Most Memorable Girls Moments in Meet of Champions History


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The NJSIAA Track and Field Meet of Champions will celebrate its 46th girls meet on Saturday when the state's best converge at Northern Burlington High School. 

During the nearly half century of competition, there have been countless memorable moments provided by NJ's best.

NJ MileSplit figured that this is the perfect time to take you on a stroll down memory lane and rewind the clock and relive some of the best girls performances, greatest highlights, and most indelible moments in Meet of Champions history.

It was very difficult to not have this list go on forever because there are so many great moments to choose from. We tried to focus on the history making, record breaking performers, and multiple event winners. 

This list is in chronological order starting with the most recent back to the oldest.  

Here goes!!          

Tiffany Bautista, Paramus Catholic

As a junior in 2018, Bautista won the high jump (5-10) and the triple jump (40-0.50(, and ran on the winning 4x100, and went 19-2.50 to place third in the long jump.

Hayley Horvath, Notre Dame

Horvath cleared a state record 13-5.25 at the 2018 M of C, which smashed the meet record of 12-6 by nearly a foot.


Brielle Smith, Oakcrest

Smith smashed the state record in the javelin when she won the 2018 title with a throw of 163-8. She broke her own state record earlier this season with a 168-6 at the Woodbury Relays.


Alyssa Wilson, Donovan Catholic

At the 2017 meet, Wilson, the greatest thrower in state history,  won the shot put for the second straight year with a 54-0 1/4, and the discus for the third straight year with a meet record 161-0 to finish her career with five M of C outdoor titles, the most by any female thrower.  Wilson's winning shot put mark of 55-3/50 in 2015 is the meet record, and she holds the national record in the shot put (58-1) and the state record in the discus (182-0).  


Sydney McLaughlin, Union Catholic

As a junior in 2016, McLaughlin ran a meet and state record 51.87 to win the 400, ran a meet record 56.23 to win the 400m hurdles, and split 54.5 on the winning 4x400. She finished her career with a seven individual outdoor M of C titles, No. 2 in state history.  McLaughlin made the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team in the 400m hurdles at the age of 16. She owns the national high school record in the 400 hurdles (53.82) and is arguably the greatest high school female track and field athlete in U.S. history.    

Sydney McLaughlin, Union Catholic

As a freshman in 2014, Sydney the Great made history in her M of C debut, winning the 100m hurdles in 13.47, No. 2 in meet history, and the 400 hurdles in a then meet record 58.24.   

Briana Gess, Haddonfield

Gess, a freshman upset defending champion and meet record Josette Norris of Tenafly to win the first of her three straight 1,600 titles in 4:45.97.


Keturah Orji, Mount Olive

Orji, a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in the triple jumper, is the No. 1 horizontal jumper in the state history and the current No. 1 triple jumper in the U.S.

At the 2014 M of C, Orji set the meet and state records in the LJ and TJ meet when she won both events for the third straight year with marks of 20-2.50 and 44-1.25. Orji's six M of C outdoor titles are the most by any girl in field events. Orji won the 2018 Bowerman Award, given to the top NCAA track and filed athlete in the country.  


OIivia Baker, Columbia

Baker went where no other athlete in met history had ever gone before when she won four golds as a junior at the 2013 M of C. Baker won the 100 (12.05), 200 (23.95), 400 (53.53), and anchored the winning 4x400. Baker is the only athlete in state history to win four straight 400 titles. Baker won six M of C titles in her career.


Sara Disanza, High Point

Disanza shaved more than two seconds off the meet record in the 3,200 when she won the event in a still-standing record of 10:15.02 at the 2013 meet. 


Josette Norris, Tenafly

Norris, a junior, destroyed the meet record by nearly five seconds when she ran 4:41.61 to win the 1,600 at the 2013 meet.


Jess Woodard, Cherokee

At the 2013 meet, Woodard won the discus for the third straight year with a then meet record 161-1 and captured the shot put with a 47-1.25. Woodard is No. 2 in state history in the discus with a 168-10.


Myasia Jacobs, Paramus Catholic

One of the greatest sprinters in NJ history, Jacobs tore the sprints from 2009-2011, winning all six 100 and 200 titles to finish with six M of C titles. In 2011, she ran a meet and state record of ?11.47 in the 100m, breaking her own record of 11.48 set in 2010.


