So far this season New Jersey has produced an abundance of nationally competitive performance. Janine Davis of Queen of Peace currently stands as the #5 all-time performer over 1000m with her 2:48.69 performance at the Stanner Games. Davis edged out Stanford bound Mary Liz McCurdy for Bayshore NY. Davis has shown outstanding range during the early part of her indoor campaign. Davis looks poised at this point to take a shot at sub 2:05 for 800m come the outdoor season.
On the boys side the Stanner meet was more of the same in the form of Bryan Scotland. Scotland won the 1000m over a stellar field led by two time Footlocker finalist Kevin Tschirhart who recently ran 1:54 for 800m, also in the field was Sean Tully from Syosset NY who beat out Bryan for athlete of the meet honors at the Hispanic Games.
Bryan's time of 2:27.91 is US#1 but puts him just shy of the NJ state record in that event. Later in the day Bryan showcased his versatility by placing second in the 600 with a time of 1:20.84 good enough for US#3. Bryan also won the Hispanic games mile in a time of 4:14.31 which was temporarily US#1 until Dan McManamon one upped him by winning the Dartmouth relays mile with a time of 4:14.28. Bryan also has the #1 time in the state in the 3000 clocking 9:01 at Seton Hall which is a comparable time to both Nick Cuff (Vineland) and Ben Massam (Chatham) runs.
The other individual star of the season would have to be Shaquan Brown of JFK, who won four Passaic County crowns. His most notable win came in the 600 where he won in a time of 1:20.3 hand timed. Shaquan ran 26-53 for his splits in that race as well as splitting 50.4 on the 4*4. Shaquan ran 47.67 last year at AOC for 400 meters and his early season times have established him as a favorite in that event not only this year but next. Many are calling for a matchup between Shaquan and Marcel Van Eeden of Mendham who ran 1:22.71 at Drew which is widely considered a slow track. If this matchup where to occur the national record of 1:18.8 would surely be under fire.
There was another great individual performance over the weekend that most people are not aware of. At a small dual meet at the Peddie School Brian Cortina (Hun) uncorked a throw of 58-3 in the shot which was good enough for NJ#1 and US#3. Brian's dad is a former national champion and still holds the school record at 72-11. Brian has been overshadowed by the emergence of Steven DiGiorgio (Bayonne) who is a member of the famed DiGiorgio family which has produced numerous state champions in the weight events. Brian is probably the last person that you would pick to be a champion thrower but his numerous national age group championships are a testament to his skills.
The current US #2 in the 200 is Brant McCombs from Old Bridge, this is now a new event at the state meet replacing the 4*400 relay and presents a showdown with Jamir Irvin from Camden. Christian Brothers showed their distance talent after their 11th place finish at NTN, in the 4*8 running US#3 8:03.78, which was about one second faster than Seton Hall ran. CBA also is US#3 in the DMR which is a good barometer of their distance strength.
Sunday the 16th will mark the beginning of individual state meet action in both group II and III, while we will have to wait over a month (Feb 20th) before groups I and IV take to the track at Princeton.