The NJ Varsity Classic took place at the Armory Track and Field Complex Monday night, as the top performances certainly didn't disappoint. Athletes from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York put on a show, with a few new U.S. #1 marks earned.
NJ Varsity Classic Highlights- Nick Vena (NJ): Throws U.S.#1 in shot put with 63-02.75 mark- Elizabeth Mott (NY): Sprints U.S.#1 at 400m with 55.1h - Suffern (NY): Run U.S. #4 in girls DMR with 12:00h win- Franklin (NJ): Run 10:28h in DMR which is a U.S. #3 mark- Ariann Neutts (NJ): Wins girls 800m in 2:14.3h, top five in the U.S.
NJ Varsity Classic (NY)
While numerous U.S. #1 marks were put up over the weekend, a few more were posted Monday night in New York, as sprinter Elizabeth Mott (NY) (pictured left, photo from ArmoryTrack.com) and thrower Nick Vena (NJ) put on a show for the fans in attendance.
Vena, who set and since furthered the freshman national record in the shot put, threw a U.S. #1 mark in his event with a throw of 63-02.75. Vena improved his record by over a foot, while besting Dan Kwiatkowski's (PA) top U.S. mark by over two inches.
Meanwhile in the girls 400m dash, Mott ran a U.S. #1 time with her winning mark of 55.1h. While the race was hand timed, the conversion puts her with the fastest time in the nation by just over a tenth of a second. The prior U.S. #1 had been Alishea Usery (MO), who ran 55.46 in late January.
Meanwhile in the girls 800m, Ariann Neutts (NJ) ran 2:14.3h, which ranks her in the U.S. top five currently according to the MileSplit National Rankings.
In the boys and girls Distance Medlay Relays, a few U.S. top five performances occured. In the boys DMR, Franklin (NJ) ran 10:28h, which ranks them at the U.S. #3 postition. In the girls DMR Suffern (NY) won in a U.S. #4 time of 12:00h, besting Voorhees (NJ) who finished second in a U.S. #5 time of 12:03h. Distance stars Shelby Greany (Suffern, NY) and Melanie Thompson (Voorhees, NJ) anchored their respective squads relays...these are two of the top distance runnres in the country. Greany ran 4:58.6 in her closing 1600m leg, holding off Thompson who ran 4:54.6 on her 1600m anchor leg.
In the 3200m races, Carly Hamond (PA) ran a great time of 10:55h to win the girls race, while Chris Bodar (PA) ran 9:25h to win the boys race.