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The West Windsor-Plainsboro North came out on top after a thrilling battle, the Lawrenceville girls repeated as champion, and Greg Foster and Shamali Whittle produced sensational performances at the Mercer County Championships, which concluded on Saturday at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
Let's start off with the remarkable leap by Lawrenceville's Foster, who is headed to Princeton University next fall.
At Friday's opening day of competition at the Lawrenceville School, Foster delivered the second greatest long jump performances in state history when he soared 24-8, which is also the No. 1 jump in the nation this season! See a video of Foster's jump here
Whittle, a senior at Hamilton North, who won the 100 and 200 dashes at the Meet of Champions last June, was his usual splendid. The University of Georgia-bound Whittle took over the state lead in the 55m hurdles by winning that race in 7.45, which is No. 7 in the nation this winter, and also won the 55 dash in 6.43.
Makker and Baloyi spark WW North boys
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys, led by double-winners Nikhil Makker and Malwandla Baloyi, edged Lawrenceville, 85-82, to capture their first county title since 2012.
Makker, a senior, led a 1-2-4 finish for WW North in the 3,200 and a 1-2-5 finish for the Knights in the 1,600 as WW North piled up 42 points in the distance races. Senior Jeff Chen was second in both the 1,600 and 3,200, and senior Anish Agrawal placed fourth in the 3,200, and fifth in the 1,600.
Baloyi, a senior, showed off his remarkable versatility by winning the high jump (5-10), and the pole vault (a school record 14-0), finishing third in the 55 hurdles, and running on the runner-up 4x400 relay to rack up 34 points for the Knights.
Lawrenceville sweeps pole vault, wins 4x400 to clinch girls title
Lawrenceville owned the pole vault competition with a 1-2-3 sweep and won the 4x400 relay to the way to successfully defending its title, 67-64, over Allentown.
In the pole vault, Lawrenceville senior Amelie Wickham finished first by clearing 10-6, and teammates and classmates Sophia Springer (10-0), and Ananya Malhotra (9-0) finished 2-3 to give the Big Red 24 points in the event.
Lawrenceville also picked up a huge 1-3 in the long jump from the freshmen duo of Rhianna Scott (16-5) and Sofia Swindell (16-2). Scott also placed third in the triple jump.
Meanwhile, on the track, Lawrenceville put the finishing touches on its victory by winning the meet-concluding 4x400 relay in 4:14. Allentown was second in the relay in 4:17.57.
Allentown's runner-up finish was fueled by senior Jess Lyons.
Lyons, who is headed to Purdue, won the 1600 in 5:24.67, won the 800 in 2:24.41, and anchored the second-place 4x400.
Junior Meghan Rentner also had a very impressive meet for Allentown, placing third in the 3,200 and fifth in the 1,600.