Meet All The Olympians From Middlesex County

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — The 2020 summer Olympic Games are here! And now you can cheer for these athletes who will be competing, several of whom grew up, live or train right around the corner from you in Middlesex County.

Opening Ceremony is this Friday, July 23 and the games will end Sunday, Aug. 8. These are technically the 2020 Olympics as they were supposed to be held last summer, but were postponed due to the pandemic.

There are nine athletes with strong Middlesex County ties who will represent the United States in Tokyo — seven as competitors and one coach. Their backgrounds, ethnicities and stories are as diverse as the country they represent.

They are:

1. Sydney McLaughlin, from Dunellen: Track + field; 400-meter hurdles

World-famous McLaughlin comes from a family of runners: Her mother ran track in high school and her father was a track semi-finalist in the 1984 Olympic trials.

She was raised in Dunellen, and ran for Union Catholic Regional High School, from which she graduated in 2017.

Syndney, now 21, crushed a world record earlier this year when she became the first woman to run the 400-meter hurdle in under 52 seconds. McLaughlin ran that at 51.90 seconds, beating the previous record of 52.16.

This will be her second Olympics: At just 17, she was the youngest athlete to qualify for the U.S. track + field team in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Read her Team USA bio.

Look for her running the 400-meter hurdles this Olympics. She has her own YouTube channel where she talks about everything from her amazing running skills to make-up, quarantining, modeling and her strong Christian faith: https://www.youtube.com/c/Sydn...

2. Sam Mattis, from East Brunswick: Track + field, discus throw

Mattis, 27, is a graduate of East Brunswick High School and went on to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, where he was the 2015 NCAA national champion in discus throw.

Mattis turned down a lucrative job offer from Wall Street powerhouse JPMorgan Chase to pursue his Olympic dream, according to Team USA. This is is his first Olympics.

In fact, he spent the winter of 2020/21 training with the Rutgers track & field team. Read his Patch story: East Brunswick's Sam Mattis Makes U.S. Olympic Team In Discus

3. Dagmara Wozniak, from Avenel: Fencing

Wozniak, 33, moved to the U.S. from Poland at age 1, and her family settled in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, home to many Polish immigrants. She began saber training at a young age and graduated from Colonia High School.

Dagmara was part of the Team USA women's fencing team that won bronze in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. She famously cried tears of joy after that win, but is now obviously hoping to beat that this summer by coming home with gold.

Wozniak has left her hometown and has since lived in Hoboken and Jersey City. She died her hair bright purple for the 2016 Olympics because she said she wanted to encourage people to be confident and not be afraid to stand out. Read her 2016 Patch profile: Avenel's Dagmara Wozniak Comes Home With Bronze

4. Colton Brown, from Piscataway: Judo

Born in New Brunswick, Brown graduated from Piscataway High School in 2009, where he competed in wrestling and judo. He will compete in judo in the Olympics.

He told News 12 he always had dreams of playing professional football, and only turned to judo lessons to stay in shape after he broke his leg at age 10 playing football.

He first went to his first Olympics in 2016 and is coached by his father.

“To do it once was incredible. And to do it twice is a great feeling. I’ve been so blessed to do what I love at the highest level for such a long period of time,” Brown told News 12.

Here's his Team USA bio.

5. Rudy Winkler, attended Rutgers: Track + field, hammer throw

Winkler, who was raised in New York state but got his MBA from Rutgers, will make his second Olympics this summer.

He went to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, where he placed 18th in hammer throw. Here's his Team USA bio.

6. Patrick Kivlehan, attended Rutgers: Men's baseball

Outfielder Kivlehan played two sports in his time at Rutgers, football and baseball. He is originally from Nyack, New York.

Kivlehan was a safety for the Scarlet Knights football team for four years and then joined the baseball program as a walk-on for the 2012 season. He took RU to its first triple crown in Big East history that year, with a .402 average, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. The Mariners drafted him in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB draft. This most recent season, he played for the San Diego Padres.

Here's his Team USA profile.

7. Darren Fenster, attended Rutgers: Men's baseball coach

Fenster attended Rutgers from 1997-2000, where he was a two-time All-American shortstop and four-year starter. He went on to play five years for the Kansas City Royals. Fenster has been a coach with the Boston Red Sox since 2012.

In this summer's Olympics, he will be the third-base coach.

8. Todd Frazier, from Toms River, attended Rutgers: Baseball

As a kid, Frazier was on the Toms River East American Team that won the 1998 Little League World Series. He went on to Rutgers, where he is considered one of the best baseball players to ever attend RU. He played for Rutgers for three seasons, leaving at the end of the 2007 season. He was a first-round pick in the MLB draft and has played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. He won the Home Run Derby in 2015.

When he's not competing in the Olympics, you can watch Frazier as the third baseman for the Sussex County Miners.

9. Carli Lloyd, from Delran, attended Rutgers: We saved the best for last! Women's soccer.

Originally from Delran, New Jersey, Lloyd attended Rutgers from 2001-2004 where, as a mere freshman, she took the RU women's soccer team to their second-ever NCAA tournament. In fact, ever since Lloyd came on the team, the Rutgers women's soccer program has become a perennial contender, competing in 11 of the last 13 NCAA tournaments. Lloyd was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Fame in 2018.

Tokyo will be Lloyd's fourth Olympic games. Lloyd has already won gold twice, in the 2008 Olympics against Brazil and at the 2012 London Olympics against Japan.

She still stands as the all-time leading scorer midfielder for the U.S. women's soccer team. Lloyd currently plays professionally for NJ/NY Gotham Football Club. Here's her Team USA bio.

Related: All The New Jersey Athletes Competing In The Tokyo Olympics

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