By Elliot Denman // Photo by Karthik Adimula 

Philadelphia, April 24, 2015 - Is Nickolette Dunbar the next Michelle Carter/ Jill Camarena/ Ramona Pagel/ Connie Price-Smith/ Maren Seidler/ Earlene Brown?

Well, maybe, just maybe.

The Whippany Park, N.J. junior sure looked like the next great thing in American women's shot putting with her mighty toss of 50 feet, 8 inches that claimed the high school girls championship at the 121st running of the Penn Relays Thursday afternoon.

With that performance, Dunbar, all at once, (a) shot to the top of the 2015 U.S. rankings; (b) added nearly eight inches to the 35-year-old Penn Relays record held by Elaine Sobansky; (c) demolished the New Jersey state record and became the first Garden Stater to break 50 feet, and (d) showed all kinds of potential for much better things just ahead.

"I knew that anything could happen," said Dunbar, after she'd completed a brilliant series with five of six legal throws and easily outclassed her three closest rivals, all from the Caribbean – Trinidad's Portious Warren (48- 2 1/4), and Jamaica's Rochelle Frazer (47-3) and Janell Fullerton (47-0 3/4.)

Six weeks ago, Dunbar had placed third at the New Balance Indoor Nationals at the Armory with a toss of 48-8 back of winner Sophia Rivera of Brentwood, Mo. and silver medalist Alexis Daniels of Binghamton, N.Y.

Well, she's added two full feet to that Armory mark and plans to keep right on soaring...maybe all the way to top of some future international pack.

Leading the cheerleading was her dad, former NFL star and now Buffalo Bills assistant coach Karl Dunbar.

"This being my daughter, it's the best of all time; this is number one because it's my child," he told interviewers.

Missourian Rivera, the shot put winner at the Armory's New Balance Indoor Nationals, showed her versatility by winning the Penn Relays javelin throw with a meet record of her own.

Rivera tossed the spear 169-6 to best the previous Relays best of 156-2 by Pennsylvanian Lauren Kenney in 2011.

The discus, the third girls throws final – all these events were staged at the "Moon" Mondschein Throwing Complex "on the other side of the tracks" from the principal Relays venue of Franklin Field – saw Jamaicans

Paula-Anne Gayle (170-5) and Shanice Love (165-5) go 1-2 but Donovan Catholic (Toms River, N.J.) High School's Alyssa Wilson impress mightily with PR of 149-2 in third place. 

Wilson is just a sophomore – and likely the best soph thrower in Garden State history. Shot put/discus/hammer throw/weight throw – she excels in them all.

Meanwhile, back at windy, chilly Franklin Field, Malia Ellington of Davidson, N.C. was running off with the mile title in 4:54.38, and Kate Murphy of Lake Braddock, Va. was claiming the 3000-meter crown in 9:32.82.

Rachel McArthur's 4:50.16 anchor 1600 lifted Patriot High of Nokesville, Va. to the girls Championship of America distance medley crown in 11:51.85. Christina Rancon ran a valiant 4:56.10 anchor for New Jersey's West Windsor-Plainsboro South, but it sufficed just for second. WWP-South clocked an 11:54.89 to hold off Blacksburg, Va. (11:57.69) and Delaware's Padua Academy (12:03.00) for the silvers.

As ever, the women's Championship of America distance medley was the first-day Penn collegiate feature and this one didn't disappoint, either.

The story was familiar – Villanova fighting off the best North America could offer for a fourth consecutive Penn DMR win and 13th all-time.

The Wildcats ran with Angel Piccirillo (3:23.25 1200 meters, opening a big lead), Michaela Wilkins (56.30 400), Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (2:09.91 800) and Stephanie Schappert (4:39.61 1600 anchor) for an 11:09.06 win over Stanford (11:11.07), Georgetown (11:16.83), North Carolina (11:17.29), Columbia (11:23.12) and six more.

"I wanted to do whatever I could do to help out," said Piccirillo.

"We all have the same goal," chimed in Wilkins.

"I knew about the big legacy and the boots that need(ed) to be filled," added Buttner.

"You're going to kill me before I give up this win," vowed Schappert.

"It was definitely an awesome four-person victory," summed up coach Gina Procaccio.