Union County flexed its firepower in a big way when five meet records were smashed on the first day of the Union County Relays on Thursday at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield.
The second and final day of the meet has been rescheduled for this Monday at 4:30 p.m. because of the weather.
Union Catholic led the record-breaking barrage by shattering both DMR records, and tying the overall Union County record in the girls 4×100 as the Vikings grabbed the first day lead on the scoreboard in both the boy and girls competition.
On the girls side, Union Catholic leads Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 64-44, while the UC boys hold a 52-48 lead over Elizabeth.
The two other meet records that went down came in the SMR’s where the Scotch Plains-Fanwood girls ran 4:02.54, and the Union boys edged Westfield in a thriller, 3:25.24 to 3:25.32.
Individually, Celine Jada-Brown of Plainfield exploded for a 19-9 in the long jump, which is tied for No. 3 in the nation this season and just off her PR of 19-11.50.
The meet opened with a bang with the DMR record sweep by Union Catholic.
In the boys DMR, UC using half its lineup that won the DMR wheel at the Penn Relays last Friday, ran 10:18.21 to break the 41 year-old meet record of 10:20.0 set by Westfield in 1981, the third oldest meet record in the book. Senior Shane Brosnan (3:05 and change), sophomore Marcus McCoy (a PR of 50.9), junior Caudell Cajuste (2:00.7) and sophomore Jimmy Wischusen (4:19.9) combined on the victory for the Vikings. At the Penn Relays, Wischusen led off and Brosnan anchored.
In the girls DMR, junior Kaleigh Gunsiorowski (3:42.4), senior Aniyah Charles (59.7), sophomore Leilani Gibson (2:22.6), and sophomore Peyton Hollis (4:59.5 anchor) destroyed the meet record with its winning time of 12:05.59. That shattered the mark of 12:17.53 that UC set in 2018.
The next record that fell was in the girls 4×100 as freshman Taylor Cox, sophomore Leah Gould, junior Ajanae Thompson and senior Sydney McDonald blasted a 47.05!!!! That not only broke the meet record of 47.51 that UC ran in 2018, but it also tied the Union County record of 47.05 that UC ran to finish first at the 2019 Meet of Champions, and its the 13th fastest time run in NJ history.
The race of the day came in the boys SMR where Union and Westfield hooked up in a classic battle as both teams ran well under the meet record of 3:27.68 set by UC in 2012. Junior Gabriel Rodriguez, one of the state’s biggest stars that not enough people talk about, anchored in 1:51.9 to edge Westfield’s Charlie Stock, who split 1:51.1. Union’s first three legs were handled by senior James Mackey, senior Joel Nathan, and senior Matthew Nazaire.
Not only were the times of 3:25.24 and 3:25.32 by Union and Westfield the two fastest in meet history, they are also No. and No. 4 and No. 5 in Union County history, and are No. 5 and No. 6 in the nation this season.
In the girls SMR, SPF used sophomore Keira Kelly and senior Ashley DeFrancesco on the 200 legs, senior Julia Jackson (53.7 400 leg), and junior Jenai Berry (2:15.7) to run a U.S No. 6 and school record 4:02.54, which broke the meet record of 4:03.67 set by UC in 2017.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS
Linden had a big day in the boys field events.
Rabae Smith was one of three to clear 6-2 as he led Linden to victory in the boys high jump, and Linden’s Pablo Montanez had the top discus throw of the dat with a 156-4, an inch further than Daniel Berkow of Gov. Livingston.
The Westfield boys captured the javelin and discus
Nick Givan of Union Catholic anchored the winning 4×100 relay (UC and Elizabeth each ran 43.09 in separate heats of the 4×100, but UC was declared the winner), and he ran the top time of the meet in the 400 hurdles, a PR and NJ No. 4 53.93, to lead his team to victory in that event.
UC senior Asydiah Pray-Brown ran a big PR and NJ No. 2 time of 63.51 in the 400 hurdles, to edge senior Grace Kennedy of Scotch Plains-Fanwood (63.83). Kennedy ran 63.57 earlier this season, which is NJ No. 3.
Senior Cameron Campbell of Union Catholic continued his amazing rookie season by soaring a NJ No. 4 22-6.25 in the long jump and he also cleared 6-2 in the HJ.
The top marks in the girls field events, in addition to the 19-9 LJ by Jada-Brown, were 39-4.25 in the shot put by Jada Mia Puryear of Union Catholic, and 10-0 in the PV by Daniela Peralta of Union Catholic.
