Boys/Girls Track & Field Completes Magical Year!
At the New Balance National Championshps at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the boys and girls each captured national titles and turned in several eye-popping times and marks.
The boys got things off to a blazing start on Thursday night by winning the 4xmile and and equaling the New Jersey state record..The foursome of junior Caudell Cajuste, senior Myles Plummer, senior Shane Brosnan, and sophomore Jimmy Wischusen combined to run 17:12.34, which equals the oldest state record that was set by Essex Catholic 56 years ago, and is tied for No. 11 in U.S. high school history.
In June of 1966, Essex Catholic, anchored by the legendary Marty Liquori, ran a hand time of 17.12.2 at Highland Park, which converts to an automatic time of 17:12.34 (adding .14). The first three runners for Essex Catholic were Jim McLoughlin, Art Martin, and Fred Lane. Lane ran the fastest split of 4:14.8.
Union Catholic matched the Essex Catholic performance in race that was never in doubt after the Vikings blew open a tight race on the third leg and went on to win by 21 seconds over Christian Brothers Academy, second in 17:33.68. Westfield finished sixth in 17:43.7.
Cajuste got UC off to a solid start, splitting 4:27.6 before handing off to Plummer in fifth place. Plummer got right up to the lead pack after the first 800, and then charged to the front and completed a 4:14.9 carry to put UC in the lead for good. Brosnan immediately opened a huge gap on the third leg and kept pouring it on as he built a huge lead with a 4:15.5 split. Wischusen, in a race against the clock when he got the stick, finished off the masterpiece by cranking out a 4:14.2 anchor, which included a 62.5 last lap.
The Union Catholic girls 4×800 relay squad picked up the other national title for the Vikings on Saturday at the New Balance meet when junior Kaleigh Gunsiorowski, junior Maameyaa Nyinah, senior Asydiah Pray-Brown, and sophomore Peyton Hollis combined to win the race in 8:54.67, the third fastest time in NJ history..
The only two teams to run faster in NJ history are Columbia, which ran 8:45.37 to finish first at the 2014 Penn Relays, and Southern Regional, which ran 8:52.80 to finish first at the 2009 Nike National Championships.
The victory avenged a loss at the New Balance Indoor Nationals to the Purple Track Club of Michigan, who finished second in 9:01.66. The Purple Track Club won the matchup with UC at the NB indoor meet with a winning time of 8:51.93 with UC second in 8:53.69.
But this time Union Catholic, knowing that the Purple Track Club was using the same four runners that ran on its winning 4xmile team on Thursday and on its victorious DMR team on Friday, went out aggressively to make the Purple Track Club work hard early. The strategy worked.
Gunsiorowski blasted out to quick early lead and set the tone for the race with a strong 2:13.52 leadoff leg that resulted in a three second lead over the Charlotte Country Day Track Club of North Carolina. The Purple Track Club was four seconds back.
Nyinah then ran 2:13.84 for UC and handed off to Pray-Brown with 1.5 second edge on Charlotte Country Day. Pray Brown split 2:18.76, but Charlotte Country Day was able to take a two second lead on Union Catholic at the final handoff.
That’s when Hollis went to work and wasted not time jumping to the front and then throwing down the hammer as she split 2:08.57 to pull away for the seven second win over the Purple Track Club.
There were several other remarkable performances turned in by the Vikings.
In the boys sprint medley relay, Javon McKay, Al-Qamar Rojas, Nick Givan, and Plummer teamed up to place second in 3:23.51, the sixth fastest time in state history!
Wischusen capped off arguably the greatest season in state history for a sophomore distance runner by placing fourth in the 2-mile in a 8:56.14, and ninth in the mile in 4:09.90. His 8:56.41 broke the state sophomore record, and the 4:09.90 is a Union County record and the second fastest by a sophomore in NJ history.
Shane Brosnan, who is headed to Harvard, finished 13th in the mile in 4:11.55, and 10th in the 2-mile in 9:03.01, and Plummer was 18th in the mile in 4:13.54.