Baker vs. Wilson

In a clash between two of the greatest ever,  sophomore Olivia Baker of Columbia won the 400 at the 2012 M of C in 53.48 and senior Ajee' Wilson of Neptune, dropping down from the 800, was second in 54.04. At the time,those times wer No. 2 and No. 4 in meet history.

Baker went on to become the only person in state history to win four 400 titles and she never lost a 400 to a NJ athlete while in high school. 

Wilson, a U.S. Olympian and multiple national champion, is currently the No. 1 ranked 800 runner in the U.S. 

Ajee' Wilson, Neptune

Wilson, who set a then state record in the 800 of 2:02.64 in 2011, won the 800 as a junior in 2010 in 2:04.94, No. 2 in meet history

Jill Smith, Southern

At the 2009 M of C, Smith won her third straight 800 title and broke her own meet record with a time of 2:04.67, which is No. 3 in state history.

Lanie Thompson, Voorhees

At the 2009 M of C, Thompson hammered out the second meet record performance of her career when she won the 1,600 in a meet record 4:46.28. She ran a meet record 10:17.18 to win the 3,200 as a junior in 2008. Thompson's 1,600 record lasted four years and her 3,200 record stood for five years. 


Danielle Tauro, Southern

As a junior in 2008, Tauro won the 800 in 2:10.88 and the 1,600 in 4:49.17. Tauro finished her career with five outdoor M of C titles, including four in the 1,600. She is the state record holder in the mile at 4:39.25.  


Erin Donohue, Haddonfield

Donohue, a 2008 U.S. Olympian in the 1,500, missed completing what would have been a ridiculous triple by just three inches at the 2001 M of C.

In between winning the 1,600 (4:53.57) and 3,200 (10:49.32),  Donohue nearly won the javelin, placing second with a throw of 139-3. Chelsea Salisbury of Buena won with a 139-6. Donohue won six outdoor M of C titles in her career.


Tawana Watkins, Paterson Kennedy

At the 2000 M of C, Watkins became the first girl to win the 400m hurdles (59.56) and the 400 (54.41) at the same meet. Watkins finished with four M of C outdoor titles in her career.


Mikele and Melisa Barber, Montclair


The Barber twins lit up the track at the 1998 M of C. Melisa won the 100m dash in 11.57. Mikele won the 400 in 54.05, and then in the 200 they went 1-2 in a photo finish with Mikele edging Melisa, 24.00 to 24.01!!! Mikele, the former state record holder in the 400, was a U.S. Olympian in 2000.  


Ray and Helen Wilks, Bridgeton

In 1994, Ray and Helen Wilks each won an event to become the second brother-sister combination to pull that off (Carl and Carol Lewis of Willingboro were the first). Ray won the first of his two straight shot put titles with a 60-7, and Helen won the 100m hurdles in 14.45.


Christine Engel, Mount Olive

Engel became the first 4-time winner of the 1,600 when she ran 4:58.13 in 1990.


Jodie Bilotta, North Hunterdon

Bilotta is the only athlete in M of C history to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 at the same meet!!! That's right, she ran 2:11.6 in the 800, 5:00.7 in th 1,600, and 10:24.18 in the 3,200 at the 1988 meet!! Bilotta finished her career with a state record  eight outdoor M of C titles! She won four 3,200's in row, a feat no one else has matched.


Dawn Bowles, Neptune

In 1988, Bowles dropped a ridiculous double, winning the 100m hurdles in a then state record and still meet record 13.33, and won the 200 in 24.37. Bowles broke her own state record in the 100m hurdles when she ran 13.10 at the 1988 Golden West Invitational. 

Wendy Vereen, Trenton

At the 1983 M of C, Vereen won the 100 in a meet record 11.3 and the 200 in a meet record 23.0  


Joetta Clark, Columbia

One of the greatest athletes in state history, Clark, the only four-time winner of the 800 (1977-80), ran a then meet and state record of 2:06.7 in 1980. That stood as the meet record for 29 years. Clark's 2:04.5 in 1980 stood as the state record for 31 years. Clark is a 4-time U.S. Olympian in the 800.


Carol Lewis, Willingboro

In 1980, Lewis, Carl's sister, soared a 20-11 in the long jump, which is still the meet record, and won the 100m hurdles in 14.1. Lewis, who made the U.S. Olympic team in 1980 in the long jump but never competed at the Olympic Games because of the U.S. boycott, won four straight LJ titles from 1978-81 and won two HH titles in her career to give her six outdoor M of C titles. Lewis still owns the state record with her 21-7.75 in 1980.