There were so many eye-popping and sizzling performances all across the state that we just had do a deep dive and hit you with a Sectional Rewind.
But before we do that, here's a big shoutout to all the athletes who competed, dropped PR's and advanced to the State Group Championships. Thanks to all of you for making NJ track and field the best sport in the world!!! That's how I feel, and I might just fight anyone who disagrees-lol.
One more thing- if you missed our complete list of all the sectional teams champions with photos of all 34 winners, all you have to do is click here.
- Sectional Results Hub
- We Are the Champions: Every Team Champion
- Merge: NJSIAA Sectionals Overall & Groups
Ok, let's get going on that rewind that you are all anxiously awaiting.
There were just too many double winners at sectionals to list them all, so we drilled down to find all the triple individual winners and sprinkled in some other big-time performances that jumped out over the two-day meet.
We came up with 16 athletes (nine girls/seven boys) who captured three individual titles, including two sets of teammates, and there were two athletes who pulled off the quad!!!
Note-If we missed anyone who won three individual events, please let us know and they will be added to this story.
THE QUAD CLUB!!!
Let's start this off with the biggest winners of them all, Nester Wea of Willingboro and Brian Walsh of Mendham.
If you haven't heard of Wea before, you're forgiven because this is her first outdoor season and she really has come out of nowhere.
Wea, a sophomore, won the 100 dash in 12.09, the 200 in 25.52, the 400 in 58.05, and captured the 100 hurdles in 16.03 at the South Jersey Group 2 Championships.
Wea is the only athlete (boy or girl) in the state who won four individual events at the sectional championships, and she's just the first girl from Willingboro to ever complete the quad. That's saying a lot considering that some of the greatest athletes in state history have come out of Willingboro.
Walsh, a senior, hit the jumping sweep by winning the high jump (a PR matching 6-2), the triple jump (43-1.75) and the long jump (22-2) and grabbed the gold in the 110 hurdles in 15.43 to complete his quad in North Jersey, Section 2 Group 3.
DYNAMIC DUOS
I can't remember the last time two teams had two triple winners (not including relays). But Elizabeth's Cynthia Boakye and Maisha Valme and Demarest's Jack Attali and Liam Paneque pulled off the trifecta to lead their squads to sectional titles.
At the North 2 Group 4 meet at Ridge, Boakye and Valme combined to win six events, and Boakye added a fourth gold medal on a relay to fuel the Minutemen to its first sectional title since 2003 and its second overall.
Boakye, who is headed to Rutgers, torched the track in the sprints. She won the 100 dash in 11.78, the fastest time in the state this season, the 200 in an all sections combined best of 24.11 (she leads the state with a 23.98), and she captured the 400 in 54.79, the No. 2 time in the state this season. Boakye's fourth gold came when she anchored the winning 4x100 relay.
Valme, a senior, owned the jumps, winning the high jump (5-2), the long jump (18-7), and the triple jump (38-11.50).
At the North 1, Group 2 Championships at Vernon, Attali and Paneque rocked the meet.
Attali, a senior, won the 200 in 22.37, the 400 hurdles in 14.41, and the 400 hurdles in 53.46. Paneque, just a sophomore, swept all three jumps. He cleared 6-2 to win the high jump, soared 46-1.25 to win the triple jump, and he soared 22-9.75 to win the long jump (22-9.75).
ALL SHE DOES IS WYNN
Sianni Wynn also struck gold four times!!!
The freshman phenom from Pennsauken won the 100 in 11.90, the 200 in 24.58, the 400 with a NJ No. 1 time and South Jersey, Group record of 54.01, and she split 55 point as the anchor on the victorious 4x400. Wynn's 54.01 is the third fastest 400 time ever run by a NJ freshman girl and it's No. 15 in state history.
The Wynn vs. Boakye showdowns in the Group 4 sprints next weekend are going to be fire!!!!!
RED HOT HURDLES
Bryce Tucker of Pennsauken and Nate Rayan of Scotch Plains-Fanwood set the stage for what could be an epic duel in the Group 400 hurdles with red hot races at the sectionals.
The Rutgers-bound Tucker burned a US No. 1 time of 51.40 to win the 400 hurdles at the South Group 4 meet, which is No. 8 in NJ history. Rayan, running the 400 hurdles for the second time in his life, ran a school record 52.57, No. 4 in the nation this season, at the North 2 Group 4 meet.
Rayan, headed to Clemson, also won the 110 hurdles in 13.63 and is the big favorite to win that race at the State Group 4 meet. Rayan is the state leader with the NJ No. 3 all-time 13.46 he ran at the Union County Championships.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Peyton Shute, Megan Donlevie, and Maddie Scheier were the only runners in the state to complete the 800m, 1600m, 3200m triple!
Shute, the junior at Woodbury, ran 1:56.47 in the 800m, 4:25.67 in the 1600m, and 9:35.67 in the 3200m at the South Group 1 meet.
The Rutgers-bound Donlevie won the 800m (2:22.17), the 1600m (5:20.64), and the 3200m (11:35.32) to lead Shore Regional to the Central Jersey, Group 1 Championship.
Scheier, who is headed to the University of Miami, won the 800m in 2:24.12, 1600m in 5:04.17, and the 3200m in 11:12.98 to fuel Somerville to a share of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 Championship.
Did you catch what Ma'Syiah Brawner of Winslow did in the South Jersey, Group 3 triple jump?
In case you didn't (I promise you're not alone), Brawner produced the greatest triple performance by a freshman girl in state history!!!
