UC GIRLS SMASH RECORDS TO PUNCUATE 10TH STRAIGHT UNION COUNTY CHAMPION TITLE
By Jim Lambert
The Union Catholic girls brought the heat and left a lot of smoke as the Vikings produced the great performance in meet history by shattering three meet records and tying another, including the most points ever scored with 162!!!
That’s right, the Vikings rang up 162 out of the possible 274 points. That crushed the meet record of 122.50 that the Vikings set last year at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
Of the 162 points scored by UC, 139 came on the track, where the Vikings won seven of the eight events and finished 1-2-3 in two races.
In addition to the meet record for points, UC broke the meet records in the 1,600 when freshman Paige Sheppard led a 1-2-3 finish for her team with a winning time of 4:57.48, and the 200 when freshman Rhia Randolph ripped a NJ No. 2 56.36, and UC’s Taylor Cox tied the meet record in the 55 dash with her PR and NJ No. 4 time of 7.07. Randolph also won the 200 in a NJ No. 2 time of 24.44, and
Cox added a fifth-place finish in the high jump.
UC’s other 1-2-3 finish came in the 800 when the trio of Peyton Hollis (2:11.00), Sheppard (2:12.07) and Jimmiea King (2:12.74) ran the three fastest times in the state this season! King, a sophomore, came back later to light up the track with a 57.48 carry on the winning 4×400!
The Vikings also went 1-2-4 in the 3,200 with Courtney Kaiser (10:47.54), Cayleigh Kaiser (PR of 10:55.04) and Emmy O’Hearn (PR of 11:15.36).
Other big scorers for the Vikings included Taylor Aska, second in the 55 in 7.26 an second in the 200 (a NJ No. 4 24.72), Kayla Devine, third in the 1,600, Carmela LoStuto, third in the pole vault, Leah Gould, fourth in the 200, Natalia Thompson (PR and NJ No. 3 17-9.75) and Vonya Gould (17-6.50), who went 2-3 in the long jump, Abriyah Thompson, third in the 400 in a PR of 58.63, and Ervnie Jules-Vincent, fifth in the pole vault.
