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Columbia post US #1 in the Sprint Medley Relay - Meet record for IHA
BY RICH BEVENSEE
MAY 18, 2009
MORRISTOWN, NJ - Columbia NJ entered the 39th East Coast Relays with the singular goal of breaking four minutes in the sprint medley relay, and if things went particularly well, they would take a shot at the state record as well.
 The Columbia girls fell short of their primary goals but came away from the race with a hefty consolation prize.
The foursome of Kayann Richards (25.1 for 200), Kelsey Jackson (24.4 for 200), TyVonna Johnson (55.8 for 400) and Brittney Jackson (2:14.7) (photo left by John Nepolitan) won the sprint medley in US #1 4:00.59. Cal Poly was the previous No. 1 in the U.S., having run 4:01.37 early last month.
Columbia’s time also ranks sixth all-time in NJ history.
As far as dipping under four minutes or breaking the state record, Columbia’s task wasn’t easy. Only five sprint medley teams have ever broken four minutes in state history. The state record is 3:54.37 set in 2007 by Southern Regional of Manahawkin. What Southern had going for it two years ago was having two All-Americas in its lineup -- Danielle Tauro (now a sophomore at Michigan) and Jillian Smith, now a senior headed to Michigan.
``It’s a matter of us putting it together,’’ TyVonna Johnson said about breaking four minutes. ``Were trying to get our times down together and we’re just not there. When it comes it comes. The last time we ran the sprint medley was indoor nationals and we came down eight seconds from that, so we can’t complain.’’
Columbia’s Richards (25.8), Johnson (24.9), and Kelsey Jackson (25.6) came back to run with the 4x200 with Jasmine Carter (25.6) and won it easily in NJ#1 1:40.62.
Immaculate Heart NJ vaulted to No. 11 in state history in the 4x1,600 when Erin Thompson (5:17.7), Julie Sinkovitz (5:15.5), Mary Kaye Duff (5:25.1) and Sarah Pagano (5:01.2) won in a meet-record 20:59.57. Thompson’s time was a personal best by two seconds.
``We’ve always thought about doing the 4x1,600 but we seem to run the DMR more, so we decided to go for it today,’’ Pagano said. ``We won this last year (21:13.82) and we wanted to see if we could win again with a faster time. All season we’ve been waiting to get everyone on the same page. It’s nice to have all of us run well together.’’
Voorhees’ Oregon-bound senior Lanie Thompson split a meet-best 4:56 on the 1,600-meter anchor leg of the distance medley relay to bring Voorhees NJ across first in 12:01.55, NJ #2 and US #8. Kari Shoolbraid (3:40 for 1,200), Laura King (1:00.2 for 400) and Katie Petruzzellis (2:24 for 800) handled the first three legs.
``I wanted us to run around 12 minutes, so I think what we did was awesome,’’ Thompson said. ``I was a little tired, but you’re always tend to get more tired when you’re running by yourself, and especially if you’re running by yourself and you’re winning. I’ve always been more comfortable running against people than running by myself.’’
Thompson logged a 2:15 split for Voorhees’ second-place 4x800 relay. She had too much ground to make up to catch Kristen Smoot, who anchored Bernards’ first-place 4x800 relay with a 2:15.4. Isabel Henderson (2:21.7), Elizabeth Sharkey (2:21.8) and Dana Giordano (2:21.1) provided consistent splits while paving the way for Smoot.
South Brunswick NJ needed to wiggle through a couple of obstacles to earn its first ECR track gold medal in the 4x100 relay. First it had to be declared the winner of its heat after finishing second in 49.57 behind Mount Vernon NY, which was disqualified for an exchange zone infraction.
South Brunswick’s time left it tied with Bloomfield NJ, which won its heat in 49.57. The official timer referred to the thousandths of a second to determine South Brunswick the winner. Officially, South Brunswick ran 49.574 and Bloomfield ran 49.576.
Mount Vernon redeemed itself late in the meet when Julia Miller, Breanda Crump, Tanaya Yarde and Shamika Mindingall won the 4x400 relay in 3:55.89.
New York grabbed another gold medal from the New Jersey meet when Suffern’s Jen Clayton, who sailed a meet-best 19-11, teamed with Yasmin DaSilva (15-6) to win with a  35-5. Clayton already owns a US #2 20-2 ½ from the Loucks Games two weeks ago.
Union NJ senior Ugonna Ndu (photo right by John Nepolitan) led the field with a 1:02.49 in the intermediate hurdles and paced her team to third place overall. Ndu’s 1:00.88 from earlier this month is NJ #2 and US #8.
Lisa Stuto (122-4) and Kaitlyn Brunner (120-1) posted the top two discus throws and helped Brick NJ win its third straight team ECR discus title with a combined 242-5.
Jen Jarvis of Morris Knolls NJ led the shot put field with a 37-11 ¼, but it was Ashley Sims (37-6 ¼) and Olivia Wade (37-2 ¾) who were third and fourth overall and won the event for Paramus Catholic (74-9). |
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