GALLOWAY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's and women's track & field programs competed on Saturday, May 4, on the campus of Stockton University on Day One of the 2024 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Outdoor Championships.
 
The Gothic Knight women highlighted the day for NJCU as senior captain Ayriana Young (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic) qualified for the finals in both the 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles with personal records – she is the #1 qualifier in the 100m hurdles. She posted a time of 12.74 in the 100m to place eighth out of 30 sprinters and had the top 100m hurdle time of 14.72 to secure the #1 spot out of 11 runners in the finals.
 
Junior Reyanna Henderson (Pemberton, N.J./Pemberton Two) also qualified for a pair of finals tomorrow, Sunday, May 5, as she PRed in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.97 to place fourth out of 30 competitors. Additionally, she posted a time of 1:00.99 to place fourth out of 23 competitors in the 400-meter dash, also securing her spot in tomorrow's finals.
 
Another junior, Ashley Adames (Jersey City, N.J./County Prep), continued her season as the first heptathlon athlete in program history. She currently sits in second place overall out of four competitors after competing in four events today. Adames placed third in the high jump (1.32 meters), fourth in the shot put (6.00 meters), second in the 200m (28.75) and secured a personal-best time of 17.25 in the 100m hurdles to place third.
 
On the men's side of things, senior Jason Garcia (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson) just missed out on a spot in tomorrow's 100m finals with a ninth-place finish out of 28 runners, notching a time of 11.17. He also ran a season-best time of 22.94 in the 200m to place 13 out of 31 sprinters.
 
Sophomore Sirell Clark (Jersey City, N.J./University Academy Charter) continued to load up the NJCU hammer throw record book list with his name, notching the second-furthest toss in program history – 41.37 meters – to place 12th out of 21 throwers. He unfortunately missed out on a podium finish by 2.4 meters.
 
Another sophomore, Pratt Charles (Jersey City, N.J./University Charter), competed in the long jump for the Gothic Knights and notched a personal-record leap of 6.32 meters. However, he was just one spot off from a podium finish – and 0.11 meters – as he placed ninth out of 19 jumpers.
 
Up Next:
The second and final day of the NJAC Outdoor Championships — as well as NJCU's Senior Day — gets underway tomorrow morning at 10:15 a.m. with the final two events of the women's heptathlon – the long jump and javelin throw. Then, the first traditional running action is set to kick off at 1:30 p.m. with the women's 4x100 meter relay and finish with the final event beginning at roughly 6:05 p.m. – the men's 4x400 meter relay.