Week 7: Dr. Sander and Other Meets Before CVC Champs
Many CVC schools were planning to compete on Monday in the CVC Open Meet, but unfortunately the meet got canceled due to snow and freezing weather. A few other schools, however, brought teams to other meets this week. Here are a few highlights from those meets:
NJ Conference Clash (full results). Instead of racing the snow-delayed Group 4 relays at the Bubble on Monday, Trenton brought their squad to Ocean Breeze for the NJ Conference Clash. Patrick McCray had a great day, running a 1600m PR of 4:43.00 to get 2nd place and then coming back a short while later to get another 2nd place in the 800m with a time of 2:08.51. His teammate Isaiah Mitchell got top-20 finishes in both the 400m (19th in 54.89) and the 800m (2:11.50). On the girls side, Zunica Zubah also had a nice double and was top 8 in both the girls 55m (7th in 7.84) and 200m (8th in 28.06). In the girls shot put, Hun’s Anna Casciano topped Trenton’s Sonjay Baylor-Reeves, 37-10.75 to 37-0.5, as the two girls went 1-2 overall.
Rebel Shot/Field Series 4 (full results). West Windsor-Plainsboro North brought a few athletes to this field-event-only meet at the Bubble on Tuesday. Eva Gedrich narrowly won the girls shot put by just a quarter-inch with a throw of 29-1.25. Arnav Grover took 5th in the boys triple jump with a jump of 38-6.25. In the girls triple jump, Jada Sands (30-7.75) and Mahima Bansal (30-7.25) both PR’d and jumped the #2 and #3 times in Mercer County this season.
SJTCA #14 (full results). Hightstown returned to the Bubble on Wednesday for the SJTCA #14 meet. The Rams ran well and scored several top 5 finishes. Aijah Sommerselle took 2nd place in the girls 55m with a PR of 7.36, which is #3 in Mercer County (and #1 in the CVC) this season. Somerselle also took 5th in the 55m hurdles in 9.29. Siena Rivera ran a big PR in the open 800 with a 2:29.66 for 2nd place. Jaiden Bosley placed 5th in the girls shot put with a throw of 28-5. On the boys side, Terrance Williams, after running 6.84 in the prelims to squeak into the finals by .01, ran a solid 6.73 for 5th place overall. Burke Thompson ran an open 800m PR of 2:06.00 for 3rd place. Christian Houvig threw 42-9.5 in the shot put to take 5th place. In the 1600m, Mateo Abad-Delgado ran a nice 1600m PR of 4:48.90 for 11th place.
LVS Senior Day Invite (full results). Lawrenceville hosted a small meet on Saturday to celebrate its seniors. Their biggest competition was Hillsborough, though a few Stuart Country Day girls ran also.
Michael Bradley had a fantastic meet. He already had run the fastest 55m time in Mercer County this season coming into this meet, but he cut an incredible .11 off his PR and ran 6.49 here! It took every bit of that effort to win – he edged out Hillsborough’s Daniel Tobia (#4 in NJ this year) by 0.01. Bradley is now #10 this season in New Jersey and #11 all-time in Mercer County. He came back in the 300m and beat Tobia again with a PR of 35.56, which is #8 in New Jersey this season. Tolu Olatunji took 3rd place in the 55m in 6.70, which is the fifth time he’s run 6.70 or faster this season.
Owen Eldridge won the 1600m in 4:28.11, a new #1 for Mercer County. It’s also a 1600m PR for the senior, who had primarily run just 400s and 800s before this season. Arunav Sarkar took 2nd with a season’s best of 4:36.09, which is #4 in the county for the open 1600m.
Ayodele Joa-Griffith won the 600m in 1:24.71, the equivalent of a sub-2:00 800m.
Lexie Koch won the 55m dash in 7.37. That’s just off her PR of 7.34, and it’s still among the top 25 in New Jersey this winter. She later won the 300m in a PR of 41.93, which is also in top 25 300m times in the state this year.
Dr. Sander Scorcher (full results). Lawrenceville brought two girls to compete in invitational races at the Dr. Sander Scorcher on Saturday, and they both had historically good races!
Sofia Swindell has traditionally focused on the shorter sprints, but she stepped up to the 400m at Dr. Sander and delivered a fantastic race, taking 2nd place in a time of 55.58. According to MileSplit, that’s a school record and #19 all-time in New Jersey! Despite the longer distance and although she was overtaken in the last 100m by Eastern Regional’s Natalie Dumas – who won the Meet of Champions 400m last spring – Swindell had a nice finish to edge past another runner in the final 25m.
Blair Bartlett, like Swindell, took a stab at a distance a bit out of her usual 1600m-3200m range, and she similarly produced an incredible result anyway. Facing nationally ranked competition and running in her first ever 1000m race, Bartlett still did what she does in so many other big races: go for the win. Here, she made a big move with 400m remaining to bridge the gap between the chase pack and the race leader. Although she couldn’t quite hold the pace over the last 200m, she found enough strength in the final 50m to fend off most of the other chasers and take 3rd place. Her time of 2:48.81 is a school record and #5 all-time in New Jersey! The 1000m isn’t the most common race, but to put it in perspective, Bartlett’s time is roughly equivalent to a 2:10 800m.