Sea Vikings NY Boys, Bucks County PA Girls Win Close Races; Jayden Horton-Mims, Brooke Lloyd Win 400 Meters Titles

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

NEW YORK — Day 3 at Nike Indoor Nationals ended with a bang, as Sea Vikings TC NY and Bucks County RC PA won the boys and girls 4x800 meter relay championships, respectively, by less than a second each.

The Sea Vikings set a new US#9 time of 7:45.52 in the boys race, beating New York rival Manhasset TC by just four tenths of a second. Anchor Matthew Brodsky took the baton two seconds back and split a 1:51.46 on the anchor leg, passing Manhasset’s anchor, Ryan Boldi in the home stretch. Watch the Race (RS+)

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The Vikings’ squad was all seniors, and Jonathan Walz, who ran the second leg, said experience helped them pull out the win.

“It really allowed us to rely on each other and know we could get the job done when we had to,” Brodsky said.

Bucks County ran a US#14 9:13.53 in the girls race. Anchor Ava Mignon made up a three-second deficit in the first lap and kept her foot on the gas, splitting a 2:14.40 to stay ahead of Northstars TC NY and Bluehawks TC NH. Like the Sea Vikings, they cited their cohesion as one of the main factors in their win.

“This squad has been together for over two years now,” third leg Madison Epstein said. “We’ve been through it all, and this moment literally doesn’t feel real, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”

Second leg Paige Dougherty said the squad had a lot of positive momentum after winning the 4x800 meter relay at the Pennsylvania indoor state championships two weeks ago.

Another athlete with positive momentum was Jayden-Horton Mims (Imhotep Institute Charter PA), who kept the ball rolling on his spectacular indoor season with a win in the boys 400 meters championship. After getting slightly boxed in on the back stretch of the second lap, he charged to the lead in the home stretch and broke the tape in 46.65 seconds, a new US#5.

“I didn’t get out as hard as I wanted to,” Horton-Mims said, “but I finished with heart. I finished strong.”

Kendrick Jones Jr. earned a silver medal out of the slow heat, running a new US#7 time of 46.77.

Brooke Lloyd (Humble Summer Creek TX) won the girls 400 meters and set a new indoor PB by half a second, running a new US#2 time of 52.96. Lloyd said she was proud to represent Texas, a state that has a long history with the sprints.

“We’re the fastest state,” Lloyd said. “I don’t care what nobody says.”

Four more runners set US top 10 marks in the race. Olivia Harris ran 53.29 for second, a new US#4, followed by Kaddel Howard in 53.57 (US#6), Lailah Green in 53.72 (US#8) and Ashtyn Lewis in 53.96 (US#9). 

Donini avenges loss at NBNI, Olesen wins pole vault in bittersweet fashion

Peter Donini (Delbarton NJ) traveled a lot this weekend. On Thursday, he went to Boston for New Balance Indoor Nationals, and the next day, he took second in the shot put championship to in-state rival Anthony Liakhnovich. 

After that, he came to The Armory for Saturday’s shot put championship, and this time, he took the win on his last attempt, throwing 65-10.25 for the win and a US#5. He had already beaten his PB by over a foot with his performance in Boston, but he increased it even further in New York.

Donini said he changed the way he approached his practices this year; while he used to try to throw as far as he could all the time, he now focuses more on technical aspects.

Ashton Hearn took second with a throw of 64-10.50, setting an indoor PB by over four feet. Paul Hoekman (Sioux Falls Christian SD) took third and also set a PB with his throw of 64-6.75.

Jessica Oji (Livingston NJ) won the girls shot despite fouling on five of her six throws. She threw 49-8.50 on her first attempt, which she said was a “safety throw” to make sure she got a result on the board.

“I’m very happy I made that decision,” Oji said. “Every single throw after that, I ran right out of the circle, I was rolling on the floor, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s happening.’”

Oji said the circle was a bit slippery, which hindered the rest of her throws.

Lauren Kirby (Somerset Academy FL) took second with a more consistent series. She put four of her throws over 46 feet and earned her silver medal with a throw of 48-10.25 on her third attempt.

In the boys pole vault, Victor Olesen was painstakingly close to clearing 18 feet for the first time. He cleared the bar and kept it from falling to the ground, but he knocked it off the peg and onto the standards, meaning the jump was disqualified.

After his jump, he ran over to his coach and parents and started celebrating, but his mood quickly turned after learning his third attempt was unsuccessful. Still, his clearance of 17-7.75 earned him the win and US#2 status.

Jordan Randall (Warsaw IN) cleared seven feet in the boys high jump, earning him a close win over Gionni Wiltz of Slidell LA. Randall said he had a chip on his shoulder coming into the competition, as he is shorter than most of his competitors at 5’7.”

“You look at all these guys over here,” Randall said, referring to his competitors, “no disrespect to them, they’re all a lot taller than me, but I came out here to beat them.”

Wiltz cleared 6-10.75, a US#7 height, for second place. He was simultaneously competing in the triple jump and nearly earned himself a spot on that podium as well; he took seventh with a jump of 47-0.25.

Jayden Thrower (Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill TX) won the triple jump and was the only competitor to jump over 50 feet, hitting a US#3 mark of 50-2.50. 

Owen Proskin (Plum PA) won the boys pentathlon with 3,724 points. Proskin is a Pittsburgh native, and he said he was excited to see himself and several other Pittsburgh-area athletes competing at the meet.

“Pittsburgh has been growing as a track community,” Proskin said. “I’m thrilled to come out here and represent.”

Cate Bryant won the girls pentathlon with 3,766 points. She won both the high jump and the long jump in the five-event series, and she took second in the 60 meter hurdles.

Marcelo Mantecon wraps up busy weekend in 4x1 mile championship

After winning the 5,000 meters on Thursday and taking sixth in the 2 mile on Friday, Marcelo Mantecon (Belen Jesuit FL) helped his Miami Havana TC team take the win in the 4x1 mile championship. He split a 4:11.24 on the third leg, the fastest of anyone in the race, and his team’s overall time was 17:06.50. North Idaho Distance Project ran 17:10.46 for second place.

Derby City AC KY won the girls 4x1 mile in 21:21.57 thanks to a 5:05.86 anchor leg split by Brooke Greenwell. This was the team’s first ever 4x1 mile relay, as the event doesn’t appear in a lot of meets. Senior Morgan White, who ran the second leg, said she wants to see it more often.

“I loved it,” White said. “I thought it was so much fun. We all race the mile individually quite a bit, so to go into it as a team was really awesome.” 

Meanwhile, Incredibles TC FL lived up to its name in the girls shuttle hurdle relay, winning with a time of 33.57, over half a second faster than any other team. Anchor Chelsi Williams said this race had been a long time coming for her team.

“We’ve been talking about doing the shuttle hurdle relay for years now,” Williams said who was injured last injured last indoor season. “I’m glad that our plan came to fruition and I’m so proud of my teammates.”

The boys shuttle hurdles relay took a while to officially decide, as six teams got disqualified. After the dust settled, Athletic Express Wolverines TC VA came out on top with a time of 30.58. Remarkably, none of the top three teams came from the last heat; Athletic Express won from the third of five heats, while runner-up Norwin TC PA and third place Upper Darby Royals TC PA ran from the fourth heat.