Booker is runner-up in 55-meters at state track Meet of Champions
EAST ORANGE, NJ - In the next-to-last meet of an exceptional indoor season, East Orange resident and Immaculate Conception of Montclair sophomore Dominique Booker finished a close second in the 55-meter dash at Saturday’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions
at the Bennett Complex in Toms River.
Booker hit the finish line .05 seconds behind winner Ogechi Nwaneri of Chatham and .06 ahead of English Gardner of Eastern.
Nwaneri set a new meet record, besting Montclair High’s Aleah Williams’ 6.97 in 1998. Booker was only .01 off that time.
Booker’s 6.98 is a personal best and an Immaculate Conception record. It is the 10th-best time in state history and 10th-best in the nation this season. Gardner, last year’s winner, is also a sophomore. With Nwaneri graduating in the spring, Booker and Gardner should be dueling for state supremacy for the next two years.
“Dominique was first off the blocks,” said her coach, Haneefah Norman, a resident of Orange. “Nwaneri caught her at about 15 meters and it was nip-and-tuck to the finish line. It was a hot race.
“It was a very good race for Dominique, and she is very satisfied with her time. This is the first meet where she has had real competition, where she has really had to run in a while.”
In her last winter event, Booker will have faced even more top competition in the Eastern States Regional Championships at the New York City Armory this past Tuesday.
at the Bennett Complex in Toms River.
Booker hit the finish line .05 seconds behind winner Ogechi Nwaneri of Chatham and .06 ahead of English Gardner of Eastern.
Nwaneri set a new meet record, besting Montclair High’s Aleah Williams’ 6.97 in 1998. Booker was only .01 off that time.
Booker’s 6.98 is a personal best and an Immaculate Conception record. It is the 10th-best time in state history and 10th-best in the nation this season. Gardner, last year’s winner, is also a sophomore. With Nwaneri graduating in the spring, Booker and Gardner should be dueling for state supremacy for the next two years.
“Dominique was first off the blocks,” said her coach, Haneefah Norman, a resident of Orange. “Nwaneri caught her at about 15 meters and it was nip-and-tuck to the finish line. It was a hot race.
“It was a very good race for Dominique, and she is very satisfied with her time. This is the first meet where she has had real competition, where she has really had to run in a while.”
In her last winter event, Booker will have faced even more top competition in the Eastern States Regional Championships at the New York City Armory this past Tuesday.
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