National Weekend Rundown For June 6th

National Weekend Rundown
Johanna Gretschel

New Jersey Meet of Champions (NJ)

June 03, 2015 @ Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield, NJ

After a season ending injury in cross country season, hadn't heard much of Haddonfield's Briana Gess since then despite being a Foot Locker finalist and 4:45 miler last year as a freshmen. She made her name known nationally again in winning the New Jersey Meet of Champions 1600 in a time of 4:48 to repeat as the New Jersey state champion in the event.

Boys Highlights:

  • CBA has a rich tradition of past state champions and now joining the long list will sophomore Drake Anzano closing hard with a 58 second last lap for the win in a new personal best time by 6 seconds of 4:11.36 over River Dell junior William Daly (4:11.89).
  • Another sophomore sensation from New Jersey is Old Bridge's Rey Rivera, who kicked his way to the win in the 800 meter run, with a four second PR of 1:50.82, which ranks him US #7!
  • Taylor McLaughlin, US #2 ranked in the 400 meter hurdles, cruised to victory in the event with a time of 51.93. Two tenths of a second off his season best from last weekend.
  • Closing with a 60 second last lap, Luke Petela won the boys 3200 title over Nikhil Pulimood (9:00) and last year's champ Blaise Ferro (9:02) in his first sub 9 minute performance at 8:58.32.
  • Marquese Bell, a sophomore from Bridgeton, won the boys high jump title on a tiebreaker with Williamstown's Devin Bradham also clearing 6'10". Bell had only cleared 6'6" previously to certainly make the sophomore leap on Wednesday.
  • Edwin Alston of Winslow Township dipped under 14 seconds for the first time to win the 110 meter hurdles at the New Jersey Meet of Champions in a 13.90 clocking.
  • Eric Bethea just missed getting another mark over 50 feet in the triple jump, but settling for a New Jersey state title isn't a bad thing either with his mark of 49'11.25".

Girls Highlights:

Sydney McLaughlin won the 400m hurdles in US #1 57.93.

  • Nickolette Dunbar of Whippany Park smashes her own New Jersey state record in the shot put along with taking down the meet record as the Penn Relays champ throws for a new US #2 PR mark of 51'2". Big improvement from her sophomore year last year when she finished 8th in this competition with a mark of 40'4.50"!
  • US leader in the 400 meter hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, lowered her season best and national leading time in the event down to 57.93. A little slower than her 2014 New Jersey Meet of Champions win in 56.91, but she has a busy day of events to conserve for.
  • Briana Gess repeated as 1600 meter champ as the Haddonfield sophomore ran a season best time by 8 seconds at 4:48.
  • Emile Cowan, one of the leftovers from the great Columbia relays last year featuring Olivia Baker, won the girls 400 meter title in a time of 54.26.
  • Third as a freshmen, fourth as a sophomore, and second as a junior, Grace Dwyer is now a champion at the New Jersey Meet of Champions 3200 meter run after recording a lifetime best time of 10:21.46 to win by 8 seconds over top seed Eve Glasergreen (10:29).


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