Central Group 3 Sectionals Recap
Sectionals are here! Central Group 3 – which includes Ewing, Hamilton West, Hightstown, Lawrence, Nottingham, Steinert, and WW-P North – kicked things off for Mercer County. Central Group 3 got its own sectionals day at the Bubble this year, after having to share the day with Central Group 2 last year. With the spotlight firmly on these teams, their stars certainly put on a show!
The top six in each event qualified for the group championships on February 22. Below are the Mercer County girls and boys that booked their ticket to groups, along with a few others who had notable performances.
Girls Results
Team Scores. WW-P North was the top girls team from Mercer County, finishing 4th with 31 points. Most of those points came from their dynamic distance duo of Allison Lee and Zui Chinchalkar. They were followed by Lawrence (6th with 18 points) and Hamilton West (7th with 12 points).
Girls 400m. Brie Davis-Owens (WW-P North) grabbed the sixth and final qualifying spot out of the second-to-last heat. Davis-Owens was sitting in third place in her heat with 100m to go, but then she launched into her kick, flew past the top two girls, and carried that momentum across the finish line in 1:00.74. That’s her first time under 61 indoors, and it held up through the final heat to send her to her first indoor group championship. Leah Daniels (Ewing) ran a nice PR of 1:03.31 to win her heat and get 12th overall, and Hailie Zimmerman (Steinert) was right behind her with a 1:03.36 in a later heat.
Girls 1600m. The top four in this race – Liliah Gordon (Northern Burlington), Allison Lee (WW-P North), Zui Chinchalkar (WW-P North), and Kiera McHugh (Brick Township) – broke away early and went through the 800m in a quick 2:35. Gordon then took off and the pack broke up. Gordon eventually won in a meet-record 4:57.94, but Lee and Chinchalkar still held on well to secure the next two spots, with Lee 2nd in 5:06.58 and Chinchalkar 3rd in 5:12.95.
Behind the leaders was a tight battle between four girls for the last two qualifying spots. Siena Rivera (Hightstown) held off everyone in a mad dash down the homestretch, taking 5th place in 5:20.43 – just 0.6 ahead of 8th place! Her new PR is sending the freshman to her first group championship. Sara Secora (WW-P North) ran 5:28.93 to also place in the top 10.
Girls 55mH. In the prelims, Alicia Riggins (Lawrence) ran a massive PR by 0.2 to qualify for the finals. Then, in the finals, Riggins dropped her PR by another 0.1 to take 4th place in 8.81. That’s #4 in Mercer County this season. Brie Davis-Owens (WW-P North) finished right behind Riggins in 8.86, qualifying for her second event at groups. Bryana Mason (Ewing), who also ran a solid PR of 8.96 to go under 9.0 for the first time. She finished just one spot out of qualifying for groups, but this certainly won’t be the last opportunity for the star freshman.
Girls 800m. Zui Chinchalkar (WW-P North), coming back on short rest after a 3rd place finish in the 1600m, led the field through the 400m in 1:10. She was overtaken by some of the runners with fresh legs but still held on to finish 4th in 2:22.28, booking her second spot at groups. Lisette Zamichielli (Steinert, 9th in 2:31.11) and Evelyn Yang (WW-P North, 12th in 2:34.90) both set season’s bests, with Yang winning her heat by 4 seconds.
Girls 55m. Samya Jenkins (Lawrence) ran a quick 7.35 to take 3rd place – just thousandths away from 2nd place – and return to her second straight group championships in the 55m. Aijah Somerselle (Hightstown) snagged the last qualifying spot with a time of 7.40. Leah Daniels (Ewing) ran a massive PR of 7.57 to qualify for the finals, where she finished 8th in another great run of 7.60.
Girls 3200m. In a repeat of their showdown from the 1600m, Allison Lee (WW-P North) and Liliah Gordon (Northern Burlington) went out hard in the 3200m, with Lee leading them through the 1600m in 5:22. Gordon eventually pulled away over the last half and won in a meet-record 10:34, but Lee kept Gordon in her sights and still managed to negative-split the second half, crossing in 10:42.38. That’s #23 in the United States this year! Lee will be looking forward to the 3200m rematch with Gordon at groups in two weeks.
Teagan Walker (Ewing) also ran a great second half to separate herself from a large chase pack and secure 4th place in a new PR of 11:24.85 – a Ewing school record. Izzy Meth (Lawrence) was in 7th with 50m to go, but she out-sprinted 6th place down the homestretch and qualified for groups by just 0.5 seconds, running 11:29.37 for 6th place.
Girls 4x400m. WW-P North (5th in 4:14.87) and Lawrence (6th in 4:17.87) both ran season’s bests to qualify for the group championships. Lawrence got the final qualifying spot after an exciting, come-from-behind victory on the anchor leg of the first heat.
Girls High Jump. Nyviah Pacheco (Hamilton West) had an incredible series, clearing both 5-0 and 5-2 for the first time ever — both times on clutch third attempts — to claim the sectional championship! Her teammate, Rayonna Rattley (Hamilton West), has PR’d in every meet this season, including 4-6 at this meet to take 5th place. Anaiss Matos (Steinert) jumped 4-4 and got the final qualifying spot thanks to a tiebreaker.
Girls Pole Vault. Sophie Trzaskus (Lawrence) jumped 9-0 to place 3rd and advance to her first ever group championships.
