New Jersey Week by Ed Grant

April 21, 2004

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It is ironic that, in the final weekend before thbe Penn Relays, so many of the outstanding performances in the various relay meets in New Jersey were in individual events.

Topping the list for the boys was a 7-0 high jump clearance by Kyle Calvo of Somerville at the Somerset County Relays at Franklin and, for the girls, a 12-6 pole vault effort at the Woodbury Relays (held for a second year at West Depfford High School) by national indoor record-holder Danielle O'Reilly of Shawnee.

Calvo, who is headed to Penn next fall had cleared 6-10 three times during the indoor season, winning the National title at the New York Armory at that height. Last Saturday, he had no misses through that height, then made 7-0 by a good margin on his third try. And he did it during a day which saw him also lead off a 1:01.5 win in the shuttle hurdles, team with Jason Bradley to win the long jump relay and help a 400-meter relay placed third.

Another busy boy at that meet was national indoor 800-meter champ Greg Gomez of Franklin, whose 1:53.8 anchor leg gave his team a 3200-meter relay win at 8:02.7 over Penn Relay entries Bridgewater and Bernards.He also anchored a victory in the sprint medley and a second in the distance medley and wound up the day clearing 12-6 in the pole vault as his team defeated Hillsborough 113-108.

The Woodbury meet provided most of the day's top performances. Penn 400-meter relay defender Winslow Twp, which has an almost entirely new lineup this year, doubled the 400R and 800R in 42.07 and 1:28.58 in Group IV, while Camden's indoor national 800R record-holders won the Group III 400 at 42.57, then switched two of its sprinters to the 3200R to help the team effort. Winslow added a 59.5 in the shuttle hurdles, anchored by Reuben McCoy, one of the top Penn entries in the intermediate hurdles.

In the girls' action, Winslow had a triple of 48.80 in the 400, 1:42.95 in the 800 and 3:59.7 in the 1600, all anchored by Krystal Cantey. In addition to O'Reilly's pole vault mark, national shot put champ Jocelyn White of Delsea won the discus at 172-2 (she had a 152-6 the week before at the real West Deptford Relays) and Sylvia Galarza of Millville took the shot put from White at 41-11 1/2.

The rival Willingboro relays drew a much smaller field but produced the fastest 1600R for girls this season when the hosts ran 3:58.32 to hold olff Columbia, which was also under 4:00. Ell Ash of Willingboro, the state and Eastern indoor shot put champion from Willingboro doubled the SP and sicsus at 55-9 and 155-11, but his shot mark was trumped by Chris Pressley of Woodbury who hit 58-0 at West Deptford after skipping mosty of the indoor season.

Ocean City, a Penn entry in the girls' 3200-meter relay, won that event in the B division at West Deptford in 9:33.02, even though state cross-country champion Brittany Sedberry is still on the shelf with an indoor injury. Taking her place on the anchor was the school's top swimming star sophomore Renee Tomlin. Camden Wilson won that division easily with a sprint double of 49.01 and 1:45.18.

The Jackson Twp girls' team, which is still operating without its top two athletes, Footlocker cross-country qualifier Jen Clausen and sprinter-hurdler Jessica Fortuna, had its third team relay win of the month at the Morris Hills Relays in Rockaway, featured by a 1:02.22 meet record in the shuttle hurdles, a mark which would be improved by at least three seconds with Fortune in the lineup. Toms River South made it an Ocean County sweep by taking the boys' meet from seton Hall, 90-79, thouigh the Pony Pirates had a fast double at 3:21.40 and 8:01.4 to bolster their hopes of qualifying for both the 1600 and 3200 finals at Penn.

Ed Grant

 

DyeStat New Jersey

 


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