June 4, 2010
Glass, Thomas make history at MofC
Zamir Thomas posted the fourth-fastest time in NJ history in the 200-Meter Dash.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
Before yesterday, no runner from Hudson County had taken home gold at the Meet of Champions for as long as anyone can remember. Najee Glass of St. Peter’s Prep and Zamir Thomas of Snyder put an end to the draught as they both won in yesterday’s historic performance at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield.
“It was a great day for Hudson County,” said St. Peter’s Prep coach Mike Burgess. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many individual medal winners.”
Glass was the first from Hudson to taste gold with his victory in the 400-Meter Dash. Running out of the third lane, the sophomore passed by rival Clayton Gravesande on the turn at the 200-Meter mark and never looked back.
“(Najee) ran up on him. At the 200 they were pretty even. He had the inside lane and he got a few steps on him and just pulled away.
Glass finished with a time of 47.65 seconds and extracted a small bit of revenge after finishing second to Gravesande in the 400 during February’s Indoor Meet of Champions.
“That bothered him because he was hurt (with a hip injury) and he knew that if he wasn’t hurt it could have been a different result,” Burgess said. “He used that to build on the outdoor season.”
Glass was hardly the only one running with added anger. Disappointed by a third-place finish in the 100-Meter Dash, Thomas responded with a win in the 200-Meter Dash. Thomas often slingshots past his competition in the middle of the race for the win, but not this time as he led from start to finish. He finished with a blistering time of 21.19 seconds, a career-best for the junior and the 10th-fastest time run in state history.
“(The 100) was a motivation for him to run that 200,” Snyder coach Eben Myers said. “He was just trying to beat everybody (right away) and he did.”
Thomas also posted a personal-best with a 10.59 time in the 100. It was the 10th-fastest time in state history. Miles Shuler-Foster of Long Branch won the even with a 10.39 time, the 12th-highest in the nation this season.
Thomas and Glass weren’t the only standout performances from Hudson County. In the 4x800-Meter Relay, the Dickinson team of Jose Aguilar, Jose Veras, Edwin Young and Tarick Awad took home third place with a time of 7:58.70. North Bergen’s Daniel Rondon placed seventh in the 3,200-Meter with career-best time of 9:14.05. Snyder junior Rashawn Taylor took 10th in the 200 with a personal-best time of 22.13 seconds. St. Peter’s Prep freshman Tyrell Gibbs was 22nd in the 400-Meter Intermediate Hurdles with a time of 57.04 seconds.
