Poreda Invitational 2025 Recap
After a two-year construction break, indoor track is back at the Lawrenceville School! The brand-new, banked 200m track at the Tsai Fieldhouse was built for fast times, and it delivered at the Poreda Invitational 2025. Here are some highlights from Mercer County athletes. See full results here. For highlights from other action across the state this week, read the Week 1 Roundup here.
Boys Results
Corey Woodson (Lawrenceville), Christopher Young (Notre Dame), Bryce Marsh (Notre Dame), and Michael Bynes (Hillsborough) clear the last hurdle in the 55mH finals. | Tom Smith for MileSplit
Boys 55m. Lawrenceville’s Tolu Olatunji took 2nd in 6.68, just off the 6.62 he ran at his opener last week. He’s currently #7 in New Jersey. Aldric Crawford (Notre Dame) had a solid season opener of 6.73 for 4th, after going 6.69 in the prelims. Ewing’s Dasan Jones was 6th in the finals with a new PR of 6.77.
Boys 55mH. Notre Dame hurdlers came ready for this season! They had three boys make the final, and all of them ran big PRs: Christopher Young came from behind in the last couple of hurdles to snag 1st in 7.78 (#5 in New Jersey this season), Bryce Marsh took 4th after running 7.86 in the prelims, and Nolan Schmitz was 8th in 8.18. Lawrenceville’s Corey Woodson was just a hair behind Young, taking 3rd in 7.81.
Boys 200m. WW-P South’s Ayuden Hines, a junior in his first season of track, had an excellent debut of 23.72 for 2nd. He narrowly edged his teammate Julius Kinsler, who set a big PR of 23.77 in another heat.
Boys 400m. Ewing’s Dasan Jones (4th in 52.53) barely outleaned WW-P South’s Julius Kinsler (5th in 52.56) to be the top Mercer County finisher. Those were indoor PRs for both boys. Lawrenceville’s Ayodele Joa-Griffith was 7th in 53.04.
Boys 800m. Lawrenceville had two boys go under 2:10, Amari Akakpo (2:08.09) and Naren Maharana (2:09.07). Hopewell Valley’s Silas Allevik doubled back from the 1600m to run 2:10.38 in what was apparently the sophomore’s first 800m race. Matthew Fu (Lawrenceville) and Kai Armendinger (Hopewell Valley) both ran PRs of 2:11, and Ibrahim Songu (Ewing) also ran a big PR of 2:12.
Boys 1600m. Arunav Sarkar (Lawrenceville) used a big kick on the last lap to win in 4:42.17. He held off a good challenge from Silas Allevik (Hopewell Valley), who finished 2nd in 4:44.67. A few seconds later came Ewing’s Jayden Studivant (4th in 4:49.17) and Landyn Loesch (5th in 4:49.41). Those were big PRs for both Ewing boys — in fact, according to MileSplit, that puts them #1 and #2 the school’s all-time indoor 1600m list! The top five in the boys 1600m (and in the girls 1600m, actually) were all sophomores.
Boys 3200m. Owen Eldridge (Lawrenceville), a senior who has previously only ever run the 400m/800m, dominated in his first 3200m, leading wire-to-wire and taking the win in 9:54.62. Taksh Gupta (Lawrenceville) was 3rd in 10:11, and Finnegan Curley (Hopewell Valley) used a big charge over the last part of the race to get 4th in 10:12, just off his outdoor 3200m PR. Mohamed Mohamed (Lawrenceville) rounded out the top 5 in 10:15.
Boys 4x400m. Notre Dame was the top Mercer County school, running 3:37.20 to take 3rd behind CBA and Hillsborough. Ewing was 5th in 3:39.73.
Boys High Jump. Lawrenceville’s Ayo Britto won with a PR of 6-4, tied for #3 in New Jersey so far. Bryce Marsh (Notre Dame) cleared 6-2 to match his PR and get 2nd place. Avery Hall (Princeton Day) and Nolan Schmitz (Notre Dame) similarly matched their PRs of 5-8.
Boys Long Jump. Aldric Crawford (Notre Dame) broke 20’ for the first time to get 2nd in 20-6. Travis Holko (WW-P South) narrowly missed joining the 20’ club but still set a big PR of 19-11 for 3rd. Michael Ma (Lawrenceville) took 4th in 19-1.
Boys Triple Jump. Ewing’s Wenyan Kermah was the county’s top triple jumper, hitting a new PR of 39-11 for 3rd place. Lawrenceville’s Thaddeus Dankwa got 5th with his 39-03.
Boys Pole Vault. Aslan Aksu (Lawrenceville) flew high above the competition to win with a 13-0, matching his outdoor PR. Connor Ahearn (Notre Dame) cleared 11-0 for the first time ever and took 2nd.
Boys Shot Put. In a battle of new transfer students, Jeylon Billups (Notre Dame, transferred from South Brunswick) squeaked out the win over Joshua Witherspoon (Lawrenceville, transferred from Kingsway) by just a half-inch, 44-5.5 to 44-5. Lawrenceville also had Ben Lahlou in 4th at 41-3, and Notre Dame also had Cameron Bailey in 6th at 38-04.
