Mikayla Blakes, Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander have a bond that few classmates at a non-public school ever have, one that saw them play together for years before they ended up at Rutgers Prep.
But what the soon-to-be-graduating seniors have done on Easton Avenue is immeasurable. A few facts:
In the four-year history of the Bellamy & Son Paving/Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten, they are the only team to hold that ranking, for a streak of 37 consecutive weeks in the No. 1 spot.
They won the first-ever, one-off top Skyland Conference pod in the 2021 COVID-shortened season. Since, they have won all three Somerset County Tournaments, and all three Non-Public South B titles in the state playoffs. They won the Group B title in 2022 and went to the Tournament of Champions.
They never lost a single game to a Skyland Conference opponent, continuing a streak that started in 2019, and shows no sign of ending any time soon.
Blakes will be playing at Vanderbilt next fall, Escanillas at Marist, and Alexander at NYU. All three have contributed in varying ways to Rutgers Prep’s success, and all three helped lay the groundwork for and instill the values of hard work in younger players like Ava LaMonica and GiGi Battle – who will be juniors next season – as well as those who’ll arrive in the coming years.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mikayla Blakes, Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander talk about Rutgers Prep’s 2023-24 season, and their careers with the Argonauts: