Girls Varsity Indoor Track and Field | 3/18/2025 12:13:00 PM
The Union Catholic girls smashed the state record when they scored an electrifying victory in the distance medley relay and Taylor Cox continued her dominance in the hurdles by repeating as champion at the New Balance National Indoor Championships this past weekend at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston.
On Friday night, the all underclassmen foursome of sophomore Sophia Thompson, freshman Maya Wyche, junior Jimmiea King and sophomore Paige Sheppard combined to throw down a winning time of 11:38.03 to smash the NJ record of 11:41.12 that Southern Regional ran to win the Nike Indoor National title in 2009. UC's 11:38.03 is also No. 13 in U.S. high school indoor history.
The splits for the Vikings were 3:31.74 by Thompson on the 1,200 leg, 56.55 for Wyche for the 400 carry, 2:16.10 for King on the 800 leg, and Sheppard, who took the baton in third place,, finished off the historic victory with a 4:53.62 anchor carry.
Union Catholic was nearly five seconds behind the leader Penn Charter (6:39.64-6:44.39) when Sheppard started cooking. IMG Academy was almost two seconds ahead of UC (6:42.61) at the final exchange. When Sheppard crossed the line, she finished 2.68 seconds ahead of IMG, who placed second in 11:40.71.
Cox, a senior at Union Catholic, added to her legendary resume by winning the girls 60-meter hurdles for the second straight year in 8.19 to giver her three national titles in her amazing career! The University of Georgia-bound Cox, who set the meet record last year with an 8.11 and is the NJ state record holder with an 8.10, also won the 100 hurdles at the New Balance National Outdoor Championships last June.
The UC girls finished the meet with 10 All-Americans!
In addition to the DMR and Cox, senior Taylor Aska earned All-American honors by placing sixth in the 200 in 24.03, and the 4x400 squad of Aska, Sydney Chadwick, Sheppard and Wyche finished third in 3:43.38. The UC 4x400 ran 3:41.19 at the Millrose Games, which is No. 2 in NJ history. Sheppard also finished a very strong 8th in the 800 in Boston in 2:07.93.
