Week 4: CVC Relays and More
It’s relay week in New Jersey! Many counties and conferences, including the CVC, started off 2025 with their annual relay meet. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of winning with teammates – not to mention the anticipation of waiting to get the baton and the pressure of racing when your teammates are depending on you. So stacking a meet with end-to-end relay races always makes for an exciting day.
And don’t forget about the field events! Shot putters, high jumpers, and pole vaulters got a chance to showcase their individual talents while adding to their team’s overall scores, too.
See full results here for the CVC Relays here. The results list four individuals for each relay team, and I’ve added those names for each winning team below. But those lists don’t always reflect who really ran (or who ran which legs in the medley relays), so please send me any corrections. Similarly, the results did not contain splits, so I can’t provide much insight into how individuals performed or how the races played out. If you’re willing to share splits or any other information, please email me at trackmercer@gmail.com or reach out on social media!
Boys Results
Notre Dame (64 points) dominated on the boys side, winning four events and taking 2nd place in three others. The battle for 2nd place in the team competition was very tight: Hightstown (29 points) barely beat out Princeton (28) and Robbinsville (27).
Boys SHR. Notre Dame (Aldric Crawford, Nolan Schmitz, Christopher Young, and Zamir Jones) won the shuttle hurdle relay in 31.20, just 0.05 off the meet record. They actually went even faster at the NJCTC Winter Relays at Ocean Breeze on Monday, where they took 2nd place in 30.42. That time is a school record, #2 all-time in Mercer County, and #3 in New Jersey this season.
Boys Distance Relays. Steinert’s Adam Szpakowski, Maximilian Kostin, Nihar Kolachalama, and Tyler Hurst swept the boys distance relays. They opened by taking 1st place in the DMR with a time of 11:10 – that’s a huge indoor school record and 1 second faster than their outdoor school record! Steinert won that race by holding off WW-P North, who was 2nd place in 11:13. Just a short while later, the same four Steinert boys stepped back on the track and won the 4x800m in 8:45. This time Steinert had to hold off the Ewing boys, who took 2nd place in 8:51.53 – a Ewing indoor school record by 0.25!
Boys Sprint Relays. In the boys 4x200m, Hightstown (Terrance Williams, Owen Desravines, Marius Rochelin, Daniel Young) won in 1:37.35. That was just 0.05 off their school record, according to MileSplit. Hightstown finished over a second ahead of Notre Dame, who barely edged Princeton for 2nd place by 0.03 seconds.
Notre Dame (Aldric Crawford, Christopher Young, Zamir Jones, Deagan Hopkins) won the SMR in 3:47.52, with Nottingham getting 2nd place in 3:50.94. Nottingham showed some impressive depth in that race, with their “B” team also scoring and getting 5th out of 23 teams.
The last event of the day was the closest event of the day! Notre Dame (Aldric Crawford, Amir Mulkey, Christopher Young, and Nolan Schmitz) edged Robbinsville by a mere 0.02, 3:35.70 to 3:35.72. Three of those four Irish boys were doubling back from winning the shuttle hurdle relay earlier in the morning.
Field Events. There was a three-way tie for first in the high jump with Zamir Jones (Notre Dame), Nolan Schmitz (Notre Dame), and Sullivan Spagnoli (Princeton) all clearing 5-6 on the same number of attempts. The winner of the pole vault was Samuel Rispoli (Robbinsville), who set an indoor PR of 10-0. In the shot put, Sean Wilton (Princeton) easily won with a throw of 57-10. Jeylon Billups (Notre Dame) and Isaiah Spencer (Lawrence) both threw 45-10, with Billups getting 2nd place on a tiebreaker. That was an indoor PR for Billups and a two-foot outright PR for Spencer.
CVC Relays Girls
Hopewell Valley (67 points) won the girls team competition handily, thanks to Top 3 finishes in seven of the nine events. WW-P North finished 2nd with 42 points, followed by WW-P South with 29 points.
Girls SHR. Ewing (Karis Crossland, Angel Johnson, Lynsah Rejouis, Bryana Mason) dominated the shuttle hurdle relay in 35.15. That’s a new school record, according to MileSplit. Notre Dame took 2nd place in 37.46.
