Eastern States 2025 Recap
Tuesday night was championship night at the Armory! Several Mercer County schools brought athletes to take on other top competitors from across the Northeast at the qualification-only Eastern States Championships. Here are some of their most notable results.
Boys Results
Tristan Jusino Lansing (Lawrence) competes in the 55mH at the Meet of Champions on March 2, 2025. Two days later, he set a big PR of 7.47 for 3rd place at the Eastern States Championship. | Dave Hernandez for NJ.com
In his last 55mH race, Tristan Jusino Lansing (Lawrence) left it all on the track with a stunning PR to take home the 3rd-place medal! Running without any lane neighbors – he was in Lane 8 and there was a DQ in Lane 7 – the senior Jusino Lansing got out well, caught fire over the last few hurdles, and timed his lean beautifully to take 3rd in a tight race where 2nd-5th were separated by just 0.02. His time of 7.47 was a PR by 0.11, which is a school record, #10 in New Jersey, and #42 in the United States this season. His 55mH era might be over, but he’ll get his 60mH era started at Nike Indoor National next week.
Also in the boys hurdles, Jelani Cine (Peddie), who had been running in the 7.9 range almost all season, executed a great race to win his prelim heat with a big PR of 7.70.
The Peddie boys 4x400m team continued their impressive season, running 3:29.28 to take 7th place. They’re the only Mercer County team to go under 3:30 this season, and they’ve done it twice now. Jelani Cine had a huge anchor leg of 49.77 – the fourth-fastest split out of everyone in the race.
Dasan Jones (Ewing) trimmed 0.01 off his PR in the 55m with a 6.68 in the prelims. That’s #6 in Mercer County. He came back with a 6.72 in the semis to get 17th overall.
In the boys 800m, Baker Pott (Peddie) went sub-2 for the second time this winter, setting an indoor PR of 1:59.52 for 19th place.
In the boys shot put, NJ #5 Sean Wilton (Princeton) narrowly took 2nd place behind NJ #1 Jonathan Harris (Delsea Regional), 59-3 to 58-11. Parker Hamiton (Peddie) took 6th with a 52-4, his second-longest throw ever.
In the boys high jump, Ayo Britto (Lawrenceville) again cleared his impressive PR of 6-4 for the first time since December. That’s #1 in Mercer County and tied for #10 in New Jersey this winter, and it got him 3rd place at Eastern States.
Matin Mahmoud (Lawrence) placed 4th in the triple jump with a jump of 45-3.25. That’s his fifth time going over 45’ this season.
Matin Mahmoud (Lawrence) competes in the triple jump at the Eastern States Championships on March 2, 2025. | John Nepolitan for RunnerSpace
Girls Results
In the girls 55m, Samya Jenkins (Lawrence) ran 7.38 twice, in both the prelims and the semis, to get 20th place overall. Freshman Angel Johnson (Ewing) went under 7.6 for the first time with a PR of 7.58 for 44th, and her junior teammate Leah Daniels wasn’t far behind in 7.65.
In the girls hurdles, Tessa Hughes (Peddie) ran a new PR of 8.37 in the semis to advance to the finals, where she took 8th place. That time moves her up to NJ #15.
In the 800m, Courtney Cane (Peddie) ran a great, evenly paced race to finish 3rd in a new PR of 2:16.08. She stayed patient and hung back in 5th place while the leaders went out in 31-32 seconds for the first 200m, then she held her pace as others came back to her. That time makes her #17 in New Jersey this season.
In the girls distance events, Maddie LaChance (Hopewell Valley) was 17th in the mile in 5:37.47, and Elsie Rey-de-Castro (Hopewell Valley) was 7th in the two-mile in 11:58.36.
In the girls field events, Uchenna Obidike (Hopewell Valley) earned 3rd place in the high jump with a clearance of 5-2, matching her PR from groups and MoCs. She also threw 32-4 in the shot put for 23rd place.