By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Princeton High boys track and field team went to the Mercer County Championship meet with every intention of winning., Unfortunately for the Little Tigers, they caught Trenton on the Tornados best day and fell just short of an indoor title., “It is a little heartbreaking,” Princeton coach Ben Samara said. “The kids fought hard. We had a couple things not go our way. Trenton had a phenomenal meet. They had two guys, their sprinter and distance runner, that just blew the doors off the meet., Princeton finished second, West Windsor-Plainsboro South was third and WW-P North finished fourth in the boys meet. Trenton won with 64 points, 10 ahead of Princeton. In the girls meet, WW-P South finished second, Princeton was sixth and WW-P North finished 11th. Allentown finished first with 60 points, nine ahead of South., The Princeton boys had a strong meet, just not quite good enough to catch Trenton in the team standings. Alex Roth, who was first in the 3,200 meters and third in the 1,600 meters, was one of three Little Tigers to win events. Freshman Simon Schenk won the pole vault at 12-feet, 6-inches, while sophomore Paul Brennan won the shot put at 51-2., “We had some great performances,” Samara said. “Alex Roth fought so hard in the mile and then to come back to win two mile as easily as he did shows how much heart he has. The other distance guys fought so hard the whole met. Will Hare had a great meet. Nick Delaney and Acascio (Pinheiro) each scored points., “We had two county champs in the field events with Paul, who had a new personal best, and Simon, who is a freshman winning the pole vault. That was a highlight. He is an incredible talent. He is very consistent and keeps going up, up, up. I think he has a chance to place in the top two or three at sectionals on Sunday.”, Other Little Tigers to score points were Hare, who was third in the 3,200 meters and fourth in the 1,600, Delaney (fifth in 800), Pinheiro (sixth in 1,600), Alex Ackerman (sixth in 3,200 meters) and Varun Narayan (fourth in long jump). Next up, Princeton will prepare for the sectional meet on Sunday in Toms River., “Central Jersey Group 4 is the toughest section in the state,” Samara said. “It is definitely a murders row for sure. We have a shot. I told the guys I was not going to mince words. The county meet was the easier one to get. But the guys are motivated and want to do well in all the events. Its about redemption for us. We thought we had a good chance at counties but we’re not going to hang our heads. We’ll come back Sunday and go after it and try to take that title.”, For WW-P South, A’Nan Bridgett won the long jump at 21-11.5. He was also fourth in 55 dash, third in 200, and tied for third in high jump. Xavier Smith was second in the 55 hurdles, Kevin Hudson was second in the 800, and Joshua Forrest fifth in 3200 meters., “‘A’Nan won the long jump and we had some seconds,” WW-P South coach Todd Smith said. “It is a really competitive county on the boys side. We’e not as strong as we traditionally have been in some areas. We have kids working really hard.”, For WW-P North, Miles Fye-Moore was third in the 55 dash, second in the 200 meters, and third in the 55 hurdles. Atharv Kulkarni finished fourth in the 800 meters, Matthew Santamaria was fourth in the 3,200 meters and fifth in the 1,600 meters, and Theodore Yasson was sixth in the shot put. The Knights were also fourth in the 4×400 relay., On the girls side, WW-P South used its depth to finish second. Jamie Kobus finished second in the 55 hurdles, Haley Rich was second in the 800 and sixth in the 1,600, Kavya Tummalapalli was third in the 800, Kelsey Kobus was third in the 1,600, Julia Mao was second in the 3,200, Edwina Gulama was third in the long jump, Serena Chang finished fifth in the 3,200, and the Pirates were third in the 4×400 relay., “Jamie getting second in the hurdles was nice,” Smith said. “We got second overall. I thought we could have done a little better job. We sat some kids with injuries. I am excited about some of the things the kids did. We covered the events well and did particularly well in the 800 and 3,200., For Princeton, Jackie Patterson was second in the 400 meters, Anne Walker was fourth in the 800, Chloe Taylor was sixth in 3,200, Noa Levy finished sixth in the 55 hurdles and tied for third in high jump, Alex Bell was fifth in the long jump, and the Little Tigers were second in the 4×400 relay., For WW-P North, Emma Faivre was third in the 400 meters and Aditi Parekh was fifth in the 55 hurdles.
