By Andy Loigu

Alexa Westley of Warren Hills recently was named Girls Athlete of the Year by lehighvalleylive, a news organization which covers four counties, including Warren. She excelled in both girls basketball and track.

The senior Blue Streak won her third consecutive New Jersey Meet of Champions crown in June, finishing first in the 3200 meter distance run with her personal best time, 10:15.82, the number two time in the state all spring and 14th best nationally. She rose to the challenge after finishing second at both the sectional and Group Three meets, digging deep and doing her ultimate best against the fastest field she had ever faced at the MOC.

She also ran the 1600, where she was second in the sectional meet at 4:51.13.

Also, she took fifth place at the New Balance Nationals in the 5000 meter and set a state record with her 16:34.6 time. At the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, another national event, she finished eighth in the 3000 meter in 9:49.51.

A two-sport athlete, she also shined as a starter for the Warren Hills girls basketball team which won the Skyland Conference and Hunterdon/Warren/ Sussex championships.

Westley will run distance races in the Big Ten Conference for the Wisconsin Badgers in Division One athletics next year.

The following local athletes won honorable mention from lehighvalleylive in track and field this season: from Belvidere, sophomore Jaelyn Barkley and freshman Jenna Malson; from Hackettstown, senior Delaney Wiseman; from North Warren, sophomore Sophia Knerr; from Warren Hills, sophomore Eniola Ajayi, sophomore Gift Biyibioku, sophomore Meghan Dufner, senior Tamia Freeman, and senior Nicole Mallard.

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In a final note for this column, I expected to write a lot this summer about the Jersey Pilots of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, because Hackettstown High School and County College of Morris standout Jake Hall had been chosen as one of their starting outfielders. The ACBL chooses college players who have demonstrated the potential to be future major league draft picks. The ACBL, which has been around for over 50 years, has produced a long list of major league players. Sponsored by MLB, the league gives talented college players a chance to keep playing and honing their skills after their college seasons have concluded. 

Sadly, Hall’s season has ended abruptly due to an arm injury which will require surgery this week. It will be winter by the time he has finished his rehab and will be 100 percent. By then, he will have missed fall baseball, an important process as he adjusts for the next level of baseball in Division One.Fortunately, the injury is not to his throwing arm, which is one of the tools that make him an intriguing prospect.

We wish him well.

***Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.