Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.
Today: Jordan Hadfield, Schalick
Jordan Hadfield showed great range from 800 meters to 3,200 and capped her season by sweeping the 1,600 and 3,200 at the state Group 1 meet in Somerset.
Hadfield became Schalick’s first individual state champion since Zyra Thomas won the shot put in 2018 and first double winner at states in 28 years – since Candyce DeLoatch swept the 100, 200 and 400 in 12.40, 24.98 and 55.84 at the 1996 state meet at South Plainfield (and also placed 2nd in the long jump).
She was also the first South Jersey girl to double the 1,600 and 3,200 at states in any group since Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland Regional in Group 4 in 2017. The last to do it in Group 1 was Haddonfield’s Erin Donohue back in 1999.
The top two Group 1 distance runners in New Jersey this year were Audubon sophomore Riley Fayer and Hadfield, a junior. They took turns pushing each other just about every weekend and both wound up with some fantastic times.
Fayer was a bit faster [2:17.40 to 2:18.61], 1,600 meters [5:04.02 to 5:07.66] and 3,200 meters [11:02.04 to 11:03.29] but at states Hadfield edged Fayer in both races. They are actually the two-fastest South Jersey Group 1 runners at 3,200 since Donohue in 1999. They’re No. 1 and No. 3 since Donohue at 1,600 meters, separated by Haddon Township’s Annika Merkh, who ran 5:07.19 in 2015.
Thanks in part to Hadfield’s two wins at states, Schalick placed 6th in the state Group 1 meet. Senior Grace O’Neill [3rd in the discus at 132-2, 3rd in the 400 hurdles in 1:07.30], senior Brooke West [5th in 100 hurdles at 15.87], plus points in the 4-by-1 [senior Zoe Jenkins, junior Gia Martellacci, junior Caileigh Schalick, senior Brooke Watt] and 4-by-4 [senior Alivia Klancic, O’Neill, Hadfield, Martellacci] also scored for the Cougars.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 