Girls Results
Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville) tracks the Union Catholic girls, including Paige Sheppard up front, at the start of a historic 1600m. | Tom Smith for MileSplit
Girls 55m. Sofia Swindell (Lawrenceville) won the final with a SB of 7.24, which is #4 in New Jersey right now. Lexie Koch (Lawrenceville) was 2nd in 7.38, just off last week’s 7.34, which has her at #6 in New Jersey. Bella Daly (Notre Dame) had an great season opener of 7.52 for 4th. Ewing’s freshman Angel Johnson got 7th in 7.77 (7.72 in the prelims) to kick off a very impressive triple at this meet.
Girls 55mH. Sofia Swindell (Lawrenceville), whose 8.22 from last week is #2 in New Jersey, easily won this race in 8.33. Saraiah Hoover (WW-P South) was 5th in 9.27. Ewing had two girls make the final: freshman Angel Johnson was 6th in 9.32, and junior Karis Crossland was 8th in 9.80 but ran 9.62 in the prelims.
Girls 200m. Lexie Koch (Lawrenceville) doubled back from the 55m to win the 200m in a new overall PR of 26.42. Saraiah Hoover (WW-P South) ran a new indoor PR of 28.14 for 5th, and Angel Johnson (Ewing) took 8th in 28.24 for her first high school 200m race.
Girls 400m. After experimenting with the 800m last week (running a 2:28), Lawrenceville’s Jael Gaines dropped back down to her specialty and won in 59.46. Rhianna Scott (Lawrenceville) was 2nd in 1:00.49, and Adama Turay (WW-P South) was 3rd in 1:01.63. Ewing freshman Faith Settles was 5th overall in 1:04.38.
Girls 800m. Lawrenceville’s freshman Yasmin Willie took 2nd in 2:25, just two seconds behind Union Catholic’s Emmy O’Hearn, who was 31st at NXN Northeast Regional just a few weeks ago. Willie’s teammate Rory Laubach showed that she should’ve been in the fast heat too, soloing a 2:29 in Heat 2 for 3rd overall. Freshman Alaina Sabo (Notre Dame) ran a 2:32 for 4th in her first indoor meet.
Girls 1600m. Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville) didn’t do XC this fall, but she still showed up fit for winter track — she opened with a 5:01/10:48 double last week. By contrast, we knew Paige Sheppard (Union Catholic) was in terrific shape, coming off her 30th place finish at NXN last week. So the clash between these two titans was epic. Sheppard took with win in 4:44.77, a new 1600m state record! Bartlett stayed right on Sheppard’s tail for 800m (in a blistering 2:21) and held on for a nice PR of 4:51.81. Counting mile-to-1600m conversions, Sheppard and Bartlett are the 4th and 21st fastest New Jersey girls ever indoors. Bartlett is just a second off Lawrenceville school record (and Mercer County record) set by Charlotte Bednar, who ran a 4:52.30 full mile in February 2021. Paige and Bartlett are certainly the two fastest ever in December — so just wait for March!
The Hopewell Valley girls also showed some residual fitness from their long XC season. Sydney Young (5th in 5:16) and Claire Dumont (6th in 5:24) were both just a few seconds off their outdoors PRs. Junior Maddie LaChance, who had a nice breakout season during XC, decided to do track for the first time and debuted with a 5:31. WW-P South girls had a nice showing: freshman Kate Grecsek was 7th in 5:26 and Risha Rao ran an indoor PR of 5:43 for 9th.
Girls 3200m. Hopewell Valley’s Elsie Rey-de-Castro (4th in 11:47.26) and Anna Wilson (5th in 11:47.31) were the county’s top girls. Rey-de-Castro edged her teammate thanks to a big last lap, but Wilson gets credit for setting a new 3200m PR. WW-P South’s Yana Chheda (6th in 12:10) was just a few seconds off her outdoor PR.
Girls 4x400m. Hillsborough took with win in 4:24.76, but Notre Dame wasn’t far behind in 4:26.91 for 2nd. Hopewell Valley edged Lawrenceville for 4th place, 4:33.22 to 4:33.56.
Girls High Jump. Sophia Cramer (Notre Dame) opened her season by matching her PR of 4-8 for 3rd. Hopewell Valley’s Kathryn Kennedy and Uchenna Obidike both cleared 4-4 and tied for 5th.
Girls Long Jump. Rhianna Scott (Lawrenceville) jumped 17-7.5 for 3rd, and Adama Turay (WW-P South) was 7th with a 15-5.5.
Girls Triple Jump. Megan Bommireddy (WW-P South) was the top Mercer County finishing, going 29-7 for 5th place.
Girls Pole Vault. Lawrenceville’s Audrey Cheng outdueled Pingry’s Leah Solomon, 11-6 to 11-0. Cheng’s clearance tied her PR and puts her at #3 in New Jersey.
Girls Shot Put. Uchenna Obidike (Hopewell Valley) opened her season with a huge PR of 31-2.25 for 2nd place, breaking 30’ for the first time indoors or out. Olivia Allison (Lawrenceville) threw 30-8.25 to get 3rd and set a new indoor PR. Ewing sophomore Jayla Little was 6th with a 29-1 in her first indoor meet.