Franklin's Mario Heslop raced to another NJ#1 time this year, winning the 100m dash at the Somerset County Championships (Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
While the weather cut the Somerset County Championships short, there were still plenty of top times, throws and jumps before the rain settled in.
Mario Heslop, the Franklin junior who almost snapped the 200m dash state record at last week's Skyland Conference Championships, added another NJ#1 mark to his time as he ran a 10.51 in the 100m dash, over half a second faster than the next finisher. Heslop also won the 200m dash in 21.22.
Pingry's Zach Aanstoots and Franklin's Chibundu Nwanonyiri went after it in the high jump and now both are among the top three jumpers in the state this season. Aanstoots set another huge PR, clearing NJ#1 6-10 while Nwanonyiri followed by clearing 6-8 to tie the NJ#3 height.
Gill St. Bernard's C.J. Licata had little trouble doubling down with golds in the shot put and discus. Licata threw almost 10 feet farther than the next finisher in the shot put, hitting a 63-5 throw, and cleared the competition by over 14 feet as he launched a 168-3 discus throw.
On the girls side, there were multiple athletes that won two events in a short matter of time. Portia Jones did so in the 100m and 200m dashes as the Watchung Hills sophomore ran respective times of 12.38 and 25.27.
Jones' teammate, Laura Baeyens, did the same in the distance event as she won both the 1600m and 3200m races. Baeyens, a sophomore, clocked in at 5:08.21 in the mile run and ran an 11:23.13 in the two-mile event, almost 23 seconds faster than the next finisher.
Abrianna Barrett, one of the top high jumpers in the state, showcased why she's part of that elite group as she easily won the event. Barrett, a Montgomery sophomore, cleared 5-6 to tie the NJ#4 mark and it's her best outdoor performance since clearing 5-10 to win at last year's Meet of Champions.
Franklin currently leads the boys standings through 14 events with 80 points, followed closely by Ridge in 77.5. Watchung Hills sits in third at 67 while Hillsborough is fourth with 51 points.
Hillsborough and Franklin are butting heads atop the girls team standings through 13 events. Hillsborough has the slight edge with 62 points with Franklin right on its heels at 60. North Plainfield is currently third with 49 while Montgomery has collected 42 points for fourth place.
The action will pick back up at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Ridge barring any more weather issues.
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