My goodness some nail biting team scores rolled out while deciding both championships during Mercer County Championships at Thompson Park on Thursday!
The boys championship was settled by just 5 points as West Windsor Plainsboro North defeated West Windsor Plainsboro South 67 to 72 for their third title in the past four Mercer County meets. Princeton wasn't too far off in third with 90 points, and Hopewell Valley fourth with 92!
WWPNorth struck first thanks to the third place finish by junior Luke Ferrer timed at 16:57. While WWPSouth looked to have the advantage from there with three in before the next North finisher, the back four of the Knights' scoring lineup weathered the storm finishing within 20 seconds of each other!
Take a look at these scoring lines. Every place matters in cross country that's for sure!
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 67 | 3+11+15+18+20 (28+55) | 0:55 1-5 Split | 17:33 Avg |
| 2 |  West Windsor Plainsboro South HS | 72 | 5+7+10+13+37 (38+47) | 1:20 1-5 Split | 17:31 Avg |
North's winning squad included the aforementioned Luke Ferrer in third, followed by senior Ethan Abilius 11th 17:31, junior Jordan Andrade 15th 17:43, senior Chetan Casalena 18th 17:46, and junior Rohan Joglekar in 20th at 17:52. Their displacers were Andrew Sebastian and Subomi Allison in 28th and 55th respectively.
WWPSouth's strong effort in second was headlined by Nischal Karthikumar fifth, Shravan Pradeep seventh, Venkat Mamidi 10th, Ethan Song 13th, and Joseph Maddalon 37th. WWPSouth was looking to win their first Mercer County title since 2018.
Boys Top 5 Finishers
| 1 |  Caleb Brox | 12 | The Wilberforce School | 16:44.10 | 1 | |
| 2 |  Jack Kane | 12 | Hightstown HS | 16:51.20 | 2 | |
| 3 |  Luke Ferrer | 11 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 16:56.20 | 3 | |
| 4 |  Maxwell Dunlap | 12 | Princeton HS | 17:04.00 | 4 | |
| 5 |  Nischal Karthikumar | 11 | West Windsor Plainsboro South HS | 17:04.80 | 5 |
The individual race was hard fought as well with Caleb Brox of The Wilberforce School running 16:45, seven seconds ahead of second place Jack Kane of Hightstown.
Brox, a senior, was seventh at this meet last fall and we haven't seen many recorded races this season outside of his fourth place run during the Thompson 2 Miler back in early September. His 16:45 ranks sixth among all Thompson Park times thus far this season.
Maxwell Dunlap of Princeton HS also broke into the top five running 17:04 for fourth place.
Top sophomore in the boys championship race was Jacob Newman of the Hun School of Princeton in eight at 17:15. Leading freshman was out of Hopewell Valley finishing 16th with a time of 17:45
For the girls Allison Lee of WWPNorth earned the individual win with the only sub-19 time of the day clocked at 18:58. That's also the quickest time recorded this season at Thompson Park, the top three times on that ranking are from this meet!
The sophomore, who was eighth last year here as a freshman, also defeated two previous champions on the way to their title.
Her teammate Zui Chinchalkar, who finished second overall at 19:10, won Mercer as a freshman in 2021 and senior Melina Johnson out of Robbinsville who finished fourth on Thursday at 19:28 was the defending 2022 champion heading into the meet.
Also running top five was star freshman Izzy Meth of Lawrence HS recorded at 19:19 and Wilberforce School sophomore Laura Sallade in fifth at 19:36.
Girls Top 5 Finishers
| 1 | Allison Lee | 10 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 18:57.70 | 1 | |
| 2 | Zui Chinchalkar | 11 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 19:09.30 | 2 | |
| 3 |  Izzy Meth | 9 | Lawrence HS | 19:18.10 | ||
| 4 |  Melina Johnston | 12 | Robbinsville HS | 19:27.50 | 3 | |
| 5 | Laura Sallade | 10 | The Wilberforce School | 19:35.30 | 4 |
In the team race the Princeton HS girls defeated second place Hopewell Valley 66 to 86. Princeton's leading three scorers finish within 23 seconds of each other and were led by freshman Grace Hegedus in sixth at 19:39. Her teammate Kyleigh Tangen, a senior, was eighth at 19:51 and sophomore Kajol Karra 10th with a 20:01.
Sealing the win as the fourth and fifth runners was another freshman Eowyn Deess in 20th at 20:59 and senior Frances Jonson 28th 21:32. Their displacers were Tessa Thai in 45th and Rachel Xin 46th.
This is Princeton's second win the past three championships. Hopewell Valley, who were just 20 points off in second, last won Mercer County in 2009.
Hopewell Valley's top three all return next fall led by freshmen Sydney Young who was 9th at 19:55, junior Claire Dumont in 11th 20:02, and freshman Elsie Rey-De-Castro 12th 20:08.
