North 2 Group 3 Sectionals Recap
You might not have expected a Mercer County publication to cover a North 2 sectional – but the NJSIAA moved Princeton from Central to North 2 for the 2025 winter track season! In their new section, Princeton wasted no time in making their presence known. The girls took 2nd place! They scored 38 points, primarily from their mid-distance and distance girls. So far, with just Central Group 4 sectionals remaining, that’s the most points any Mercer County team has scored at sectionals this season. The Princeton boys finished in a tie for 6th place on 14 points.
Here are the Princeton individuals who will be heading to the Group 3 Championships on February 22.
Girls 1600m. Kajol Karra built up a big lead over the first 1200m of the race and held on to win her first sectional championship! Her winning time was 5:14.16, just a couple seconds off her PR. Phoenix Roth is also headed to groups after using a great kick over the last 200m to fight off the field and finish 4th with a six-second indoor PR of 5:17.37.
Girls 800m. Lena Murray and Rachel Xin both qualified for groups thanks to excellent races. In a fairly physical 800m race, they did well to cover moves and keep themselves in a good position for the final kick. Murray ended up in 3rd place with a time of 2:25.94, and Xin set a new PR of 2:26.75 for 5th place.
Girls 3200m. Kajol Karra, coming back after her win in the 1600m, fought an exciting back-and-forth battle with Amelia Pattwell (Middletown South). Pattwell ended up getting away in the last 800m, but Karra still ran a great time of 11:00.28. Behind the top two, Grace Hegedus tucked comfortably into a pack of four and secured qualification with a 5th place finish of 11:33.07. Eowyn Deess made up a ton of ground on 6th place in the last mile but came just five seconds short of qualifying for groups, finishing 7th in 11:44.28
Girls 4x400m. Princeton’s 400m and 800m runners doubled back and got the job done in the 4x400m, taking 3rd place in 4:18.81 to advance to groups.
Boys 4x400m. The Princeton boys 4x400m also qualified for groups after running 3:38.01 to finish 4th in the fast heat and beat out everyone from the first heat.
Boys Shot Put. As he has in almost every meet this year, Sean Wilton dominated the shot put by 10+ feet with a throw of 59-6. That’s the fifth time he’s thrown over 59’ feet this season, an incredible feat.