There sure were several eye-popping results, breathtaking victories, upset specials, and dramatic team duels when the state's best track and field athletes grinded through one of the longest and most memorable Group Track and Field Championships in state history.
Here's a look at some of the biggest highlights in the boys competition.
Related Content:
- Group Championships Results & Coverage
- Merge: Girls Groups Top 50
- Merge: Boys Group Top 50
- We Are the Champions: Every Team Winner
- Boys State Title Winners, All Six Champions Every Event
- Girls State Title Winners, All Six Champions Every Event
GROUP 4
CODE RED ALERT!!!
When you hear the phrase "Code Red Alert'' it means Pennsauken just did something really, really big, and the Indians turned this meet into a Code Red takeover as Pennsauken's dynamic duo of seniors Bryce Tucker and Premier Wynn absolutely went off!!
Wynn and Tucker combined to have a hand in 58 of Pennsauken's 66 points as the Indians won their first title ever in Group 4 and its third state title overall (they won Group 3 in 2016 and 2021).
Pennsauken has now win ever possible State Sectional and State Group Championship title possible this year, indoor and outdoors combined!!!
Wynn racked up 4 gold medals with wins in the 400 (47.68), the 200 (21.55), and legs on the 4x100 (42.15) and 4x400. Wynn split 47.14 on the third leg of the 4x400 that finished first in school record and NJ No. 2 time of 3:14.78. Tucker won the 400 hurdles in 52.69, was second in the 110 hurdles in 13.87, and anchored the 4x400 with a 47.90 carry.
Nate Rayan of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Fabian Gonzalez of Southern, and Ahmad Fogg of Egg Harbor had spectacular performances, and Matt Aono of Ridgewood scored probably the biggest upset of the day.
Rayan won the 110 hurdles in a blistering 13.45!!! That smashed the Group 4 record and moved Rayan up to No. 3 all-time in state history in all conditions.
Only the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, who ran a 12.9 hand time in 1979 (converts to 13.13 automatic time), and Danyne Brown of Camden (who ran the overall Group Championship meet record of 13.43 in 1999) have run faster in state history than Rayan. Rayan's 13.45 broke the Group 4 record of 13.73 set by Cory Poole of East Orange Campus in 2016.
The Stanford-bound Gonzalez, the state leader in the shot put and discus, won those two events with throws of 63-5 and 197-5. Both marks were the best of all the groups combined on Saturday.
Fogg put on a show in the long jump by soaring 24-2.75!!!! That not only a school record and the best jump in the state this season, it also moves Fogg to No. 21 in NJ history and is No. 13 on the national list this season.
Aono, a senior at Ridgewood, scored a huge upset when he cleared 15-0 (tied for the best mark in all the groups combined) to win the pole vault. Heavy favorite Brian O'Sullivan of Hillsborough, who made a NJ No. 2 all-time 16-6.50 last month, wound up third at 13-6.
Aono didn't decide to compete until Friday. He suffered a pair of injuries when his pole split on him at the sectional meet last week and struck him in the shoulder and knee, and wasn't sure if he could give it go. Aono said he just took some Advil and powered through the competition as best he could, and shocked himself by winning the title.
Union County dominated the distance races!
Lucas Reguinho of Elizabeth, the state Group 4 XC champ, won the 3,200 in 9:05.64, sophomore Ryan Daly of Westfield led a 1-2-4 finish for Westfield in the 1,600 with a winning time and massive PR of 4:16.63, and Gabriel Rodriguez of Union won the two-lapper in 1:52.33, which is NJ No. 3 this season.
Hoe about senior Kevin Burr from Rancocas Valley. The former baseball player picked up a javelin for the first time ever two months ago, and now he's a state champion. Burr unloaded a 190-7 to win the Group 4 title, which was the top throw of all the groups combined!!!
GROUP 3
Chatham continued its greatest season ever by earning a share of the title with Deptford, which won the meet-concluding 4x400 to get a piece of the championship.
For the second week in a row, senior Lathan Brown torched the track to earn four gold medals.
Brown won the 400 hurdles and the 400, ran on the victorious 4x100, and dropped a red hot 47.40 on the winning 4x400.
Chatham was clinging to a 37-33 heading into the 4x400. Deptford got the win in 3:20.44 to get 10 points. Chatham was third in 3:21.57 to pick up six points as the two teams finished deadlocked with 43 points each. Chatham narrowly missed winning the title outright, finishing just .21 behind Timber Creek in the 4x400. Timber Creek ran 3:21.26 in a different heat to place second in the relay.
Chatham's distance guys had a big day as expected.
The Cougars won the 4x800 for the second straight year in 8:07.21, Ryan Beegle was second in the 1600, Charles Henne placed third in the 800, Leo Valenzuela was fourth in the 1600 and fifth in the 800, Finn Valli was third in the 3,200 with a PR of 9:25.90, and Ted Joel came up huge by running a clutch 49.5 anchor leg in the 4x400, and placed sixth in the pole vault by clearing 13-6.
GROUP 2
Liam Paneque and Jack Attali combined for 50 points to spark Demarest to its first title, Alexander Sadikov smashed a county record, and Blaik Slavinski made a huge statement to highlight the action in Group 2.
Demarest outscored runner-up Ocean Township, 63-36, to become the first Bergen County squad to win the Group 2 title since River Dell in 2016, who were led by the Daly twins, Colin and Will.
Attali scored 24 points and Paneque tallied 26 points to lead the charge for the Norsemen.
Paneque, a sophomore, bounded out to 46-2 to win the triple jump, placed second in the high jump (6-6), and soared 21-9.75 to place third in the long jump. Attali won the 200 (21.68), placed second in the 110 and third in the 400 hurdles.
