Wilson smashes national high school record in the SP: 57-5.50

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

NEW YORK -- Alyssa Wilson knew she was capable of delivering a put to top Raven Saunders' national high school record and she did on her third attempt Tuesday at the 83rd Eastern States Championships at The Armory.

The senior from Monsignor Donovan NJ unleashed 57-5.50 to surpass Saunders' record by 10 inches. On her fifth of six throws, she matched Saunders' 2014 mark on the nose with 56-7.50.

Wilson also threw 56-2.50 to get things started on her first attempt. It was the kind of an opener that told her Tuesday night could be special.

"I was a little shaky in the beginning," Wilson said. "I wanted to end my season before New Balance Nationals and get another good throw. I'm extremely excited I was able to come in and break that national record."

RESULTS

Wilson had put considerable effort into breaking the record. She had thrown at least 54 feet in 13 of 14 indoor meets prior to Eastern States. She was laying up just short of the mark over and over. She had seven meets over 55 feet. 

At the New Jersey Meet of Champions over the weekend, Wilson had a throw in the 57-foot range nullified by a foul.  

"I was going for that record my whole season, so it's a weight off my shoulders," she said. "Today everything came into place and it just went."

Olympian Sydney McLaughlin competed later in the meet in the long jump and won the event with 20 feet, 7.75 inches -- a half inch personal best and US#4. She missed Keturah Orji's meet record by a quarter inch. She also took a leg in the Union Catholic NJ girls 4x200 relay, which ran the fastest time in the prelims (1:40.95), but the team did not return to the finals.

Florida recruit Cory Poole of East Orange NJ ran 47.82 to win the 400. It was a lifetime best and it came in his last 400-meter attempt of the indoor season. Poole said he was turning his focus to relays and the 60-meter hurdles at New Balance Nationals Indoor.

Rey Rivera ran an anchor split of 1:50.3 to drive Old Bridge NJ down to 7:49.96 in the 4x800 relay.

The Princeton NJ boys ran US#2 10:19.73 to win the distance medley relay.

The North Hunterdon NJ girls ran US#3 12:00.45 to win the distance medley relay.

Halle Hazzard of St. Anthony's NY, who said she used Eastern States as a workout to get ready for Saturday's New York state championships, won the 55 meters in US#4 6.91, a season's best.

Oluwatomide Alao of Molloy NY won the boys 55 hurdles in US#3 7.33 seconds.

Dodley Thermitus of Elizabeth NJ won the boys triple jump with US#6 49-5.25.

Leah Saifi from Governor Livingston NJ broke the meet record with her clearance of 13-0.50 in the pole vault, good for US#6.

The meet also paused to honor longtime Bergen County Record (N.J.) track and field writer Paul Schwartz, who was presented with the Saplin Award.

Schwartz has has been a passionate supporter of New Jersey high school track and field for 45 years with the paper.

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New Jersey fixture Paul Schwartz Presented With Stan Saplin Award

Paul Schwartz, who had dedicated much of his free time to the high school track and field athletes of New Jersey for more than four decades, was presented with the Stan Saplin Award at The Armory on Tuesday.

Schwartz, who is a lawyer, has been a part-time staff reporter at the Bergen Record for 45 years. 

"It's an immense honor for me to be associated with anything involving Stan Saplin, who I didn't know well, but I did know him," Schwartz said. "I used to go and cover the Millrose Games back in the day at Madison Square Garden and met him there. But even more, to be honored with the people up on the wall (at The Armory), really, me? How'd that happen? I never expected it."

Schwartz, of Wyckoff, N.J., attended public schools in New York and his family moved to New Jersey when he was 16. He is a 1969 graduate of Teaneck High School. He earned a degree in political science from American University in Washington, D.C. and a law degree from NYU.

But his love of track and field, and newspapers, compelled him to make room in his life for the sport. He covered more than 70 high school track teams from Bergen and Passaic counties.

Schwartz began covering meet as the Armory in the late 1970s. 

He has been a fixture, bringing an encyclopedic knowledge of track statistics and an unfailing enthusiasm for high school athletes, ever since.

"Working with young kids all the time, you don't realize how much time passes," Schwartz said.