Vikings Sweep County Relay Titles!

The Union Catholic boys and girls track teams continued its stranglehold on the team titles at the Union County Relays with another sweep of the championships as the Vikings turned in several eye-popping performances at the Jersey City Armory on Sunday.

It was the seventh straight title for the Union Catholic girls, who solidified its status as the top team in the state by capturing seven of the eight events, including all six on the track, and smashing two meets records on the way to a 76-32 win over runner-up Scotch Plains-Fanwood. The remarkable total of 76 points by the girls is just four points shy of a perfect score of 80, and two points off the meet record of 78 that UC scored in 2016.

The Union Catholic boys were clinging to a two-point lead on Elizabeth heading into the meet-concluding 4×400-meter relay. But Connor Cooper (54.4), Myles Plummer (52.9), Tyhir Jones (51.4) and Elijah Brown (50.8) came through in the clutch by winning the race in 3:29.76. The victory gave the UC boys 64 points, six more than runner-up Elizabeth, the 2018 champion. Summit and Union tied for third with 26.

The UC boys have now won two straight titles and eight of the last 10!

Another strong performance for the UC boys came in the distance medley relay, when Matt Granizo (3:23.1 1,200), Jonathan Carrion (56.3 400),, Brown (1:59.7 800)  and Plummer (4:32.7 1,600) won the boys in NJ#3 10:51.96.

The UC boys also won the SMR, 4×800, and 4×200.

In the SMR, Conor Reilly (23.90 200), Cooper (23.80 200), Jones (51.97 400) and Plummer (1:58.5) combined on the victory in 3:38.44.

Zach Turner (2:10.2), Granizo (2:08.5), Sam Hernandez (2:09.4) and Brown (2:01.5) won the 4×800 in a NJ#9 8:30.21.

Jones (23.1), Cooper (24.2), Reilly (24.2), and Oluwafemi Asenuga (23.7) combined to win the 4×200 in 1:35.00.

Jones, a junior who is running indoors for the first time this winter, also ran 8.6 on the fourth-place shuttle hurdle team. Asenuga, in addition to his anchor leg in the 4×200, cleared 6-0 for the runner-up high jump team, and split 7.7 leading off the shuttle hurdles.

In the girls competition, UC senior Alexandra Kwasnik, in the first indoor meet of her career, cleared a school indoor record tying 5-6, tied for the best mark in the state this season, and teamed with A’Liyah Thomas (5-2) for a meet record 10-8 in the high jump. Kwasnik, an All-State volleyball player, has a PR of 5-7 that she jumped to place fourth at the New Balance Nationals last spring.

UC’s other meet record came when Morgan Jackson (2:24.5), Maameyaa Nyinah (2:26.3), Asydiah Pray-Brown (2:26.8) and Abby Granrath (2:32.5) won the 4×800 in a meet-record and NJ#3 9:50.70.

The UC girls nearly broke two more meet records.

Union Catholic missed the meet record by .06 seconds in the 4×400 when Aniyah Charles (1:01.2), Pray-Brown (1:02.8), Nyinah (1:00.5) and Zamira Ysaac (1:00.6) won in NJ#2 4:05.73. And the shuttle hurdles team of Ajanae Thompson (7.8),  , Felicia Quainoo (7.6),  Alexandra Bonn (8.0), and Avery Jordan (7.8) and won in 31.50, just .22 seconds off the meet record.

Sydney McDonald (27.0 200), Quianoo (27.5 200), Chi Chi Nkulume (1:00.5 400) and Morgan Williams (2:20.7 800) won the sprint medley for UC in 4:16.08 NJ#1 and US#2.

In the DMR, UC’s Ashleigh Patterson (3:58.6), Aniyah Charles (1:01.6), Zamira Ysaac (2:22.7), and Granrath (5:28.7) teamed up to win in 12:51.96.

The Vikngs also won the 4×200 in 1:46.52 as Nkulume (26.4), Jordan (26.7), Thomas (26.4), and Thompson (26.9) shared the baton.