When Zamir Thomas of Snyder won the 200-meter dash and Najee Glass of St. Peter’s Prep captured gold in the 400-meter run last year at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, it was astounding news that two friends and competitors from Hudson County could win overall state championships at the same prestigious meet.
Well, guess what? They both did it again.
Last Thursday at the M of C in Old Bridge, Thomas won the 200-meter in 21.03 and Glass followed by winning the 400-meter in 46.43, setting a new meet record in the process.
Winning once was astounding. Winning again is downright remarkable and incredible.
Glass broke the old meet record set by Ray Williams of Scotch Plains-Fanwood in 2002. Williams ran 46.55 to win the gold medal nine years ago. Glass is only a junior and will have a chance to become a three-time state champion next year. Thomas leaves his mark as one of the best sprinters in Hudson County history. Thomas also finished third overall in the 100-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 10.57 seconds.
Thomas’ teammate, Rashawn Taylor was fifth in the 200-meter dash in 21.71 seconds.
Dickinson’s wunderkind Jose Veras recovered from a tough Group meet to finish fourth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.
With this week’s Athlete of the Week Kali Kendall’s performance, Hudson County certainly collected its fair share of hardware at the M of C…
St. Peter’s Prep announced that head basketball coach Mike Kelly was stepping down, after accepting a promotion to captain in the Jersey City Police Department. Kelly enjoyed a great run as the head coach of the Marauders, leading them to four straight Hudson County championships and an NJSIAA Non-Public A state sectional crown in 2010, the school’s first state sectional title since 1984.
While Kelly will be sorely missed at Grand and Warren, the program has been turned over to a pair of worthy hands in Kelly’s dutiful assistant Todd Decker. With a good basketball man in charge like Decker, the program won’t miss a beat…
Prayers go out to former five-time world boxing champion and former Jersey City and Weehawken resident Emile Griffith, who was hospitalized last week with an assortment of ailments. Griffith has always been a joy to be around over the years, especially when he was a regular at Jack Miller’s Pub in Jersey City, where his championship belts donned the walls…
We’ll have the Hudson Reporter All-Area Baseball and Softball teams next week. Also in coming weeks will be the presentations of the Hudson Reporter Male and Female Athletes of the Year…— Jim Hague