UC Wins 3 Titles, Breaks National Record at Nationals

The Union Catholic girls track and field team produced arguably the greatest flurry of epic performances by a U.S. team in the history of the New Balance National Championships, which concluded on Sunday in Philadelphia, Pa.

The Vikings flexed its superior firepower by racking up three national titles, smashing one national record, breaking two N.J. records, and piling up several All-American finishes as they burned up the oval with multiple mind-blowing races at Franklin Field.

The biggest highlight was the electrifying and jaw-dropping masterpiece in the 4×800 on Friday!!!

While everyone expected the UC girls to complete the 3-peat and make a strong run at their own national record, no one could have seen them deliver such an explosive performance, which saw the Vikings chop exactly seven seconds off the national mark with a race for the ages as UC threw down an absolutely absurd time of 8:34.20!!!! That shredded the national record of 8:41.20 that UC ran on this track when the Vikings won its second Championship of America title in a row at the Penn Relays in April.

Sophomore Jimmiea King led off with a 2:09.22 carry to give UC a slight lead over Padua of Delaware, who received a 2:09.66 leadoff leg. On the second leg, Duke-bound Peyton Hollis, who ran on all three national championship 4×800 squads for UC, blew open the race with a 2:09.01 split to give UC a 6.5 second lead.

Then the freshmen took over for the Vikings.

Sophia Thompson took the baton from Hollis and cranked out a 2:10.46 third leg for UC to extend the lead to 9.5  seconds over Cuthbertson of North Carolina. Then Paige Sheppard raced the clock for two laps as she kept hammering her way around the oval, completing a blistering 2:05.53 anchor split to put the the finishing touches on the mind-numbing all-time instant classic by the Vikings. Cuthbertson, the national indoor champion in the 4×800 in 2023, finished a distant second in 8:45.58.

Also on Friday,  the UC girls picked up a second national title by winning the 4×200. The foursome of sophomore Natalie Thompson, Isabella Murray, Abriyah Thompson, and senior Leah Gould combined to run 1:38.48 to edge North Carolina’s Clayton High, second in 1:38.82, which is No. 8 in New Jersey history, and gives the Vikings five of the eight fastest times in state history. UC set the state record of 1:37.53 in 2017.

UC’s third national championships came on Sunday when junior Taylor Cox shattered the meet record when she won the 100 hurdles in a wind-legal 13.38, which is tied for the third-fastest time in NJ history. Cox broke the meet record of 13.41 set last year by Camden Bentley of Ohio Speed.

The only two hurdlers in NJ history to run faster than Cox are Dawn Bowles of Neptune (13.30 in 1988) and Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic (13.34 in 2014).

That’s not all.

Cox, one of the biggest stars of the meet, also ran the second leg on Union Catholic’s 4×100 relay that finished second in 45.48, which broke the NJ record of 45.50 set by Montclair at the 1998 Penn Relays. The other three legs for UC were handled by freshman Sydney Chadwick, senior Leah Gould, and junior Taylor Aska.

UC also finished second in the girls 4xMile in 20:18.56, No. 2 in NJ history, and third the girls 4×400 in 3:41.67, No. 5 in NJ history.

In the 4xMile, the splits for UC’s all freshmen squad were 5:09.50 for Kayla Devine, 5:06.12 for Sophia Thompson, 5:09.64 for Cayleigh Kaiser, and 4:53.31 for Paige Sheppard. The 4×400 squad consisted of Taylor Aska (53.7), Isabella Murray (54.6), Abriyah Thompson (57.41) and Jimmiea King (55.43). King also finished 15th overall and third among sophomores in the 800 in a PR of 2:08.53.

The UC boys also made their presence felt by placing second in the sprint medley in 3:25.36 as Dylan Williams (22.1), Al-Qamar Rojas (21.2), Avery Atexide (47.4), and Keandre Kelly (1:54.00) shared the baton for the Vikings. The Vikings also finished 10th in the boys distance medley relay in 10:03.06, just off the school record. The four legs were handled by Alex Saldana, Al-Qamar Rojas, Keandre Kelly, and Jimmy Wischusen.

The dominating performances by the Vikings at New Balance Nationals capped off arguably the greatest season ever by a NJ T&F program, as the boys and girls finished the season ranked No. 1 in the state. The boys girls were undefeated in all team championship meets, sweeping the Union County Relays, Union County Confernece, Union County Track and Field, and State Non-Public A Championships.

How awesome is that!!!