Brawner bounded out to a huge PR of 39-5.50 to finish second as she shattered the state freshman mark of 38-10.50 set in 2006 by Adaobi Unachukwu of Marlboro at the Monmouth County Championships. Brawner's 39-5.50 is No. 2 in the state this season and she's now No. 4 in the nation among freshmen. Her previous best of 38-2.75 came when she won the Camden County title.
Brawner finished second to state leader Sophia Curtis of Ocean City (38-8) in a competition that saw both athletes go well past the SJ, Group 3 meet record.
HISTORIC DISCUS DUEL
The best discus duel in the history of the sectional championships occurred in the South Jersey, Group 1 meet at Pennsauken, according to South Jersey T&F historian and reporter Reuben Frank.
Frank reported that junior Damere Lassiter of Glassboro and senior Janier Armstead of Penns Grove became the first duo in NJ sectional track history to both throw 180 feet in the same competition.
Lassiter emerged victorious with a throw of 184-8 on his final attempt, and Armstead was second with a 183-4 as both throwers smashed the previous SJ Group 1 meet record of 171-8, which was set by Pennsville's John Clark in 207.
Lassiter's 184-8 is NJ No. 3 in the state this season, and Armstead's 183-4 placed his No 4 on the state list this season.
ON A MISSION
Lucas Reguinho of Elizabeth, who won the State Group 4 XC title before missing the entire indoor season with a grade 2 ankle sprain in two ligaments, is on a mission this season to get back on top and collect as many titles as he can before he heads off to run at Louisville.
Reguinho continued to show how fit and hungry he is with a dazzling distance double at the North 2 Group 4 meet. Reguinho won the 1600 in 4:15.34 and the 3200m in 9:06.62.
Those were the two fastest times among all the sections across the state. Reguinho will now head into the State Group 4 meet this weekend as the favorite to sweep those two races.
THE COMEBACK KID
There probably isn't another athlete in the state that has authored a better comeback story than Alexander Sadikov.
The senior at Ocean Township, who won the 400m at the Meet of Champions last spring, hadn't raced since April because of a stress fracture in his fibula. But he made a triumphant return to the track to lead the Spartans to the Central Group 3 championships in a performance that defines the word inspiring.
Sadikov won the 110 hurdles in 15.02, finished first in the 400 hurdles in 54.28, ran 49.41 to finish second in the 400, and he anchored the winning relay. He did all that after approximately six weeks of not running! That's just amazing!
TWINNING AND WINNING
Anyone who has been paying attention over the last couple years knows what a big star Clemmie Lilley of Rumson-Fair Haven is. But the sophomore isn't the only one in her family who excels in the sport.
While Clemmie was burning up the track by winning her second straight Central Jersey, Group 2 titles in the 400 and the 800 (a school record 2:12.08, the fastest time in all the sectionals combined), her twin sister, Clara Lilley, cleared a new PR of 5-0 to win the high jump! How is that for twin power!!
MORRIS FIREPOWER
Two boys from Morris County were triple winners!
Luke Schagelin of Morris Knolls showed off his range by becoming the only athlete in the state (boy or girl) to win the 400m, 800m, 1600m. The junior ran 49.36, 1:53.55, and 4:24.53 at the North Section 2, Group 3 meet.
Jack Ahart of Kinnelon hit the sprint triple in North Section 2 Group 1. The Notre Dame-bound Ahart ran times of 10.90, 21.78, and 49.07. There is a good chance that Ahart sweeps the sprints again at the State Group 1 meet.
SPRINT TRIPLES
At the South Group 3 Championships, Naylah Jones of Timber Creek won the 100 with a NJ No. 2 time of 11.79, placed first in the 200 in 24.92, captured the 400 in 55.83, which is NJ No. 4 this season, and she ran on the winning 4x100.
Ayanna Chape of Hackensack was the biggest star of the North 1, Group 4 meet at Clifton. The junior won the 100 in 12.58, the 200 with a PR of 25.01, and the 400 in a PR of 56.05.
WHAT A KNIGHT
Victoria Henry did something no one else in the state did this past weekend.
The senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro North won two events on the track and one in the field. Henry finished first in the 100 dash in 12.14, won the 200 in 25.11, and soared 16-8.75 to win the long jump to lead the Knights to its first sectional title ever in Central Group 3.
BROWN LIGHTS UP THE TRACK
Senior Lathan Brown of Deptford won the 200 in 22.32, the 400 in 48.76, ran 55.40 to finish first in the 400 hurdles, and was part of the winning 4x100 relay at the South Jersey, Group 3 meet.
DAZZLING DOUBLES
Juniors Layla Giordano and Sophia Curtis continued to climb up the national leader boards with a sensational performances over the weekend.
At the South Jersey, Group 3 Championships, Curtis won the 400 hurdles in a PR of 1:00.51, which s No. 5 in the nation the season, and she won the triple jump with a 39-8 (she's the state leader with 40-10.50). Curtis also placed second in the 400 with a PR of 56.04 and was fifth in the long jump with a PR of 17-8.50.
Giordano moved up No. 22 nationally and improved her NJ No. 1 mark to with a new PR of 157-0 in the discus and also won the shot put with a 40-11 to spark Old Tappan to the North Jersey, Section 1 Group 3 title.
There were so many eye-popping and sizzling performances all across the state that we just had do a deep dive and hit you with a Sectional Rewind.
But before we do that, here's a big shoutout to all the athletes who competed, dropped PR's and advanced to the State Group Championships. Thanks to all of you for making NJ track and field the best sport in the world!!! That's how I feel, and I might just fight anyone who disagrees-lol.