North Hunterdon put one individual and two relays, one a record-breaker, on the medal stand at the NJSIAA track and field Meet of Champions Wednesday afternoon at Pennsuaken High School while Voorhees saw three individuals medal.
The Lions’ girls 3,200 relay of junior Maura Green, seniors Leah Rudolph, sophom*ore Kelly Shanklin and senior Gwendolyn McCloughan earned the day’s top medal for lehighvalleylive locals when they finished third in 9 minutes, 25.31 seconds; Hillsborough won the race in 9:15.15.
North Hunterdon’s time was the best this season in the lehighvalleylive region.
In the 1,600 relay, freshman Norah Brown, senior Danielle DiEsso, Rudolph and Green finished seventh in 3:55.09.
That time is a North Hunterdon school record (breaking the mark of 3:55.15 run at New Balance nationals in 2023); the fastest time in the LVL region this spring; the No. 2 time in county history (Hunterdon Central ran 3:53.13 at the 2017 Meet of Champions) and No. 2 all-time in the LVL region to Easton ‘s 3:51.56 at the 2007 PIAA 3A meet with Chanelle Prince anchoring.
The Lions’ Peyton Lewis finished eighth in the javelin at 115 feet, 9 inches.
Sophom*ore Dillon Devine led the way for the Vikings with a sixth-place finish in the 1,600-meter run. Devine ran a personal-best time of 4;14.36, a two-second drop in his time since his previous best at the Group 2 meet, and that time is No. 2 in the lehighvalleylive region this season.
Devine used a terrific late kick to earn his place on the medal stand. He stood ninth into the final lap before he turned in a sizzling final 400 in 59.84 – the fastest 400 split of anybody in the race – to finish sixth. Ridgewood’s Luke Pash won in 4:04.49.
Voorhees also claimed two eighth-place meals. Senior Alexander Metz was eighth in the boys 200-meter dash in 21.94 seconds and junior Charlotte Scaturo was eighth in the girls 400 intermediate hurdles in 1:03.64.
How they did
Here is a list of how all lehighvalleylive athletes performed at the Meet of Champions.
Boys
200: 8. Sr. Alexander Metz, Voorhees, 21.94
110 hurdles: 22. Sr. Redjee Nonez, Hackettstown, 15.69
400 relay: 11. Voorhees (Alexander Metz, James Gecek, Elias Hanley, Kasir Hanley), 42.44
3,200 relay: 9. North Hunterdon (Conor Brand, Eric Beswick, Chase Kober, Cole Kober), 8:04.47
High jump: 12. Brody Sible, North Hunterdon, 6-4
Triple jump: 17. Nonez, Hackettstown, 43-5
Girls
100: 21. Sr. Danielle DiEsso, North Hunterdon, 12.61
400: 9. DiEsso, North Hunterdon, 57.07
400 hurdles: 8. Jr. Charlotte Scaturo, Voorhees, 1:03.64
1,600 relay: 7. North Hunterdon (Norah Brown, Danielle DiEsso, Leah Rudolph, Maura Green), 3:55.09
3,200 relay: 3. North Hunterdon (Maura Green, Leah Rudolph, Kelly Shanklin, and Gwendolyn McCloughan), 9:25.31.
Long jump: 18. Jr. Abby Sell, Voorhees, 17-1½
Javelin: 8. Sr. Peyton Lewis, North Hunterdon, 115-9; 11. Jr. Ava Komorowski, North Hunterdon, 114-0.
New schedule next year
In addition, the NJSIAA announced a significant change to the postseason track and field schedule for 2025.
The Meet of Champions will be run on June 4, 2025, at Pennsauken. This is a week earlier and avoids conflict with several of the national such as the New Balance Nationals which open Thursday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Some athletes were choosing the national meets over the Meet of Champions, and as NJSIAA track and field director Al Stumpf, the former Voorhees Athletic Director, told MileSplit NJ, “We want the best athletes at the Meet of Champions.”
The shifting of the Meet of Champions will move the state group meets back to May 30 and 31 and the sectionals to May 16 and 17, a week before Memorial Day instead of a week after. The NJSIAA avoids running meets on Memorial Day weekend due to a shortage of officials.
Sectionals being so early will undoubtedly force county and conference meets to move to earlier in May to avoid conflicts.
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Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com.
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