A quick run down of New Jersey track and field's top high school performers from Thursday at Penn Relays. Performances with accompanying stories or interviews will have those linked.
Union Catholic Leads 4x8 Into Tomorrow's Final
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The Union Catholic girls made a statement on Thursday morning leading all 4x800m prelims with their NJ No. 1 US No. 5 time of 9:13.08! Cherokee also advanced running fourth in prelims with a time of 9:21.19 NJ No. 2.
The top 12 advance to the final on Friday evening. Middletown South just outside the cutoff with a 9:37.28 NJ No. 4 run.
Top 3 NJ Performers: Union Catholic (1st in prelims, qualified for final, 9:13.08), Cherokee (4th in prelims, qualified for final, 9:21.19), Middletown South (13th in prelims, 9:37.28)
Niki Woods Wins Javelin Championship, 141-3
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A windy day was no issue for NV Demarest star Niki Woods! The senior adjusted her form to battle the cross winds and led the entire javelin event from throw one through six.
The best of her marks a 141-3 on her final attempt. Woods' series: 135-6, 138-2, foul, foul, foul, 141-3.
Top 3 NJ Performers: Niki Woods (1st, 141-3), Hailey Romero (6th, 129-1), Rachel Schmitt (7th, 127-4)
Faith Bethea Leaps to Triple Jump Victory
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Snyder HS senior Faith Bethea improved her own New Jersey state leading performance with a PR jump of 40-05.5 (0.9).
This also breaks her into the US top 20 this season among all-condition performances and US No. 2 when filtering to wind legal jumps.
Her winning mark came on her second attempt with a wind reading of 0.9 and moved her from fifth in the event to first. She never relinquished the lead from there.
Union Catholic Qualifies Into 4x1 COA
Union Catholic's sprint squad followed up their teammates' impressive 4x8 in the morning to run ninth overall out of Thursday's 4x100m preliminaries. Their 47.96 qualified for the Championship of America final on Friday evening. UC ranked third among US teams behind IMG Academy of FL (3rd in prelims, 47.03) and Paul Robeson of NY (8th, 47.83).
Girls 4x100m NJ Final Qualifiers - Running Friday
Championship of America - Union Catholic (9th prelims, 47.96)
International - Rancocas Valley (13th prelims, 48.84), West Orange (17th prelims, 49.22)
National - Clayton (19th prelims, 49.41)
Northeast - Elizabeth (30th prelims, 49.82), Morristown (32nd prelims, 49.90), Neptune (33rd prelims, 49.93), Paramus Catholic (34th prelims, 49.93)
Perez Cracks State Record Time Through 3K Win
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Lakeland Regional's Angelina Perez took down the 3000m state record with her 9:18.11 victory at Penn Relays. After some early laps a step ahead of the top contenders Perez took off and never looked back.
This was just a few seconds off the meet record of 9:15.3 set by Cathy Schiro (NH) in 1985. Previous New Jersey state record was held by Charlotte Bednar of The Lawrenceville School at 9:20.98 since 2020.
Top 3 NJ Performers: Angelina Perez (1st, 9:18.11)Tilly O'Connor (15th, 10:03.63), Leanna Johnston (17th, 10:09.36).
Metuchen Leads NJ, 2nd In DMR Championship
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The Metuchen girls took out the race and held on for second with a time of 11:57.17. Saratoga Springs (NY) ran 11:43.26 to win. They set a Middlesex County record while doing so taking down South Brunswick's 12:09.77 from the 2009 Penn Relays.
Metuchen's relay legs included Caroline Schleif (1200m, 3:34.51), Nelagh Matthews (400m, 1:01.99), Sara Lignell (800m, 2:24.18), Molly Malague (1600m, 4:56.50).
Top 3 NJ Performers: Metuchen (2nd, 11:57.17), Colts Neck (4th, 12:06.63), Ridgewood (6th, 12:14.49).
Sullivan Third in Girls Shot Put
Casey Sullivan of NV Demarest threw to third in the shot put with a season best mark of 43-4.25 taking over the state lead for New Jersey by nearly two feet.
Top 3 NJ Performers: Casey Sullivan (3rd, 43-4.25), Melissa Aymil (7th, 40-2.25), Ciara Brown (13th, 37-4).
Lauren Cashman Vaults to Third at Penn
Lauren Cashman led NJ's pole vault effort at Penn Relays clearing 11-07.75 for third. Talia Hutchinson tied for ninth at 11-03.75.
Clayton & Scotch Plains-Fanwood Advance to COA
New Jersey advanced two squads to the 4x400m Championship of America with Clayton running 3:47.39 ranked sixth among all prelims and Scotch Plains-Fanwood eighth at 3:50.69. Top nine advanced to the Championship Friday at 5:05pm.
Clayton improves upon their state lead with that performance and moved up to US No. 11.
Rancocas Valley also moved on to the Philadelphia Area 4x400m final clocked at 3:58.08 ranked 21st overall.
Woolfolk & Strydesky Tie For Fourth In High Jump
Top 3 NJ Performers: Alanna Woolfolk (T-4th, 5-03.25), Samantha Strydesky (T-4th, 5-03.25), Dahlia Beasley (T-10th, 5-01.25), Norina Khanzada (T-10th, 5-01.25).
Jada Brown Fourth In Long Jump
Celine Jada Brown launched to an 18-07.25 during her fourth jump of the series. Her mark finished fourth among competing long jumpers. Jessica Ricco of Pascack Valley 14th at 16-03.25.
Emma Peretti 8th in Girls Discus
Top 3 NJ Performers: Emma Peretti (8th, 128-11), Jada Mia Puryear (10th, 124-4), Olivia Prescott (13th, 119-7)
Christina Allen Sub-5 Mile
Top 3 NJ Performers: Christina Allen (10th, 4:59.34), Emma Zawatski (11th, 5:01.08), Lily Oliver (12th, 5:01.41)
Special Olympics 100m Dash
Girls 100m dash race New Jersey saw Destiny Gerety second at 16.00, Lauryn Wilfing fourth at 18.75, and Christina Vassar sixth 20.87.
In the boys 100m event Zachary White placed fourth running 15.02 and Michael McCloskey 15.65.