Columbia HS track athletes impress at state Meet of Champions

Columbia senior Gianna Green wears her medal after taking fourth place in the high jump at the state Meet of Champions at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Facility on Staten Island, N.Y.

MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Columbia High School boys and girls indoor track and field program featured several athletes who qualified for and competed at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state indoor track and field Meet of Champions on Sunday, March 3, at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Facility on Staten Island, N.Y.

On the girls side, senior Gianna Green placed 11th in the 55-meter preliminaries in 8.55 seconds. She also took fourth place in the finals of the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 4 inches.

Senior Madison Stevens took 15th place in the finals of the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 2.5 inches.

Senior Mae Dowling took 12th place in the finals of the 1,600-meter run in 5 minutes, 2.92 seconds. It was the fastest-recorded 1,600 in CHS history.

Columbia senior Mae Dowling competed at the state Meet of Champions, where she set the school-record in the 1,600-meter run.

On the boys side, senior Zhamir Rowan took ninth place with a leap of 21-1.5 inches and freshman Jalele Williams was 11th at 21-0 in the finals of the long jump. Senior Henry Cooper, who split 49.65; senior Miracle Okoli, 51.98; Williams, 52.73; and sophomore Miles Artis, 50.98, set a personal record for a squad by 7 seconds to improve their state ranking. They finished in 14th place in the finals in 3:25.