For the girls,freshman Taylor Cox finished fifth in the 100 hurdles in 13.93 and anchored the third-place 4×200 that ran a state-leading 1:38.72, the sprint medley relay team finished fifth in 4:10.91, the 4×400 squad was fifth in 3:50.53, Jada Mia Puryear was sixth in the discus with a 149-4, Hollis was ninth in the 800 2:09.24, and Alexandra Bonn was 10th in the triple jump with a 38-11.
The Vikings also made their presence felt at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Saturday at Franklin High School.
The day after earning All-American honors in the discus, Puryear produced an even greater performance when she sent the saucer sailing a Union County record 155-7, No. 6 in state history, to win the discus at the Meet of Champions. And junior Alexandra Bonn rallied to win the triple jump with a 38-6.75. Bonn also won the triple jump at the indoor Meet of Champions in March.
The performances by the Vikings this weekend solidified its status as probably the best combined program in NJ history.
Need more proof?
How about this – the UC boys and the girls swept the team titles at the Union County Relays, the Union County Track and Field Championships, the Union County Conference Championships. and at the Non-Public A Championships to finish the season undefeated, and both squads were ranked No. 1 in the state in the final team rankings by NJ.com.
At the state meet, the girls scored a state record 200 points out of a possible 390, and the boys ended CBA’s run of five straight titles by outscoring CBA by 25 points. The victories by the boys and girls teams made UC the first program in state history to complete the triple double, which consists of winning state titles in all three seasons, cross-country, indoors and outdoors, in the same school year. That’s right, the UC boys and girls combined to go 6-0 in the state meets this school year!! How amazing that!!
There’s more!
The girls had the No. 1 performance in the state in seven events this season, the boys led the state in two events, and both teams had several other relay teams and athletes ranked in the top 10.
For the girls, Hollis was No. 1 in the 800 with her 2:06.42, which is No. 10 in state history, Cox led the state with a 13.83 in the 100 hurdles, Puryear was No. 1 in the discus with a 155-7, and the 4×100 (47.05), 4×200 (1:38.72), 4×800 (8:54.67), and shuttle hurdles (1:02.79) were all the fastest in N.J.
In addition to all that, Cox also finished the season No. 7 in the 100 dash (12.01) and No. 9 in the 200 (25.04). Ajanae Thompson was No. 8 in the 100 dash (12.03) and No. 3 in the hurdles in 14.35, Bonn finished No. 2 in the triple jump (38-11) and No 4 in the long jump (18-4.50). Puryear was No. 8 in the shot put with a 40-9.50. Senior Daniela Peralta was the state Non-Public A champion in the javelin with a throw of 126-3, and the Union County champion in the pole vault. Peralta, the school record holder in javelin and pole vault, finished the season raked No. 12 in the state in the vault with a 12-6, and No. 14 in the javelin with her 126-3. The distance medley team was No. 5 in the state with a 12:05.59, the 4×400 team was No. 3 with a 3:48.76, and the SMR squad ran a NJ No. 5 time of 4:09.10..
For the boys, the 17:12.34 in the 4xmile is No. 1 in the state and country, and Wischusen’s 8:56.41 was the fastest time in the state in the 3200/2-mile.
Wischusen also finished the season ranked No. 4 in the 1,600/mile with his 4:09.90 in the mile. Nick Givan is ranked in the top 10 in three races – the 400 hurdles, No. 2 with a 52.48, the 400, No. 3 with a 47.78, and the 110 hurdles, No. 8 with a 14.34. Plummer was No. 3 in the 800 with a 1:51.03, and No. 10 in the 1600/mile (4:10.69). and Brosnan finished No. 2 in the state in the 3,200/2-mile and No. 7 in the1,600/ mile.
The boys also won the DMR at the Penn Relays with a NJ No. 3 time of 10:14.42, became the first team in state history to ever have three runners go under 4:11 in the 1,600 in the same season, ran a NJ No. 3 time of 7:49.52 in the 4×800, ran a NJ. No. 9 3:20.61 in the 4×400, and Cameron Campbell finished the season ranked No. 10 in the state in the triple jump (45-6.25).
I don’t think there is any doubt that the season by the UC boys and girls will go down as the best ever for a combined program in state history.
Case closed!
