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Voorhees and Morris Hills win fast DMR's.  Vena just misses Armory record

BY JIM LAMBERT

NEW YORK - The Voorhees girls and Morris Hills boys came looking to drop hot distance medley relay times. Nick Vena of Morristown came looking to drop a bomb in the shot put.

All three got what they wanted, and did so in spectacular fashion at last night’s Varsity Classic at the New Balance Track & Field Center.

Lanie Thompson (photo left by John Nepolitan) won a duel between Foot Locker finalists when she outkicked good friend Shelby Greany of Suffern NY over the final 200 meters to bring Voorhees across first in the girls DM in a US #3 12:05.9, which tied for No. 17 all-time in New Jersey. Thompson’s covered her 1,600 anchor in 4:58.1. Suffern was second in a US #4 12:11.0.

 Then it was Morris Hills’ turn as the boys from the school in Rockaway NJ chased its second US#1 time of the season.

With a US #1 of 7:46.54 already in its pocket, Morris Hills got a blazing 3:04.7 1,200 leadoff leg from Liam Tansey, (photo below by John Nepolitan) but came up just a bit short of its goal, running a US #2 time and Morris County record of 10:18.0 in the DM. Westerly of Rhode Island owns the top time in the nation with the 10:17.50 it ran at Yale last month.

Meanwhile, over in the throwing cage, Vena finally snapped out of mild throwing slump when he launched the 12-pound ball 67-0 on his final throw of the trials, just one inch short of the facility record of 67-1 set at the Varsity Classic on Feb. 12, 1998 by Kevin DiGiorgio of Bayonne.

Vena, who threw a US #3 and national sophomore and NJ state record of 67-8 ¼ on Dec. 29, only had throws of 63-11 ½ at the Metropolitan Invitational here last Wednesday, and 62-3 ¼ this past Saturday at the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 3 meet in Toms River, N.J.

While Vena has remained undefeated, the distances at his last two meets  was below his high standards.
``I am so relieved right now,’’ said Vena. ``I’ve been waiting to get back up there and have a good series, so I’m real happy with what I did. It was a very good series.

Vena, who also had throws were 65-0 ¼, 65-7, 64-0, 65-5, and 64-6 ½, noticed a flaw in his technique while watching video on Sunday of his throws from Saturday’s meet.

``I saw that I wasn’t really keeping my foot down as I drove threw the 360 and I was basically letting it go with one leg doing most of the work,’’ said Vena.

When he got done breaking down the video, Vena went back to the drawing board.

``I went into my garage and just started working on my 360 over and over again until I got it right,'' he said,. ``It’s nice to be throwing the way I should be again.’’

 

The girls DM featured four teams cracking the national top 10 list for this season. After Voorhees and Suffern, North Rockland NY was third in a US #8 12:15.2, and Immaculate Heart Academy NJ was fourth in a US #4 12:18.7. IHA received a 3:43.3 1,200 from Lisa Sinkovitz, and a 5:09.4 anchor from Sarah Pagano. Randolph crossed fifth in a US #11 tying 12:19.5. Randolph's Joelle Amaral led off with a 3:41.4 1,200 leg. Sixth-place Ridge NJ (12:23.3) , got a 3:45.3 1,200 from Amanda Gracia and a 5:08.0 anchor from Dana Guglielmo.  Gracia (2:22.9) and Guglielmo (2:23.8) also ran on Ridge's 7th place 4x800 (9:49.1).

Suffern blasted out to a quick lead on the 1,200 leg of the DM, forcing  Voorhees was forced to play catch up the whole way.

Voorhees was in sixth place when 800 leg Kari Shoolbraid grabbed the baton. But Shoolbraid put her team right back into the race with a 2:18.4 carry as she handed to Thompson a couple strides behind Greany in second place.

Thompson stayed on Greany’s heels for the first seven laps before exploding to the front at the bell. Greany tried, but simply couldn’t answer Thompson’s surge. Greany split 5:03.4

``I didn’t want it to come down to the last 50 meters or so, so I went a little sooner than I usually do,’’ said the Oregon-bound Thompson. ``I knew it would be great battle with Shelby and I was just feeling really good tonight.’’

Shoolbraid knew that she needed to close he gap to give Thompson at shot to bring home the victory.

``All I was trying to do was get Lanie as close to Shelby as I could,’’ said Shoolbraid. ``I love to chase. I do my best running when I am behind and I was glad that I had people to go after We were hoping to get close to 12, so we're real excited about how we ran..''

Voorhees’ first two legs were handled by Colette Whitney (3:47.8 for 1,200) and Katie Petruzzellis (62.2 for 400).

