Midweek Invitationals: Bob James, Peddie Winter, and SJTCA #3
The biggest meets of the indoor track season are generally on weekends, but don’t sleep on these weekday invitationals! This past Tuesday and Wednesday, many Mercer County schools were in action, including a handful — like Princeton and WW-P North — who made their season debuts. Here is who ran where:
SJTCA #3. Allentown and Robbinsville traveled to Toms River for their first Bubble meets of the year. Full results here.
Peddie Winter Invitational. Peddie, Hightstown, Notre Dame, Pennington, and Allentown (again!) were at this meet, hosted in Peddie’s facilities. Full results here.
Bob James Invitational. Princeton, WW-P North, WW-P South, Hopewell Valley, Hun, and Stuart Country Day competed in the Jadwin Gym at Princeton University. Other top schools included South Brunswick and Montgomery. Full results here. 2L Racing Services also has videos here and here.
Here are some of the top Mercer County results from the past couple of days.
Boys Results
Boys 45m/55m. At SJTCA, Gavin Alvarez (Allentown) tied his 55m PR of 6.69 to win by 0.01. In the Bob James 55m, Benjamin Gitai (Princeton) won in an even closer finish, with him and 2nd place both getting credited with 6.82. Avery Radom (Hun) almost stole the show out of the second-fastest heat, running 6.87 for 3rd overall. In the Peddie 45m, Tahmere Brown (Pennington) won in 5.65, Terrance Williams (Hightstown) was 2nd in 5.75, and Alvarez, who had raced at SJTCA the day before – was 3rd in 5.79. 45m is an unusual distance – Peddie is the only venue in NJ that races it – so it’s hard to read too much into the times there.
Boys 45mH/55mH. The top Mercer County hurdler at Bob James was Nigel Rodrigues (Hopewell Valley), who got 10th in 9.36. In the Peddie 45mH, Jelani Cine (Peddie) won the 45mH in 6.50 over Notre Dame’s Aldric Crawford (6.66) and Zamir Jones (6.70), and Hightstown’s Amal Stewart (6.80). Cine ran 0.2 faster today than he ever ran the 45mH last year.
Boys 200m/300m. In the Bob James 300m, which featured the 55m winner Ben Gitai (Princeton) versus the 500m winner Julius Kinsler (WW-P South), Kinsler ended up as the top Mercer County finisher in 36.47 for 2nd place. Gitai was close behind in 36.63 for 3rd place. Fletcher Harrison (Princeton) was 5th in 38.86, and Jon Angwenyi (Hopewell Valley) was 6th in 38.90. In the Peddie 200m, Gavin Alvarez (Allentown) doubled back from the 45m to win in 23.72, ahead of Tahmere Brown (Pennington) in 24.40. Pennington’s Seamus Manning (24.73) narrowly edged Hightstown’s Terrance Williams (24.78) for 3rd.
Boys 400m/500m. In the Bob James 500m, Julius Kinsler (WW-P South) won in 1:07.98, which is roughly equivalent to a 400m time of 51-high, according to World Athletics’ scoring tables. Subomi Allison (WW-P North) took 3rd in 1:09.74, in what was one of his first ever open races below his specialty of 800m. Fletcher Harrison (Princeton) was the next Mercer County finisher, winning his heat and getting 6th overall in 1:12.62. In the Peddie 400m, Luke Chon (Peddie) won in 54.26.
Boys 800m/1000m. In the Bob James 1000m, Luke Ferrer (WW-P North) closed his last 200m in 30.8 to drop some South Brunswick boys and get the win in 2:41.53. His teammates Jordan Andrade and Agrim Jha also opened their seasons in the 1000m, running 2:46 and 2:48 for 5th and 6th. In the Peddie 800m, Baker Pott (Peddie) opened his season with a 2:02.95, which is #9 in New Jersey right now. At SJTCA, Alex Yu (Robbinsville) was the top Mercer County boy with a 2:14 for 8th.
Boys 1600m. After doing XC for the first time this past fall – and doing very well – senior Burke Thompson (Hightstown) is also doing indoor track for the first time. He opened with a 4:37.06 at Peddie, taking second place just behind Daniel Perez (Holy Ghost Prep). That’s already #3 on Hightstown’s all-time indoor 1600m list. Max Whittle (Notre Dame) was 3rd in 4:43.90, a solid season opener for him, too.
Boys 3200m. In the Bob James 3200m, Soham Shah (WW-P North), a freshman in his first high school track meet, took 2nd in 10:42 after making a move with 600m left to go after the leader. His teammates Andy Chi (3rd in 10:48) and Krrish Sheth (5th in 10:49) also closed very hard and easily had the fastest last laps in the race. In the SJTCA 3200m, John O’Leary (Allentown) was 3rd in 10:45.
Boys 4x800m. At Bob James, Montgomery and South Brunswick were the top 4x800 teams, but WW-P North took 3rd in 8:39.03, and WW-P South took 4th in 8:55.31. North’s Subomi Allison split 2:05 on the anchor leg to help the Knights run away from the Pirates.
Boys Long Jump / Triple Jump. At Bob James, Sullivan Spagnoli (Princeton) was the top Mercer County long jumper in 18-11.75, just ahead of Mason Ughetta (Hun) in 18-10. Arnav Grover (WW-P North) went 35-5 in the triple jump.
Boys High Jump. Karan Khemka (WW-P North) and Ellington Hinds (Princeton) both jumped 5-8 at Bob James, and Dylan Voehl (Allentown) jumped 5-8 at SJTCA to get 4th there. At Peddie, Darius Brown (Pennington), Bryce Marsh (Notre Dame), and Nolan Schmitz (Notre Dame) all tied for first at 5-4.
