• In the early days of Mercer's high school track programs-- in the 1880s and 1890s--most competitions were inter-school ones where a school would hold a track and field day among its own students. They would report the results to the local newspapers or school newspapers.  This way of doing it was done primarily in prep schools. Lawrenceville Prep had meets between "houses" on campus.  There were competitions between schools, but not many-- A MUCH smaller quantity high schools existed in Mercer County in that era than exist today.  

• The prep schools had their own NJ championship meet in the early 1900s.  The public schools had no official state meet.

• By the turn of the century, there were many Prep Schools in Mercer with most having track teams.  Many of these schools are still open today.   One prep school closed.  Princeton Prep opened in 1874 and closed down in 1936.

• Until the late 1920s there were only 4 public high schools in Mercer County – Trenton (Est. 1874),  Princeton High School (Est. 1898) Hopewell (Est. 1907) and Hightstown High School (Est. 1913).  Hamilton High School did not open until 1929.  Ewing High School opened up in 1951. Of the public schools of that time, only Princeton and Trenton fielded serious track teams.   

• Prep schools took the sport much more serious pre-1920 than did public schools.

• The first official state meets for all schools—prep and public--​ was established in 1919 and sponsored by the NJSIAA--at the time it was called the SIAA.  The divisions were done by Class A and Class B for public schools, and there was a "Prep" division as well.  There wasn't a Parochial division in state meets until 1934.  The Class C in public schools started the second year in 1920.  By the early 1930s the NJSIAA class divisions were called by numbers (Class 1, 2, 3 and 4). 
  By the late 1930s the divisions started to be called "Groups" = Group 1, 2, 3, 4.  

• The longest race at state track meets pre-1960 was the 1 Mile Run. The races were measured in yards and the list of state meet races were: 100, 220, 440, 880, 1 Mile, 120 High Hurdles, and either the 220 Low Hurdles or 180 Low Hurdles.  

• Cross-country before 1960 was run on courses of 2..75 miles in length. Top 5 per team were scorers. Teams could enter 8 runners. 

• Indoor track took place for high schoolers but no state or county championships pre-1960.  Most meets indoors were club or open meets. The high schools competed against adults indoors very often.  There was an Eastern Indoor High School Championship starting in the 1930s,  and a National Indoor High School Championship as well. 

• Before the NJSIAA started,  the Prep schools held the full array of track & field events including the hammer throw and triple jump.  Once the NJSIAA started sponsoring the state meets the field events held were as follows: Broad Jump, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot, Discus and Javelin.  

• There were relays held at the high school state meets in 1919 and 1920.  After those first two years there were no longer relays held at state meets pre-1960.  Relays were only run at invites and relay carnivals like Penn. 

• The first track state championship gold medal from a Mercer County public school was won by Princeton High School's 880 Yd Relay in 1919. 

• The first individual state champ from Mercer was Charles Marshall of Peddie who won 3 events in the Prep State Division in 1919. 

• The first Mercer public school individual to win  a state title was Haskett of Princeton High School in 1920  for high jump.

• The first individuals from Mercer to win a parochial state title were 4 athletes in 1934:
  George Loh, Dick McCoy, John Sadovy and Stan Sadovy all from Cathedral High School.

• The first Mercer team to win a state championship was Lawrenceville Prep in 1920 – They won the Prep Division.

• The first Mercer team to win a parochial state championship was Cathedral High School  in 1934. 

• The first Mercer team to win a public-school state championship was Princeton HS-- Group 2 in 1938.

• The first team to win the Mercer County Outdoor Meet was Princeton HS in 1934.

• In the 1920s and 30s, tri-meets or quadrangular meets in county were called 'neighborhood meets" and usually took place at prep schools like Lawrenceville and included private schools mixed with public schools.  

• Trenton High from 1900 to 1932 was located at a different address --Chestnut and Hamilton Ave.  The home field track facility was not well kept,  so for home meets TCHS at times  had to hold running races on the street.  Trenton high school was relocated to Chambers Street in 1932.  

• Trenton High School had several track team members over the years who went on to play football in the NFL. -  Bob Millman '21 , Mel Groomes '44, and Elvin Bethea '64  

• There was an abundance of club track meets in the 1910s through the 1930s which took place outside the high school season. Meets occurred in both summer and fall. The YMCA, Knights of Columbus, and other organizations would host many meets. The AAU was the main governing body of the sport and held open and championship meets as well. 

• The Trenton Times Newspaper sponsored an athletic club called "Trenton Times AA Club".  They sponsored track, boxing, and swimming.  This club existed from the late 1910s until the early 1960s.  Many of the Mercer area's high school and college track stars competed on the Trenton AA team.  There was also track team from Mercer County sponsored by Cook YMCA. 

• The Meadowbrook Track Club of Philadelphia and the Wilmington City Track Club of Delaware were common rivals of Trenton's Club Teams.  Trenton challenged Wilmington City to a dual meet 3 summers in a row from 1922 to 1924. Trenton won the first two.

• The outdoor Mercer County High School Championship Meet did not start until Spring of 1934 – won by Princeton HS.   The county meet only had 4 or 5 teams in it in the early years. The county meet  was held from 1934 to 1938 and then it temporarily ended for 10 years until resuming again in 1948.

• The conference meet was a more prestigious meet than the county meet in the first half of the 20th Century.  For TCHS, the "Big-6 Conference" was comprised of Group 4 Schools – Trenton, Asbury Park, Perth Amboy, Camden, New Brunswick, and Morristown.   The conference championship meet was usually held in mid-May - On the calendar it fell BETWEEN South Jersey or Central Jersey Champs (early May)  and the State Meet (very late May or 1st week of June).   Trenton High won 8 conference champs in a row from 1939 to 1946.

• In terms of sectional meets,  from the 1920s to the 1970s, Trenton High School was shifted between the Central and South Jersey Championships.  They spent most of their seasons in South Jersey.  Princeton HS was always in Central.   Pre-1960 the term "sectional" was not used. It was either named "The Championships of South Jersey" or "South Jersey Championships".  Same with Central Jersey.

• Trenton High School won 7 South Jersey Championships in a row from 1940 to 1946. They won 8 conference titles in a row. They won 3 state Championships in track - 1940, 1944 and 1945.  They won 3 Cross-country State Championships - 1941, 1942, and 1945 and 2 National Scholastic Cross-country Championships in 1941 and 1942.  This was the most dominant all around run (fall and spring combo)  of any Mercer County high school before 1960.  

• Princeton high school won 7 state track championships pre-1960.  One in 1938 and 6 in a row from '51 to '56.

• For Mercer's public schools Pre-1960, the most individual state titles won in a career is 4 total.  It is a 3-way tie between Charles Marshall of Peddie (In 1919 & 1920) , Al Terry of Princeton HS in 1953 & '54), and Nick Kovalakides of Princeton (1955-1957) who all won 4 in their high school career. 

• There have been 3 world  record  holders from Mercer County.  They are:
  Walter Dohm of Princeton  Prep Class of 1886 (Half Mile Run set in 1891),
  Eli Parsons of Lawrenceville Prep Class of 1903 (Set both the  Indoor Half Mile Run  record in 1904 and the 600 Yards Indoors in 1906) and
  J.A. Rector of Lawrenceville Prep Class of 1906 (Held 2 records: Broke world record in 100 Yards and tied world record in 100 meters, both in 1908).

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