Related
- 2023 Mercer County Meet Results
- 2023 Girls Thompson Park 5K Rankings
- 2023 Boys Thompson Park 5K Rankings
Team Scores
Boys Championship
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 67 | 3+11+15+18+20 (28+55) | 0:55 1-5 Split | 17:33 Avg |
| 2 | West Windsor Plainsboro South HS | 72 | 5+7+10+13+37 (38+47) | 1:20 1-5 Split | 17:31 Avg |
| 3 |  Princeton HS | 90 | 4+6+23+27+30 (36+46) | 1:10 1-5 Split | 17:42 Avg |
| 4 |  Hopewell Valley HS | 92 | 12+16+19+21+24 (35+59) | 0:26 1-5 Split | 17:48 Avg |
| 5 |  Hamilton East - Steinert HS | 204 | 22+25+31+61+65 (71+93) | 1:21 1-5 Split | 18:33 Avg |
| 6 |  The Wilberforce School | 207 | 1+39+42+51+74 (112+114) | 2:47 1-5 Split | 18:24 Avg |
| 7 |  Notre Dame HS | 216 | 9+32+40+66+69 (78) | 2:01 1-5 Split | 18:35 Avg |
| 8 |  The Lawrenceville School | 259 | 34+44+50+58+73 (99+104) | 1:12 1-5 Split | 18:50 Avg |
| 9 |  Allentown HS | 264 | 17+56+60+63+68 (86+111) | 1:38 1-5 Split | 18:53 Avg |
| 10 |  Robbinsville HS | 268 | 14+52+57+70+75 (76+79) | 1:55 1-5 Split | 18:53 Avg |
| 11 |  Peddie School | 271 | 33+41+45+72+80 (92) | 1:22 1-5 Split | 18:55 Avg |
| 12 |  Hightstown HS | 281 | 2+49+67+81+82 (87+90) | 2:59 1-5 Split | 18:54 Avg |
| 13 |  The Pennington School | 291 | 29+53+54+64+91 (97) | 2:25 1-5 Split | 19:10 Avg |
| 14 |  Princeton Day School | 330 | 43+48+62+83+94 (116) | 2:16 1-5 Split | 19:26 Avg |
| 15 |  Hun School of Princeton | 384 | 8+77+84+102+113 (120) | 5:10 1-5 Split | 20:09 Avg |
| 16 |  Trenton Central HS | 430 | 26+88+96+105+115 (118+122) | 4:30 1-5 Split | 20:40 Avg |
| 17 |  Lawrence HS | 503 | 85+98+103+108+109 (110+117) | 1:36 1-5 Split | 21:17 Avg |
| 18 |  Ewing HS | 543 | 95+100+101+121+126 | 6:23 1-5 Split | 23:03 Avg |
| 19 |  Hamilton HS West | 544 | 89+106+107+119+123 (124+125) | 4:26 1-5 Split | 22:30 Avg |
Girls Championship
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princeton HS | 66 | 5+7+9+19+26 (43+44) | 1:53 1-5 Split | 20:23 Avg |
| 2 |  Hopewell Valley HS | 86 | 8+10+11+28+29 (34+46) | 1:39 1-5 Split | 20:38 Avg |
| 3 | The Wilberforce School | 119 | 4+18+25+27+45 (72+84) | 2:41 1-5 Split | 21:10 Avg |
| 4 |  The Lawrenceville School | 124 | 14+20+22+30+38 (62+68) | 1:29 1-5 Split | 21:18 Avg |
| 5 | West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS | 135 | 1+2+37+47+48 (49+63) | 3:29 1-5 Split | 20:58 Avg |
| 6 | Robbinsville HS | 145 | 3+16+32+36+58 (60+73) | 3:41 1-5 Split | 21:23 Avg |
| 7 |  Peddie School | 176 | 12+15+33+39+77 (81+82) | 4:32 1-5 Split | 21:50 Avg |
| 8 | West Windsor Plainsboro South HS | 190 | 6+40+41+51+52 (66+93) | 3:00 1-5 Split | 21:48 Avg |
| 9 |  Allentown HS | 192 | 17+24+42+50+59 (79) | 2:32 1-5 Split | 22:03 Avg |
| 10 |  Princeton Day School | 206 | 13+21+53+55+64 (71) | 3:20 1-5 Split | 22:08 Avg |
| 11 |  Notre Dame HS | 233 | 31+35+54+56+57 (78+88) | 1:26 1-5 Split | 22:31 Avg |
| 12 |  Hamilton East - Steinert HS | 318 | 23+70+74+75+76 (83+92) | 3:20 1-5 Split | 23:53 Avg |
| 13 | Hightstown HS | 360 | 61+65+69+80+85 (87+89) | 2:07 1-5 Split | 24:22 Avg |
| 14 |  Hun School of Princeton | 428 | 67+86+90+91+94 (95) | 3:58 1-5 Split | 26:21 Avg |
My goodness some nail biting team scores rolled out while deciding both championships during Mercer County Championships at Thompson Park on Thursday!