By Elliot Denman

Track and field has always been, foremost, a numbers game.

Of course, of course.

Like these Tuesday night at the 82nd Annual Eastern States Interscholastic Championships: 54-11, 51-8, 49-10, 51-6, 1:38.46.

Unencrypted, they all were record-smashing performances in the Armory Track and Field Center's final major warmup meet before the New Balance National Indoor Scholastic Championships here March 11-12-13.

First three of those numbers represented results of the greatest girls shot put competition ever held at the venerable Armory venue. And maybe anywhere.

After "warmup" tosses of 51-1 1/4 in round one and 50-6 in round two, Donovan Catholic High School (of Toms River, N.J.) junior Alyssa Wilson unleashed a bomb of 54-11 that crushed everything in sight but the National record of 56-7 1/2 set by Raven Saunders (Burke HS of South Carolina) in 2014.

Wilson continued with a missile of 52-11 1/2 in round four and a blast of 53-9 1/4 in round five before fouling in round six to call it a day.

"I wanted to put up a big number," said the soft-spoken Wilson and she did just that.

Actually, five of them, three topping the best effort (51-8) by the second-placer, Whippany Park's Nikolette Dunbar.  

Yes, it was Dunbar, who'd registered an upset win over Wilson, the Ocean County, N.J. athlete, at the NJ State Meet of Champions last Saturday on Wilson's "home turf" of the Toms River Bennett Center "bubble" facility.

These are the greatest days in New Jersey girls high school shot put history and further evidence came with the third-place performance of 49-10 by Westwood's Jessica Molina, which bettered her own meet record (48-10 in 2015) but left her over five feet back this time.

"That was a signature throw," said Joe Napoli,  who is Wilson's club coach. "And we know she can do a lot better."

Two more nuggets of information: Wilson ranks the shot put just third on her list of favorite events.  Her first choice is the hammer throw and second is the discus.

And, with her immense potential for greater things ahead, she gives New Jersey two athletes named A. Wilson who seem destined for major stardom on the sport's biggest stages.

First A. Wilson on the list, of course, is Ajee' Wilson of nearby Neptune, already a three-time National 800-meter champion.

Moving right along, 51-6 and 1:38.46 represented record-breaking numbers, too.

Ronel Forde of Shaker High became the first boy triple jumper ever to sail past the 50-foot mark in the Easterns and he did it in style with a rousing win at 51-6. Demolished in the process was the meet mark of 49-9 by West Schroeder's Gary Webb in 2006.

The girls 4x200 relay was a heralded duel between two of nation's quickest teams and Paul Robeson High of Brooklyn won it in 1:38.46 to erase the Easterns record of 1:39.27 by Medgar Evers in 2011.  Just off that Evers pace, but relegated to second place this time, was New Jersey's Union Catholic in 1:39.9.

Union Catholic's renowned Sydney McLaughlin, already considered an Olympic team candidate in the 400-meter hurdles, won her heat of the Easterns 200 in 24 seconds flat before skipping the final to focus on 4x200 duty.

Halle Hazard of St. Anthony's was another big star on the track, dashing to wins in the 55 (6.94) and 200 (24.60) girls sprints.

Other girls individual titlists: Paris Peoples of Cardozo in the 400 (55.27); Caroline O'Sullivan of Northern Valley in the 800 (2:13.84), Hannah Bonaguidi of Delaware Valley in the mile (4:55.98); Brigid Selford of Mercy in the two-mile (10:58.28), and Alyssa Sandy of Robeson in the 55 hurdles (7.88.)  But Sydney McLaughlin's 7.66 in 2015 continues as the Easterns hurdles record.

Boys track gold medals went to Brandon Thomas, St. Christopher (6.40 55 dash); Derald Coleman, Christ the King (49.09 400), Colin Daly, River Dell (1:55.27 800), Tim Bason, West Winsor-Plainsboro South (4:19.88 mile), Gabriel Altopp, Ridgefield (9:20.48 two-mile), and Benjamin Aidoo, Sayreville (7.37 55 hurdles.)

Back in the field, champions crowned were high jumpers Tyler Coyle of Windsor (6-8) and Jasmine Brown of Franklin Township (5-6); pole vaulters Nicholas Marino of Hatboro-Horsham (15-0) and Michelle Rubinetti of Northern Valley (12-6); long jumpers Justes Nance of Blair Academy (24-0 1/4) and Adja Sackor of Worcester Tech (19-7 3/4); triple jumper Kelsey Vieira of Hillsborough (38-10 /4), and shot putter Jordan West of Rahway, sending five of his six past 60 feet with the win at 63-2 3/4.

Boys relay titlists were Franklin Township's 4x200 team (1:28.86); Boys and Girls in the 4x400 (3:21.80), Christian Brothers Academy in the 4x800 (7:50.44) and Fordham Prep in the distance medley at 10:10.3,  on Conor Lundy's 4:09.5 anchor carry.

The three other girls relay finals went to Ramapo's 4x400 team (3:58.04), North Hunterdon's 4x800 unit (9:19.30) and the Shenendehowa distance medley team, edging Southern Regional by just 21/100ths after 20 laps in 1:08.62. Speaking of numbers, the meet was officially designated as the 82nd Eastern Championships, but Armory Collegiate events director Jack Pfeifer, an ardent researcher, found results of a 1904 meet, staged at a Brooklyn armory, that was apparently the Eastern Championships of its day. Then again, there are few available results of later Easterns meets - until they started counting them officially 82 years ago.