Paige Sheppard, Taylor Cox Lead Union Catholic To Victory In Tournament Finale 72.5-65.5

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Scoring by David Woods

Photo courtesy Union Catholic

Although the distance medley relay was never part of the John Dye Dual Meet Tournament, the way that Union Catholic demolished the national high school record should have indicated that the New Jersey school was primed and ready to go for another national title. 

UC, led by sophomomore Paige Sheppard, a 2:01.5 800-meter runner and 4:32 1,600-meter runner, and hurdler Taylor Cox (13.18 in the 100 hurdles) helped power the Vikings for the dual meet title for the second year in a row.  

Union Catholic first defeated powerful Bullis School MD to win the East side of the bracket and then won a head-to-head matchup with Atacocita of Humble, Texas by seven points. 

Cox is headed to Georgia in the fall and fellow graduate Taylor Aska is off to Duke. 

But Union Catholic's run of success in the annual DyeStat tournament, held to determine the best overall high school team in the country, may not be over. 

Sheppard is just one member of a sophomore class that may be the school's best ever. Fellow soph Sophia Thompson backed up Sheppard with 2:08.99 and 4:40. 

Sophomore Sydney Chadwick won the intermediate hurdles and contributed to the sprints effort for the Vikings, who were up against one of the best 1-2 combinations in the country with Atascocita's Maxwell sisters.

Mia Maxwell ran 11.04 seconds to win the 100 meters and won the long jump at 19-7 (wind-legal) and Mariah Maxwell won the 200 in 22.93 and also jumped 42-7.75. Atascocita also got a sweep of the throws with Jayden Kimble, who threw 45-1 in the shot put and 165-11 in the discus. 

(In the long jump, Maxwell was awarded first with 19-7 and numerous other 19-foot jumps; Union Catholic's Morgan Holley jumped 19-8, but it was wind-aided and she went beyond 19 feet just once). 

Atascocita won the 4x100 (44.40) and 4x200 (1:33.69); Union Catholic won the 4x400 (3:44.66). 

First-round summaries: BOYS | GIRLS

Second-round summaries: BOYS | GIRLS

Regional semifinal summaries: BOYS | GIRLS

Regional final summaries: BOYS | GIRLS

TOURNAMENT BRACKETS

Meet Results