Six athletes from Union County captured titles at the prestigious 54th NJSIAA Track and Field Meet of Champions ton Thursday at Franklin High School in Somerset.
In the boys competition, Nate Rayan of Scotch Plains-Fanwood (110 hurdles) Gabriel Rodriguez of Union (800m), Micah Lawson of Rahway (1600m) and Lucas Reguinho of Elizabeth (3200m). On the girls side, Rutgers-bound Cynthia Boakye became the first girl from Elizabeth to ever win when she burned a 24.36 to capture the 200, and junior Saniyah Evans of Rahway soared 18-9.25 to win the long jump.
Rayan, second indoors in the 55 hurdles at the MOCs, avenged that loss and got the title he had been seeking in jaw-dropping fashion as the Clemson-bound star smashed the meet record with a wind-legal (+1.0) and NJ No. 2 all-time 13.42 in the trials of the 110 hurdles!!!
He came back to win the final with a 13.48 into a -0.7 headwind.
Rayan took down the meet record of 13.52 that was set in 1998 by Todd Matthews of Notre Dame, and moved past Danyne Brown of Camden (13.43 in 1999) into the No. 2 spot on NJ all-time list.
That means that Scotch Plains-Fanwood is now home to the two fastest 110 hurdlers in NJ high school history. The legendary Renaldo “Skeets” Nehemiah ran a state record hand time of 12.9 (13.14 when converted to automatic time) in 1977.
Rodriguez, one of six athletes who won titles who is headed to Rutgers, ran 55.64 over the final 400m to win the 800m in 1:51.43, the fastest time in the state this season.
Lawson also committed to Rutgers, dropped a 58.94 400m on the third lap to open a big gap and ran 1:59.33 for the final 800m on his way to a dominating victory in 4:12.01. When Lawson came across the line he motioned with his hands to act as if he was putting on a crown.
That’s because the victory completed a rare triple crown for Lawson, which consists of victories in all three seasons in the same school year. Lawson won the MOCs cross country title in November, the 1600m at the Indoor MOCs, and on Thursday he added the final jewel.
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