Piscataway senior Noah Grant ran the second-fastest legal 100 dash time in state history at the GMC Championships.Corey Annan
It was a moment that shocked everyone watching at Old Bridge, even Noah Grant himself.
The Piscataway senior was feeling as confident as ever heading into the 100 dash finals. He’d already hit his season PR at prelims to book his ticket into 100 dash finals (10.5).
A faster time at finals would’ve been great, but his goal was to simply come out and defend his conference title that he won last year. Breaking a state record was the last thing on his mind.
NJSIAA 2024 Group 4 Relay Championships
Jamari Atkinson-Waters (left) and Noah Grant of Piscataway celebrate their 2nd-place finish in the boys 4×200 at the NJSIAA 2024 Group 4 Relay Championships, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 in Toms River, N.J.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
On Tuesday, Grant solidified himself as one of the fastest sprinters in state history by running the second fastest 100 dash time in state history (10.34), with a legal wind-reading of 1.5+.
The current wind legal state record is held by Burlington City’s Malachi James, who ran 10.28 to win gold at the 2024 Meet of Champions last June.
Grant not only double PR’ed on Tuesday, but he shattered his previous best by more than four-tenths of a second (10.78).
Grant immediately knew that he had done something special once he crossed the finish line, but the reality of his accomplishment didn’t truly set in until he heard the announcer call out his time from the press box.
“It was lowkey unexpected, I’m not gonna lie,” Grant said with a laugh. “I was really just focusing on myself in that moment. But when I turned to look at the clock, I knew I ran something good. I was just happy.”
While Grant’s performance may seem like a complete shock to some, Piscataway head coach Pete Buccino has seen this type of potential from Grant for a long time now. From his relentless work ethic, attention to detail, and maturity, he’s seen all the qualities that distinguish Grant and made a moment like this feel like a real possibility.
“He’s an exceptionally strong sprinter,” Buccino said. “He’s the kind of kid that you have to carry him out of the weight room because he puts so much time into it. He’s very self-motivated as well, and you can tell that he runs with confidence. He’s having fun out there. We have a very good county this year in the sprints, and I think that’s really brought out the best in everyone.”
Even as Grant is still wrapping his head around his achievement, he’s careful not to dwell too much on this performance—especially now that he has a new goal to focus on.
“From this point, moving on, I feel very confident,” Grant said about his chances of breaking the state record. “I feel like I can go faster. I think I just need to keep working on the first 30 meters of my acceleration and just getting that a little bit faster. But I think that’s all I really need to keep working on.”
“I’m just trying to stay humble,” Grant said. “That’s really it. It feels good (to do what I did today), but I know I just need to keep working hard.”
Tuesday’s 100 dash victory wasn’t the only big performance that Grant had over the two-day meet. Grant kicked things off by anchoring Piscataway’s 4×100 relay to a N.J. No. 2 time of 41.53, which shattered their own meet record set in 2023.
In the 200 dash on Wednesday, he burned a N.J. No. 4 time of 21.50, shattering his own GMC record of 21.59 from last year.
“He knew that what the county records were, and he wanted to go after it, and he knows that there’s very good sprinters in New Jersey,” Buccino said.
“He’s gonna bring it every time he steps on the track, because in New Jersey, if you’re not 100% focused, you’re gonna get left behind. He knows the competition out there, and he’s been working very hard to stay ahead.”
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