 

In the boys DM, Morris Hills went wire-to-wire thanks in large part to Tansey’s swift 3:04.7 1,200 carry . Lucas Clyne followed with a 52.1 for 400, Vinny Chiusano went 1:58.2 for 800, and Sean Pohorence anchored in 4:23.1.

Pohorence got the baton about 15 meters ahead of Arlington New York's John Muller and never let the gap get closer than 10 meters until Muller, who ran 4:22.7, charged hard down the final straightaway to bring Arlington across second in a US #3 10:18.7.

Morris Hills’ performance was even more impressive considering Tansey ran the 1,000 meters on Friday at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, and Morris Hills had to run at  the North Jersey, Section 1 Group 2 meet on Saturday. Tansey and Chiusano ran two races, Clyne three, and Pohorence won the 3,200 to lead Moris Hills to the sectional championship.

``We were hoping to get that US #1 time, but honestly we’ve done a lot or running lately and we know we can go a lot faster when we get to nationals,’’ said Pohorence.

There were four teams under 10:30 in the DM.

Haddonfield NJ, with a 3:09.4 1,200 from Colin Baker and a 4:20.8 1,600 from Jon Vitez, was third in a US #6 10:24.0, and Christian Brothers NJ was fourth in a US #10 10:25.2. CBA sophomore anchor Mike Mazzacarro split 4:22.1..

 Individually,  there were plenty of fireworks, led by the US #1 55 hurdle time by Janice Jackson of Medgar Evers NY. The Clemson-bound Jackson put her name at the top of the national list with a 7.6 in the trials. She won the finals in 7.7.

There was also a pair of double winners, Claudio Delli Carpini of Harrison NY and Brittany Wallace of Penn Wood PA, and a 5-7 high jump from Janelle Clayton of Suffern , which is tied for the top mark in New York this year.

Wallace jumped way up on the national list with her wins in the 200 in a US #9 24.7, and in the 400 with a US #8 56.4

Delli Carpini soared 23-1 ½ to win the boys long jump and went 7.2 to capture the 55 hurdles.

Delli Carpini, a senior, is finally feeling like he back where he's supposed to be after dealing with two surgeries during his junior year. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder in November of 2007, and surgery on a torn knee right knee ligament last April.

Delli Carpini is No. 8 in the US in the long jump with a 23-3 ½.

``I am just know starting to feel like I’m all the way back,’’ said Dell Carpini, who is considering Penn State and Clemson. ``I know there are lot of people that have no idea who I am, but that’s okay. I am just looking to show that I am back and I’m real excited about trying to get to 24 feet by the end of the season.''

Senior Jon Jackson of Union NJ continued his amazing rookie season when he ran 56.5 for the final 400 and 26.8 for the last 200 to win the boys 800 in 1:57.5. And he did that on an injured left foot.

``My foot has been hurting me for a couple week ago and I really started to feel it on the first lap,’’ said Jackson. ``But I just tried to forgot about it and just run.

Jackson said he really didn’t expect to win.

``I saw that sw guys in the race had 1;55 written on their cards and I kind of got intimidated since I never ran that fast,’’ he said. ``But when it was time to race I just went out there and gave it all I had.’’

Glenn Scheideler (photo left by John Nepolitan) of Randolph NJ accomplished a huge goal when he finally cleared 6-8 in the high jump for the first time in his career. And the senior did it on his first attempt in a jump off  with Morris County rival Kyle Soden of Hanover Park.

``I knew if I was going to make 6-8 it had to be here because I always sem to jump so much better in this place,'' said Scheideler, a senior. ``I think the reason is that I can where ¼ inch splikes here and that really helps me on my turn as I approach the bar.’’

In the girls 4x800, FL finalist Aisling Cuffe anchored in 2:19.1 to bring Conrwall of NY across first in a US #13 9:29.3. Monroe-Woodbury NY was second in 9:32.4. Columbia NJ, with Brittney Jackson going 2:17.5 on the anchor, placed third in 9:35,5 and Bernards NJ, fourh in 9:38.2, received a 2:19.2 carry on the final leg by Kristin Smoot.

The boys 4x800 wasn’t real fast, but provided lots of drama as Sean Burke came from behind over the final 50 meters to give Old Bridge NJ the win in 8:05.5. Second-place Westfield NJ received a big 1:56.9 anchor leg from Josh Einbinder to run 8:06.0. Mark Filandro had the fastest carry of the race, going 1:54.2 to bring Indian Hills NJ across fourth in 8:09.1. Morristown NJ got a 1:56.5 leadoff from Hamer Farag and ran 8:06.1, but was disqualified for a lane violation.

 

 

 

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