Boys Win Essex County Coaches Invite

Myles Plummer, who shattered a school record, and Conor Reilly and Elijah Brown were all double winners to spark the Union Catholic boys track and field team to victory in its season opener on Friday at the Essex County Coaches Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.

The Vikings outscored runner-up St. Peter’s Prep, 79-53, to capture the team title. 

Plummer, one of the top rising stars in New Jersey, won the 800-meter run in a school freshman record 1:59.71, the No. 1 time in the state so far this season, and also ran on the winning 4×400 relay (3:31.82). Plummer’s 1:59.71 not only broke the UC freshman indoor record of 2:03.64 set in 2014 by Greg Gibbs, but it’s also superior to the school outdoor freshman record of 2:00.39 that Gibbs ran.  

Reilly, a junior who one of the state’s premier pole vaulters, led a 1-2-3-5 finish for the Vikings in the vault by clearing 14-0, and he also split 52.5 on the leadoff leg of the 4×400. Brown, a junior who is one of the state’s top sprinters, won the 400 with a New Jersey No. 1 time of 49.88, and anchored the victorious 4×400.   

In other highlights, senior Ryan McLaughlin placed second in the 55 hurdles in 8.07, Obadare Animashaun finished second in the pole vault (12-6) and was fifth in the hurdles in 8.30, Justin Lopez placed third in the pole vault (12-0), Christopher Robateau was fifth in the vault (9-0), Elijah Abraham finished sixth in the hurdles in 8.36 and ran on the winning relay, and Chinedu Okoro placed sixth in the 200 in 23.47.