By Justin Feil
Ishaq Inayat took on a couple of challenges at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) Track & Field Championships last Saturday at Robbinsville High.
First there was the seen – a strong group of long and triple jumpers from CVC schools.
And there was the felt – a headwind coming directly up the runway.
“When we arrived there in the morning and kind of looked at the weather and saw it’s going to be windy all day, we kind of knew that maybe we weren’t going to jump our best marks today,” said Princeton High senior Inayat. “But it’s the county championships and we want to score as many points as possible so we kind of have to make do and just tough it out and get the furthest we can. And I’d say we’re pretty happy with the marks we performed and we scored some good points in the battle for the county championship.”
Inayat came through for the Tigers. He placed second in the boys’ long jump with a distance of 20’ 3.75 and third place in the boys triple jump with a mark of 39’5. Those marks helped score significant points for Princeton, which placed second in the boys team standings behind Notre Dame.
“The boys we really felt like we had a shot,” said PHS head coach Ben Samara. “The girls more so next year. We’re building for next year. I think the boys did well. I think for a lot of our kids, it might have been the first time that they’re experiencing a big meet with a chance to win. And I think we fought really hard, we competed really hard in a lot of different events. But we just kind of ran out of gas at the end and I feel like Notre Dame performed really, really well.”
The boys scored 77 points. Notre Dame had 104. On the girls’ side, PHS finished fifth with 45 points, five points behind fourth-place Allentown. Inayat was just one of the boys’ big scorers Saturday. Fellow senior Sean Wilton won both the shot put and the discus. He wasn’t up to his own lofty standards in shot put but had a 156’1 best in discus.
“What does happen is when he has not such a great shot put he always unleashes one in discus,” said Samara.
“He has been focusing a lot more on shot and not as much on discus, and rightfully so, and so there was a question coming in of how was he going to throw with some of these guys in the in the conference catching up. He made no mistake about it, that he was the top discus thrower too, and went out and got three separate PRs during his six throws. So I think that just shows the kind of gamer he is.”
PHS also was encouraged by Yi-Tian Xiong. The sophomore was second in the boys 110-meter hurdles and fourth in the 400 hurdles.
“He’s getting really, really close to breaking 14 seconds, which is unheard of,” said Samara.
“That record by the great Stephen Fletcher is one that we never thought would go down. He’s right there and he’s just been working a lot with Coach Tom Harrington on just very, very minor tweaks to his technique., and things that he’s doing, it’s really paying off for him at the right time.”
PHS was second in the boys 4×800 relay. The Tiger boys also excelled in the high jump as Sullivan Spagnoli took fourth, Ellington Hinds was fifth and Zachary Nelson claimed sixth. Spagnoli was also third in the long jump behind Inayat.
“I was very pleased with the team personally,” said Inayat. “Especially from some of the underclassmen. I think the team has a great future ahead of them, so I’m very pleased with the team.”
The girls’ team was highlighted by a second place finish in the 1,600 from Kajol Karra, third place in the 3,200 from Grace Hegedus and a third-place finish in the 800 from Lena Murray. Ngozi Okeke-Agulu was fourth in the long jump and Nishika Singh placed fifth in discus.
“Our incredible distance runners were great,” said Samara in assessing the performance of his girls’ squad. “We had Lena Murray breaking 2:20 in the 800 for the first time. We had a top three scorer in the 800, the mile and the two-mile – all different girls. So these girls have still a lot of room to grow, even though they’re already at the upper echelon of the county.”
The team competition for boys and girls will be even stiffer this weekend when PHS competes in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 sectional at Hillsborough from May 16-17. Inayat feels best about his chances in the long jump. He’s performed well in the event in big meets this year. He won the boys long jump title at the Indoor CVC Championships.
“I’m actually really happy with this senior season,” said Inayat.
“A lot of things have been coming together that I’ve been working on for the past couple of years and I got that county championship in the winter that I’ve been kind of aiming for. I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out.”
Inayat has experienced some ups and downs through his career. He did mostly sprints in middle school before finding his way to the jumps when he joined the high school team as a freshman.
“He’s one of those guys that you watch him develop over the four years and I’m just so proud of the competitor he’s become,” said Samara. “And the mindset that he brings now and to see where he’s come as a freshman and a sophomore who would come and do the work but to see him learn how to kind of evolve as an athlete, both physically and mentally, has been a lot of fun to watch. And I’m glad that he was able to get his county title indoors, and I’m glad that he’s been able to crack 21 feet in the long jump. I think he’s still got a ways to go if we can get some good weather.”
Inayat had continued to progress into a leader in the jump. Last year he placed sixth in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump at the county meet — the predecessor to the CVC Championship. This year, he needed his experience and smarts to manage the windy conditions.
“When the wind is blowing in your face, running down the runway it’s kind of pushing you back,” said Inayat. “And oftentimes it’ll mess up your mark a lot so it’s pretty difficult to hit the board without fouling. Personally, I had quite a few fouls at the meet and then just generally it’s just hard to run against the wind. But we kind of had a little system going at the meet where we tried to catch a little window where the wind wasn’t blowing as hard and we kind of waited our one minute we have on the runway till we have to jump and tried to time it perfectly to get the optimal wind.”
Samara stood nearby and tried to signal when he felt the wind would die down. The jumpers did their best to focus on then hitting the board and getting as much distance into the pit.
“Ishaq specifically really held down that jump crew,” said Samara. “They were very professional about the way they went about their work. The wind was really, really bad in the long jump and they were waiting for me to literally motion them to go when the wind stopped by me. And they just stayed calm. they kept their composure, they realized it wasn’t an ideal date to jump and that we just had to hit the board. And so their patience and their maturity was incredible.”
Inayat has tried to share everything that he has learned during his career at PHS with the less experienced jumpers. It’s a group that he enjoys working with every day in practice or when they’re competing together in meets.
“It feels like I’m a little more of kind of a leader and more of I guess somebody that the underclassmen could go to and stuff like that,” said Inayat. “But honestly, I’ve just been enjoying my last season of a track, trying to just enjoy it, especially with the underclassmen and the whole team and the coaches.”
Inayat has been open to suggestions and for advice. He shares his experience, but also listens to others, which has helped the entire group of jumpers develop.
“We try to help each other,” said Inayat. “I wouldn’t say it’s just me helping them. I think we kind of share our knowledge and our takeaways and stuff like that so we can all improve together.”
Inayat is looking forward to sectionals and the next chance to compete. The top six finishers advance to the Group 4 state meet, something that would be a first for Inayat. It would add to what’s been an important experience in his high school career.
“That feature has been a big part of my high school experience,” said Inayat. “If I hadn’t come out for the track team, I don’t really know what I would think of my high school experience because coming out and just running, having fun, just being with these people and competing, just the whole thing. It’s just been a great part of my high school experience and definitely something I’ll remember.”