By ELLIOTT DENMAN

   SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. - A string of sensational seniors.  Two sizzling freshmen. A splendid sophomore. A jubilant jumping  junior.  And  a pack of brighter-than-bright talents representing every grade level.

    They comprised the cast of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's 46th annual Meet of Champions and they delivered a rousing show Wednesday for the audience of several thousand track and field enthusiasts, among them numerous college coaches checking on the bright senior prospects already bound for their campuses and eager, too, to entice underclassmen in their direction.

    First those star-spangled seniors.

   All Stanford-bound Olivia Baker of Columbia High (Maplewood) did was win the girls 400-meter title for the fourth straight year (an unprecedented feat) in 53.53, then ran a 52.8 split anchoring Columbia to the 4x400 relay title in 3:43.36.  Oh....and she won her heat of the 200 in 24.17 but placed second over-all.

   With 11 Meet of Champions individual titles, six outdoors and five indoors, plus all her relay feats, she is recognized as the most honored girls performer in state history - and remember that this is a state that has been producing Olympians, national champions and record-breakers of all descriptions for years and years.

   Baker got a standing round of applause following the relay, then said "there is no better place to run than in New Jersey."

  For three consecutive years, University of Georgia-bound Mount Olive High School senior Keurah Orji has "owned" the horizontal jumps in her state, and she said goodbye in distinctive fashion by winning the triple jump with a meet-record and nation-leading  44-1 3/4, and taking the long jump, too, at 20-2 1/2.

  We may or may not see much of Jabrill Peppers in track attire in the years ahead - the powerful Paramus Catholic senior is a biggest-time University of Michigan football recruit - but he did close it out on a high note.  After sprinting to the boys 100-meter title in 10.55, he claimed the 200 crown in 20.13, for his second consecutive double double.  Only the determined Timber Creek runner Kevin Hagamin - facing Peppers on the anchor carry of the 4x100 relay, was able to hold him off and it took a meet-record 41.45 to do it.

 Then there was the amazing all-arounder Andrew Ghizzone, who has done it all on the track and in the field for Union Catholic High School, and is now considered the University of

Colorado's best decathlon prospect in years.  Moving the pole vault crossbar up and up and up, he cleared a PR 16 feet, second best leap in meet annals, all this on top of a 1:56.1 split in the 4x800 relay and a 54.65 run in the 400 hurdles.

   For obvious reasons, UC coach Mike McCabe said Ghizzone "may be the best all-around performer in the state."

   And here's one more senior sensation - Villanova-bound Ishmael Muhammad of Oakcrest High.  With an eye-opening run-from-the-front, Muhammad snared the 800-meter title in 1:48.52, taking down the 2009 meet record of 1:48.66 by Manalapan's Robby Andrews.

  And another - Cedar Grove's David Njoku.  Headed to the University of Miami to focus on

football, he led the state's high jumpers for a second straight year.  He cleared 7-0 on first attempt, then had good but just-miss attempts at the meet-record height of 7-2 1/4.

   Now for that jumping junior - Sayreville High's Myles Hartsfield.

   The horizonal leaping ace extended the meet triple jump record to 49-11 3/4 - barely missing his 50-foot target - after going 23-2 for third in the long jump.

  A sophomore surely to watch: Chrisian Brothers Academy's Blaise Ferro, who claimed the 3,200-meter title in a tactical 9:08.02, with CBA teammate Tom Rooney close behind in 9:10.28.

  Surrounded by all these experienced racers, you'd have thought that Union Catholic freshman Sydney McLaughlin might have been put off her game.  But no-no, not at all - all the precocious 14-year-old did was become the first girl to win both hurdles races the same year.

  She took the 100 highs in 13.47 after winning the 400 intermediates in the national-freshman record time of 56.91.  And, furthermore, she ran a 52.2 anchor 400 for the UC 4x400 team that won its section and placed second over-all.

   No wonder some kid her that "they've already named a big city in Australia after you."

   (What a family: Brother Taylor McLaughlin ran 47.74 for second in the boys 400, then did second-leg duty on UC's winning boys 4x400 team.)

   Yet another frosh standout: Haddonfield's Briana Gess, the girls 1600 champion in 4:45.97.

   And here's how things worked out in other finals:

  Boys winners included: Jamaad Muse, Timber Creek, 47.07 400; Kyle Levermore, Don Bosco, 4:13.98 1600; Obafemi Anirnashaun, Union Catholic, 14.20 110 hurdles; Mark Cooke, JP Stevens, 52.08 400 hurdles; Mikhail Micheaux, Eastern, 24-3 long jump; Jason Bryan, Rumson-Fair Haven, 61-7 1/4 shot put; Nick Pulli, West Deptford, 174-5 discus, and Curtis Thompson, Florence, 224-1 javelin, meet record.

  Other boys relay crowns went to Union Catholic's 4x400, 3:15.12, and Bergen Catholic's 7:42.95 4x800, meet record.

  Other girls gold medalists: Torie Robinson, Winslow, 11.73 100; Bria Saunders, Parsippany, 24.05 200; Corinne Meyers, Westwood, 2:05.80 800; Courtney Thompson, St. John Vianney, 10:22.87 3200; Taryn DeLeon, Old Tappan, 5-6 high jump; Mariena Sabatino,  Hillsborough, 12-0 pole vault; Michele Bazile, Princeton, 43-6 1/4 shot put; Cheyenne Bellerand, Emerson. 136-1 discus, and Grace Montgomery, Nutley, 136-2 javelin.

  Other girls relay winners: Piscataway, 46.84 4x400, and Freehold Township. 9:01.69 4x800, both of them meet records.

  Next stop for many: The New Balance National Outdoor Championships, June 13-14-15 in Greensboro, N.C.