UC girls win 8th straight title, boys place 2nd and smash record at Union County Relays
The Union Catholic girls extended their incredible streak to eight titles in a row, and the boys placed second and smashed a record at Saturday’s Union County Relays at the Jersey City Armory.
UC’s girls left no doubt about its superiority by winning five of the eight events, and running a NJ No. 1 time in the shuttle hurdles on the way to a dominating 74-46 victory over runner-up Rahway.
Union Catholic won the distance medley relay (12:48.39), the shuttle hurdles in a NJ#1 34.09, the 4×800 in 10:18.92, the sprint medley in a NJ#2 4:21.03, and the shot put.
Junior Kaleigh Gunsiorowski ran on two winning relays for UC, and Jada Mia Puryear, the state’s No. 1 ranked shot putter, had the top throw of the meet (38-7 1/2) to lead UC to victory in the shot.
Gunsiorowski split 2:26 as the anchor on the sprint medley relay, and led off the DMR with a 3:48.3 carry. Also for the Vikings, junior Maameyaa Nyinah ran 60.4 on the SMR, and split 26.9 on the runner-up 4×200, Asydiah Pray-Brown split 2:24.3 on the DMR, and 61.5 for the runner-up 4×400 squad, senior Jenna Keith ran 2:26.8 in the 4×800 and 62.5 in the 4×400, and sophomore Leilani Gibson also ran on the 4×400 and 4×800 relays.
UC’s winning shuttle hurdle team consisted of Taylor Cox, Ajanae Thompson, McKenzie Johnson, and Alexandra Bonn. Bonn was also a member of the runner-up high jump team.
The Vikings also received strong performances from Abby Granrath (DMR anchor), Chai Lendor (SMR), Leah Gould (SMR), Aniyah Charles (4×200/4×400), Victoria Urbaez (4×800), Seton Dill (4×800), Erica Dines (400 leg in DMR), Emma Muir (high jump), Simone Motley (shot put), and Aria Hicks (shot put).
On the boys side, Union Catholic lost a hard-fought battle with Elizabeth, 68-64.
There were several great performances by the UC boys, highlighted by a meet record 10:44.22 in the distance medley relay, the top time in the state this season and No. 2 in the nation. The former meet record in the DMR of 10:44.52 was set in 2011 by Union Catholic. The Vikings should be one of the best DMR teams in the nation this season.
Harvard-bound Shane Brosnan, coming off an All-American XC season, made a sensational season debut by splitting 3:10.6 on the DMR, and he came back to split 1:57.6 as the anchor on the runner-up 4×800. Sophomore Jimmy Wischusen anchored the DMR with a 4:29.6, and ran a 2:00.0 leg on the 4×800, and senior Myles Plummer ran 1:57.9 on the runner-up SMR, and 51.6 on the runner-up 4×400.
Nick Givan was his usual splendid all-round self for UC. He led off the winning shuttle hurdles (32.31) with a 7.2, led off the runner-up 4×200 with a 23.1, ran 51.7 on the runner-up 4×400, and cleared a meet-best 5-10 to lead UC to victory in the high jump.
Other key contributors for the Vikings included Caudell Cajuste, who ran the 800 leg in the DMR and was a member of the 4×800, Marcus McCoy (400 on the DMR), Noah Cooper (8.4 in the shuttles/24.3 in 4×200/54.5 in 4×400), Al-Qamar Rojas (54.1 in the SMR/24.1 in 4×200/8.3 in shuttles), Noah Alston (8.1 in shuttles/25.5 in SMR), Dylan Williams (55.6 in 4×400/24.1 in 4×200), Ryan Cichocki (4×800), and Justice Hicks (high jump).