Boys Shot Put. The best performance at Bob James was by Princeton thrower Sean Wilton. In his first throw at his first meet of the year, Wilton launched a 59-1, which was a PR by over a foot. According to MileSplit, that’s #4 in New Jersey this season and #4 in Mercer County ever, counting both indoors and outdoors! Watch a video of his throw here.
Aidan Edwards (WW-P South) took 4th at Bob James thanks to a three-foot PR of 40-11. In the Peddie shot put, Parker Hamilton (Peddie) won with a throw of 47-6.75, and Christian Houvig (Notre Dame) threw 41-11.75 for 2nd place in his first indoor meet. At SJTCA, Brandon Zambrio (Allentown) took 2nd with a throw of 41-6.75, and his teammate Drew D’Amico finished 6th with a huge PR of 38-8. Drew Damasiewicz (Robbinsville) finished between the Allentown boys with 41-0.5 for 4th place.
Girls Results
Girls 45m/55m. It was a very tight race in the Bob James 55m, where the top four were separated by just .04. Maddie Hamlin (Princeton) prevailed in 7.72 over her teammate Simone Henriques, who was 2nd in 7.73 out of another heat. WW-P South’s Anastasia Kudin, who was 4th in 7.76. Henriques’s time is #4 among NJ freshmen this season (just .01 behind Ewing’s Angel Johnson, coincidentally). In the Peddie 45m, Aijah Somerselle (Hightstown) narrowly beat freshman Foluke Oladeji (Peddie), 6.35 to 6.39.
Girls 45mH/55mH. In the Bob James 55mH, Brie Davis-Owens (WW-P North) broke 9.0 for the first time, running 8.98 for 2nd place. Saraiah Hoover (WW-P South) was 5th in 9.64, and Lalla Sanoe (WW-P South) won her heat in a PR of 9.94 to take 6th overall. In the Peddie 45mH, Tessa Hughes (Peddie) won easily in 7.10. That’s about 0.1 faster than her previous best in the 45mH, which is run instead of the 55mH at Peddie-hosted meets.
Girls 200m/300m. In the Bob James 300m, Adama Turay (WW-P South) won in 43.95, ahead of her teammate Claire Dumortier in 44.19. Brie Davis-Owens (WW-P North) doubled back from the 55mH to get 4th in 44.52. At Peddie, in a repeat of the 45m, Aijah Somerselle (Hightstown) held off Foluke Oladeji (Peddie) for the win in the 200m, 27.31 to 27.61, with both girls PR’ing.
Girls 400m/500m. Lena Murray (Princeton) took the win in a quick 1:24.05, which is roughly equivalent to a 400m time of 59-mid, according to World Athletics. Her teammate Rachel Xin took 3rd in 1:25.40. Fatima El-Banna (Stuart Country Day) was very impressive, soloing a 1:27.39 out of the slowest heat to take 4th overall. Logan Mills (WW-P South) was 5th in 1:28.02, with Mila Trkov (Princeton) just a hair behind in 1:28.10. In the Peddie 400m, a Pennington duo of Layla Griffin (1:12.76) and Jacqueline Zhang (1:12.88) went 1-2.
Girls 800m/1000m. The 1000m race at Bob James featured many distance stars starting back up after short breaks following long (and successful) XC seasons. Zui Chinchalkar (WW-P North) went wire-to-wire and won in 3:10.66, the #4 time in NJ this season. Sara Secora (WW-P North) and Kate Grecsek (WW-P South) both had big kicks to finish 2-3 in 3:16 and 3:17. Princeton’s Grace Hegedus (4th in 3:18) and Phoenix Roth (5th in 3:19) rounded out the top five. In the Peddie 800m, Mia Weber (Notre Dame) narrowly missed the win but still ran 2:36, just a second off her outdoor PR.
Girls 1600m. Matilda Kardhashi (Peddie) won the Peddie 1600m in 5:27, just a few seconds off her outdoor PR. Freshman Siena Rivera (Hightstown) ran 5:43 to get 2nd in her first high school track race.
Girls 3200m. At Bob James, Kajol Karra (Princeton) used some residual fitness from her fantastic XC season to drop a quick 3200m of 11:09. That time beats her outdoor PR by 1 second and is #3 in New Jersey this season. Maddie LaChance (Hopewell Valley) was 2nd in 11:57, breaking 12:00 in her first 3200m on a track. Yana Chheda (WW-P South) was 3rd in 12:03, just off her outdoor PR.
Girls 4x800m. Princeton won the Bob James 4x800m in 10:46, ten seconds ahead of Montgomery. Hopewell Valley was 3rd in 11:05.
Girls Long Jump / Triple Jump. At Bob James, Adamy Turay (WW-P South) won the long jump in 17-4, a great early-season jump for her. Megan Bommireddy (WW-P South) was 4th in 14-10.25. In the triple jump, Mahima Bansai (WW-P North) was 4th in 29-8.5, just ahead of teammate Jada Sands in 29-7.75.
Girls High Jump / Pole Vault. Amanda Hoglund (Allentown) won the SCTCA high jump with a clearance of 4-10. Sophia Cramer (Notre Dame) was first in the Peddie high jump at 4-6, and Erin Krakovski (Hopewell Valley) also cleared 4-6 at Bob James to get 3rd there. In the pole vault, Avery Rick (Hopewell Valley) went 7-6 at Bob James, and Meghann Hansen (Robbinsville) also cleared 7-6 at SJTCA for a one-foot PR.
Girls Shot Put. Anna Casciano (Hun) continued her excellent start to the season by unleashing a throw of 39-7.5, which is a PR by over a foot and lands her at #6 in New Jersey this season. Casciano has now PR’d in three straight meets. Eva Gedrich (WW-P North) also threw a big PR of 29-11 for 3rd. At Peddie, Jaiden Bosley also threw a PR of 29-11 and got the win.