Girls Shot Put. Jaiden Bosley (Hightstown) had her second-longest throw of the year to take 4th place with a 31-3.75. Freshman Zoey DeSouza (Ewing) threw a PR of 28-10.25 to get 7th place, eighteen inches out of the qualifying spot. Madison Wallace (Lawrence) got 9th with a PR of 28-9, and Eva Gedrich (WW-P North) cracked the top 10 with a throw of 28-6.
Boys Results
Team Scores. The Hightstown boys, like the WW-P North girls, scored 31 points, which was good for 3rd place among boys teams. Hightstown’s well-rounded team got points in almost every event. Ewing finished next with 22 points for 4th place, followed by Lawrence (6th with 19 points) and WW-P North (7th with 17 points).
Boys 400m. Dasan Jones (Ewing) ran a great race in the 400m, running in 3rd place off the break and then moving into 2nd in the final 100m. His time of 52.18 is just off his indoor PR. Mohamed Toure (Nottingham) also qualified for groups, taking 5th overall after an exciting win in the second-to-last heat. Heading into the final straightaway, Toure was just in 4th place and boxed in, but he found a tiny gap and squeezed through just in time to power through the line in a new indoor PR of 53.28.
Boys 55mH. Mercer County boys lit up the scoresheet in the hurdles! Tristan Jusino Lansing (Lawrence) defended his sectional title with a time of 7.69. Calvin Kallie (Ewing) finished 3rd in 8.06. Kallie’s teammate, Tyson Brown (Ewing), was a surprise 4th place, running a 0.2-second PR of 8.28. Amal Stewart (Hightstown, 5th in 8.35) and Alexander Nikolov (Lawrence, 6th in 8.38) rounded out the Mercer County boys heading to groups.
Boys 1600m. Two boys from Colts Neck ran away with 1st and 2nd, but Mercer County swept the next four qualifying spots! Burke Thompson (Hightstown) led the way by getting 3rd place in 4:30.46. Agrim Jha (WW-P North) moved up nicely over the last half to get 4th in a 4-second PR of 4:30.99. Tyler Hurst (Steinert) took 5th place in 4:34.26, and Luke Ferrer (WW-P North) rounded out the scorers in 4:36.95 for 6th. Also in the top 10 was Veejhay Roy (WW-P North), who ran a 4-second PR of 4:42.63 to win the second-to-last heat.
Boys 55m. Terrance Williams (Hightstown) had a strong close to take 2nd place in a PR of 6.60, which is #3 in Mercer County. He was actually credited with the same time as the winner but was awarded 2nd place based on the photo finish. Dasan Jones (Ewing), coming back after his 2nd-place finish in the 400m, ran a PR in the prelims and then again in the finals to finish 4th in 6.69.
Boys 800m. The seeded heat of boys 800m was a bit of a mess: after the race was called back twice due to falls in the first lap – which resulted in everyone having already raced 200m before the race officially went off – the whole heat was asked to wait 5-10 minutes before getting back on the line. The false adrenaline and fatigue left the runners not quite so sharp, and almost everyone was a couple of seconds off their PRs. That said, Subomi Allison (WW-P North) ran a tremendous race. He opened up a big lead on the opening lap and held it to the end, winning by over 1 second in 2:02.65. Luke Ferrer (WW-P North) kicked well and qualified for groups with a time of 2:05.43, his second 6th-place finish of the day. Mohamed Toure (Nottingham) probably had the worst luck from the seeded heat’s restarts and delays – he finished right behind Ferrer for 6th in the seeded heat but was narrowly bumped out of the final qualifying spot by a runner in the properly functioning prior heat. Fortunately, he’s still headed to groups in the 400m.
Boys 3200m. Burke Thompson (Hightstown) made a big move during the first mile to catch up and stick with Colts Neck’s star trio, and the decision ended up carrying him to a great 3rd place finish in a time of 9:56.47. That’s his first time sub-10 indoors. Behind Thompson, Mateo Abad-Delgado (Hightstown) and Andy Chi (WW-P North) had incredible races — they pushed each other to 20-second PRs and grabbed the final qualifying spots! Abad-Delgado continued his impressive breakout season by taking 5th place in 10:05.13, and Chi was right behind him in 10:05.96 for 6th place. In the first heat, Landyn Loesch (Ewing) led wire-to-wire and won in 10:39, good for 10th place overall.
Boys 4x400m. The Hightstown relay team earned a spot at groups by finishing 6th in a season’s best of 3:40.19.
Boys High Jump. Senior Jordan Klim (Hightstown), a football and baseball star for the Rams, had never done the high jump before, but that didn’t stop him from clearing 5-10 – tied for #3 in Mercer County – to finish 4th and qualify for groups. Roman Roberts (Lawrence) also had a great night, clearing a 5-inch PR of 5-8 to get 5th place and move on to groups, too.
Boys Shot Put. Ernest Gaykai (Nottingham) and Isaiah Spencer (Lawrence), who are #3 and #4 in Mercer County this season, threw well at sectionals and advanced to groups. Gaykai’s throw of 48-5.75 got him 2nd place, and Spencer was 3rd in 47-2.5. Christian Houvig (Hightstown) threw a PR of 46-7.75 to take 5th place and also qualify for groups. Three others placed in the top 10: Ryan Rodriguez (Lawrence) was 7th in 45-2, Kyle Coombs (Ewing) was 8th in a PR of 43-6, and Justin Edwards (Hightstown) threw almost four feet further than ever before to get 10th in 42-3. Tyler Carocci (Steinert) was just a half-inch back, also throwing a PR of 42-2.5 for 11th.