walk where Sean Glaze of Ohio and NJ's Sam Allen from Kingsway battled through one of the most exciting finishes of the day. Glaze was the defending champion coming in and didn't see the challenge coming from Allen, he found out quick when they were bumping elbows and fighting lapped traffic for the championship lead. The two wide fray ensued right to the finish line where the athletes both took the banner and waiting for confirmation on the timing board to see the winner. Glaze ended up winning his second straight with a 6:41.89 to Allen's 6:41.91, both athletes will be back again next year to continue this new found rivalry.
In the 60m and 200m dash Mario Heslop of Franklin Township leads both events out of trials with times of 6.70 and 21.13. That 6.70 ties the state record for the 60m, Heslop is now tied for both the 55m and 60m and will try and break them in the finals on Sunday.
Christian Brothers Academy had a NJ#2 All-Time performance in the 4xmile with their All-American second place time of 17:20.33. They are only behind their own school's record of 17:07.17 from when they took the championship in 2014. Tristan Amell, 4:25.15, Troy Hill, 4:22.09, Shaw Powell, 4:17.13, and Tim McInerney, 4:15.96. The winner in this race, Loudoun Valley, set the national record at 17:01.81.
In the girls race Colts Neck ran to sixth at 21:12.40, Lilly Shapiro, 5:09.71, Catherine Anderson, 5:32.33, Delia Russo, 5:18.36, Natalie Shapiro 5:12.01.
The boys shuttle hurdles New Jersey had FOUR All-American finishes taking third through sixth thanks to Deptford, 30.19, St. Benedict's Prep 30.55, Union Catholic, 30.68, and Holmdel, 30.79! Deptford's Naseem Smith, Javon Sanders, Tyrece Brown, and Khion Smith leading their team to third.
In the girls event, after a purge of DQs that delayed results, Millville, 33.37, Winslow, 34.06, and Randolph 34.56 finish as All-Americans. There were nine disqualifications after the initial results came through including many top teams coming into the meet.
Multiple NJ All-Americans in the 4x800m! Two time defending girls 4x800m champs Ridge HS finished sixth for All-American running 9:15.62. Their boys squad was fifth at 7:47.23 also claiming All-American status along with St. Benedict's Prep who finished third at 7:42.53 just a second off the state record of 7:41.53!
Mark Anselmi cleared 6-09 in the high jump for third overall! That makes him All-American, he had cleared on his first attempt for four heights until misses at 6-10.75.
In the Pentathlon Andrew Colbert of Freehold Twp finished third overall with 3,589 points, No. 2 in NJ history! One second place, two third places, and two fourth place finishes in the individual pent events.
Other highlights include... Grace O'Shea of Ramapo advanced to semis in the 60m hurdles running 8.38. St. Peter's Prep boys ran a 1:29.26 to advance to Sunday in the 4x200m. In the boys and girls shot put Kyle Lipscomb (eighth at 59-07.75 a PR!) and Bryanna Wilson (ninth at 42-00.50) were just outside All-American finishes and close the season out strong.
Emerging Elite
Will come back to finish this second part of the recap.