It was definitely a day to remember for West Orange senior Sydney Grimes.
Grimes was a double winner at Saturday's Essex County Championships, winning the shot put and discus events. But that’s just part of the story.
Grimes, who will attend Rider University in the fall, won both events while facing a pretty severe time crunch. She had chores to do at home before attending the prom Saturday night.
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"It was a big day for me," said Grimes. "I think I was throwing a little angry because of the time situation."
The anger was of a positive force.
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Grimes won the shot put with a personal best throw of 38-5 and a season's best in the discus with a 103-2, leading West Orange 1-2 finishes in both events.
The girls, a runner-up to Columbia at last week's Super Essex Conference Large Schools Meet, finished third in the county with 58 points behind Newark Tech’s 75 and champion Columbia’s 108.
The West Orange boys were third with 50 points – 3 ½ behind Seton Hall Prep. St. Benedict's Prep won with 90 points.
"I thought I would get out of there by 12:30 or 1 (p.m.) but I got home at about 3," she said.
She left Montclair's Woodman Field before the discus was completed. One of the West Orange coaches called her later Saturday to inform her she had won the discus.
Senior Nia Barnes, who set a meet and county javelin record Friday with a 148-0, was second in the shot at 37-1. Sophmore Chinwe Igwe was second in the discus with a personal best of 102-7.
"We always try to go 1-2-3," said Grimes. "We went 1-2 in both so it was a really good day."
Grimes finished second to Barnes in the shot put at the Super Essex Conference American Division Meet a week ago Saturday. Grimes threw just over 34-9.5 feet. Barnes threw 36-08.25. Barnes also won the conference discus with a 100-2 toss.
"When it comes to competition, I compete; I always go for No. 1, always," Grimes said.
Grimes was the only girl to win an event Saturday. Freshman Aliya Barnes, Nia's sister, was second in the 100 meter hurdles in a school record time of 15.06. Junior Kayla Turner was sixth in 15.88.
The boys were led by junior Dexter Valley's personal best of 22.11 in the 200, which was second to Orange's D'Andre Long’s 21.92. Valley just missed the Mountaineer school record of 22.10 set in 2008 by Ellis Mensah.
Valley, third in the 400 Friday, also ran an impressive 48.3 anchor leg in the 4x400 relay. He rallied the Mountaineers from well back to second in 3:22.84. Montclair nipped the Mountaineers for first with a 3:22.43. Junior Anfernee Larue, sophomore Karl Cajuste and senior James Cham ran the first three legs for West Orange.
Junior Jared Mason was again faced with the task of having to beat St. Benedict's Prep sophomore Edward Cheserek in the 800 for a county title. Cheserek, a Kenyan native, won in a personal best time of 1:52.13. Mason ran a strong second in 1:53.91, beating Seton Hall Prep senior Justin Hill, third in 1:54.46. Mason's time was a West Orange school record.
Cheserek also won with personal bests and meet record of 8:53.65 in the 3,200 and won with a personal best of 4:10.92 Friday to take the 1,600.
Seton Hall Prep junior Joe Cuntrera followed up his Super Essex Conference Large School title with a 13-0 first-place clearance at the counties. Pirates' sophomore Phillip Udeogu was second in the javelin with a 172-9. Senior Austin Ruiz was runner-up in the discus at 139-2 and third in the shot put with a 49-2 ¾ throw.