Girls Distance Relays. Hopewell Valley (Claire Dumont, Autumn Carter, Elizabeth Eckel, Sydney Young) won the DMR in 12:59. WW-P North edged Princeton for 2nd place, 13:20 to 13:22. Dumont, Eckel, and Young doubled back and were joined by Clara Mayer as Hopewell Valley won the 4x800m even more convincingly in 10:18. WW-P South edged Princeton for 2nd place by a half-second, with both teams running 10:45.
Girls Sprint Relays. WW-P South (Claire Dumortier, Saraiah Hoover, Adama Turay, Logan Mills) won the 4x200m over Ewing, 1:51.41 to 1:52.90. The Pirate girls tied the #1 time in the Mercer County this winter (held by WW-P North) to the hundredth of a second. Those same four WW-P South girls returned in the 4x400m and got their second victory of the day, winning in 4:18.55 over WW-P North’s 4:21.00. In the SMR, WW-P North (Zui Chinchalkar, Nina Dixit, Brie Davis-Owens, Allison Lee) overtook Notre Dame for the win, 4:28.63 to 4:29.93.
Girls Shot Put. The shot put featured a showdown between two of the top girls in New Jersey – Sonjay Baylor-Reeves (Trenton) and Catalina Holliday (Nottingham) – and they both brought their A game! In the end, Baylor-Reeves took the win with a bomb of 43-5.75, a PR by almost two feet! According to MileSplit, that’s a school record and #2 all-time indoors in Mercer County. Holliday also had a great throw of 41-9.75, just a quarter-inch off her PR from last year’s Meet of Champions. Those throws vaulted Baylor-Reeves and Holliday to #2 and #4 in New Jersey this winter.
Girls Jumps. Amanda Hoglund (Allentown) won the high jump over Nyviah Pacheco (Hamilton West). Both girls cleared 4-10, but Hoglund got the win on attempts. Avery Rick (Hopewell Valley) won the pole vault and equalled her PR of 8-0.
SJTCA #8 and NJCTC Winter Relays
Bryce Marsh (Notre Dame) runs the third leg of the shuttle hurdle relay at the NJCTC Winter Relays. | Tom Harkins for MileSplit
A few teams managed to squeeze one more competition into 2024 with a meet on Monday. Allentown, Hamilton West, and Trenton competed at the Bubble for the SJTCA #8 meet (results here), while Notre Dame ran at Ocean Breeze for the NJCTC Winter Relays (results here). Ewing also traveled to the Armory in NYC for the Hispanic Games (results here) earlier in the weekend, before the CVC Relays. Here are some rapid-fire highlights from those meets:
Gavin Alvarez (Allentown) ran a 6.75 to get 2nd in the 55m and a 52.96 to win the 400m. That’s a PR in the open 400m.
Briyon Ellerbe (Trenton) took 3rd in the SJTCA 800m with a 2:11.
In the SJTCA 3200m, Patrick McCray (Trenton) was 2nd in 10:37 and Amrit Moehringer (Allentown) was 3rd in 10:44.
In the SJTCA 1600m, Emilia Wroblewski (Allentown) took 3rd in 5:31.06.
Nyviah Pacheco (Hamilton West) won the SJTCA high jump with a clearance of 4-8.
Sonjay Baylor-Reeves (Trenton) won the SJTCA shot put with a throw of 40-7.
At the NJCTC Winter Relays, the Notre Dame boys relay team took 2nd in the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 30.42, one of the top times in the country this year.
Teagan Walker (Ewing) took 14th in the 1 Mile at the Hispanic Games with a time of 5:29.70.
In the 400m at the Hispanic Games, Leah Daniels (Ewing) ran 1:06.19 in the varsity division. Her freshman teammates Angel Johnson and Bryana Mason stepped up to the 400m for the first time, with Johnson running 1:07.50 and Mason running 1:09.80. On the boys side, Dasan Jones (Ewing) ran 53.15 in the seeded 400m.
Updated on 1/6 at 2:30pm to include Ewing’s results from the Hispanic Games.