Jimmy Wischusen has been named Union Catholic’s Union County Conference Boys Athlete of the Week.
Wischusen, a junior, broke the meet records in both the 1,600 with a time of 4:18.76 and the 3.200 with a time of 9:12.45 to lead the Vikings to the State Non-Public B Championship on Feb. 17 at the Bennett Center in Toms River. Wischusen’s time in the 3,200 is the fastest by a NJ runner this season.
Wischusen has built a remarkable distance running resume at Union Catholic.
As a sophomore last year, Wischusen broke the sophomore course record holder at Holmdel Park (15:35 to place fifth and help his team finish first at the Meet of Champions), and he ran the fastest cross-country in thenation for a sophomore with the 14:34 he ran at the Running Lane National Championships!
Then last spring, he broke the nine-minute barrier for the first in the 3,200 when he ran 8:59.63 at the Westfield Twilight Invitational, and won the 3,200 at both the Union County Championships and the Non-Public A Championships.
Wischusen capped off his memorable campaign with an amazing triple at the New Balance National Championships at Franklin Field.
First, Wischusen split 4:14.2 on the anchor leg of the 4xmile squad that equaled the state record with a winning time of 17:12.23. The next day, he stopped the clock at 8:56.41 in the two-mile to take down the NJ sophomore record and place fourth to earn All-American status. Wischusen’s 8:56.41 makes him the 12th fastest 3200/2-miler in NJ history, and the ninth-fastest sophomore in U.S. history.
The 8:56.41 by Wischusen broke the state sophomore mark that was held by the legendary Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict’s Prep. Cheserek, who many regard as the best high school distance runner in U.S. history, ran 8:53.65 for 3,200 as a sophomore at the 2011 Essex County Championships, which converts to 8:56.75 for two-miles.
Wischusen finished off his outdoor season by running a Union County record 4:09.90 to place ninth in the mile at the NB Nationals, the second-fastest time by a sophomore in state history behind Cheserek’s 4:03.29.