Sadikov, who missed six weeks this season with a stress fracture, broke the Monmouth County automatic time record in the 400 hurdles with a winning time of 52.18. The UPenn-bound standout also placed third in the 110 hurdles (14.30), fourth in the 400 (48.42), and split 48.5 as the anchor on second-place 4x400.
In one of the bes races of the day, Slavinski, a senior at Point Pleasant Boro, cut more than a full second off his personal best to win the 400 in 47.60, just ahead of Jaden Marchen of Leonia (47.62). Those times are NJ No. 3 and No. 4 this season! Can't wait to see the rematch at the Meet of Champions on Wednesday!!!
GROUP 1
Jack Ahart sizzled in the sprints, and Peyton Shute turned in one of the gutsiest performances of the day when the two stars were triple winners to highlight the action in Group 1.
Ahart, a senior at Kinnelon who is headed to Notre Dame, got the redemption he was seeking in a big way by winning the 100 dash in 10.78, the 200 in a personal best 21.61, and the 400 in 48.08! Ahart, who won the 55 dash and 400 at the state indoor championships, hurt his hamstring while running in the 100 final last year, so to come back to collect three gold medals was especially satisfying for him.
Shute, a junior, spilled everything he had on the track to fuel Woodbury to its first state title since 2011 and its 12th overall. Shute won the 3,200 in 9:25.91, the 800 in 1:55.90, and split 1:58.04 on the winning 4x800 to lead Woodbury to the team title. Shute attempted to win the 1,600 as well, but he dropped out due to spasms in his legs from his amazing triple.
Woodbury put an exclamation point on its team championship by winning the 4x400 in 3:25.29 to give the Herd a a sweep of the three relays and a 71-60 victory over runner-up Wallkill Valley. Glassboro, the SJ Group 1 champ, was third with 58.
Senior Colin Rley of Dayton, who missed this meet last year with illness, won the 1,600 in 4:19.82, which gives him a state title in all three season. The Villanova-bound Riley won the state Group XC title as a junior in 2021, and has win three state indoor championships
NON-PUBLIC A
This meet was absolutely loaded with stars, who delivered with some epic performances, and Christian Brothers Academy won a clash of titans to extend its state record to 25 state outdoor titles.
Let's get this started with the remarkable quadruple by Xavier Donaldson of Seton Hall Prep.
The University of Princeton-bound Donaldson was simply spectacular. He won the 100 in 10.74, the 200 in 21.25, the 400 in 48.43, and burned a 46.78 on the anchor of the winning 4x400 that ran a meet record 3:13.97, which is No. 10 in state history, and No. 15 in the U.S. this season. The former Non-Public A record of 3:17.34 by Union Catholic in 2013.
The other meet record that fell in Non-Public came from Nick Sullivan of CBA, who used a huge kick with 150 to go to rally from third-place to win the 3,200 with a big PR of 9:02.50. That took down the 35-year-old Non-Public A record of 9:05.57 that was set by all-time great Jason DiJoseph of Paul VI in 1988.
Sullivan was one of four winners for CBA, who scored in 15 of the 18 events to defeat defending champion Union Catholic, 128-91, and capture its fifth title in the past six years.
CBA's other champions were junior Tristan McFarlane in the high jump (6-4), senior Jack Ostrowsky, who led a 1-2-6 for the Colts in the javelin with a PR of 177-9, and the 4x800 squad that ran 8:03.40.
Collin Boler of Delbarton made his final high school on NJ soil a triumphant when the University of Princeton-bound star won the 800 in 1:51.74, the top time in the state this season. Boler, who won the 800 at both the outdoor Meet of Champions last June and indoors this past March, won't be racing at the Meet of Champions this Wednesday. He will instead be running the mile at Brooks PR Invitational in Washington on Wednesday. He's also running the mile at the Nike Nationals in Oregon this Sunday.
Boler, who has PR's of 1:50.90, 4:04.05 for the mile, and 8:47.84 for 3,200, will be chasing a sub 4 mile as he hopes to make a run at the state record in the mile of 3:59.8, set by the legendary Marty Liquori of Essex Catholic in 1967. No matter what happens out West, Boler has cemented his legacy as one of the state's best distance runners of all-time!
It wasn't a shock to see a runner from Union Catholic win the 1,600, but it was surprising who it was. With UC junior Jimmy Wischusen of Union Catholic, the 3,200 champion at the Indoor Meet of Champions, out with a sore ankle injury, the 1,600 was wide open for a number of runners to win.
With 50 meter to go, it looked like CBA junior Conor Clifford was going to win, but UC's Ryan Cichocki surged just before the line and leaned to shock Clifford and steal the win with a big PR of 4:15.53. Clifford was second in 4:15.56. Those were the two fastest 1,600 times of all the groups combined.
Sophomore throwing star Benji Shue of Bergen Catholic was a double winner for the second straight year.
Shue, who hadn't thrown since hurting his abductor muscle nearly two weeks ago, won the shot put with 57-2 and the discus with a 197-2.
NON-PUBLIC B
This was the Brian Theobald show.
The Villanova-bound star won three gold medals and added a runner-up finish to spark St. Rose to a dominating 122-63 victory over runner-up Bishop Eustace. Its the second straight title for St. Rose and the fourth overall. The Purple Roses also won in 2010, 2016, and last year.
800.
Theobald won the 3,200 in 9:35.31, the 1,600 in 4:35.31, ran a 53.5 leg on the winning 4x400, and placed second in the 800 in 2:00.58.
St. Rose also picked up 24 points from versatile standout Simon Advento, and 18 points from star thrower Josh Huisman.
Advento won the pole vault by clearing 13-0, and placed second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 400 hurdles. Huisman, a junior who won the shot put at the Indoor Meet of Champions, won the shot put (58-2) and placed second in the discus with a 152-2.