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Lawrenceville, Plainfield, Freehold Twp., Rahway, Washington Twp. and Amezquita and McKoy sparkle
BY JIM LAMBERT
MAY 18, 2009
MORRISTOWN, NJ – Lawrenceville is probably the best boys track team in New Jersey that no one really knows about. And it might just be the best team in the state, period!
Since coach John Shilts’ team competes in the state Prep School Association, most of the state’s public school teams don’t get a chance to see the Mercer County power up close, so they have no idea of the type of punch it packs.
But after scoring a couple of knockout victories at the 39th East Coast Relays, which attracted many of New Jersey’s finest programs, Lawrencevcille certainly got the attention of the rest of state.
First, Lawrenceville ripped a 3:31.00 victory in the sprint medley relay, then it came back later to run 3:19.51 to take home the gold in the 4x400.
At the Penn Relays last month,, Lawrenvceille ran 7:49.70 to quallify for the 4x800 Championship of America race.
All of Lawrenceville’s times are among the best in the nation this season, and the 4x400, SM and 4x800 are all No. 3 in NJ this spring,
The 3:31.00 SM is No. 14 in the U.S. and the 4x800 is No. 16 nationally.
``We came here looking to run fast and we were hoping to get under 3:30 in the sprint medley, but there reallly wasn’t anyone to really push me so I probably didn’t run as fast as I could have,’’ said Princeton-bound senior Matt Gonzalez, who split 1:54.3 on the SM and 49.9 on the 4x400.
Gonzalez was joined on the SM by Markhus Lacroix (23.3), and Lamar (23.3) and Leonard Hayes (49.5).
In the 4x400, Gonzalez combined with Nehemiah Paramore (49.9), Leonard Hayes (49.4), and Robert Harwood (49.8)..
Lawrenceville’s 3:19.51 broke the school record of 3:19.60 that it set when it won the Prep School race at the Penn Relays last month. And the 3:31.00 in the SM eclipsed the school mark of 3:31.70 it ran last month at the state Prep Relays.
Lawrenceville, the state Prep A and the Mid-Altanic Prep League Champions, will now turn its attention to next month's
Nike National in Greensbor0, N.C (June 18-20), where it will run the 4x800 and possibly the SM and 4x400 as well.
While Lawrenceville certianly stood out on the chilly night in Morristown, there were several other teams and individuals that sparkled.
Just a few days after battling it out for the Union County title, Plainfield and Rahway continued its red shot running and Justin Amezquita of Gov. Livingston improved his state season best in the pole vault as Union County’s finest put on a remarkable show.
Plainfield swept the 400 and 800 meter relays, Rahway ripped a NJ season best time of 59.58 to win the shuttle hurdles and Amezquita, a junior, improved his state season leading pole vault perfomance to 15-2.
Plainfield was hoping to run its fastest times in the sprint relays, but Isaiah Gill, Daniel Woods, Stephon Knox and Tristan Simms came up a bit short with its winning times of 42.14 and 1:28.01.
``We were hoping to get under 42 and under 1:27,’’ said Knox. ``In the 4x100, we didn’t really get the competition we were hoping and our ha handoffs could have been better. And the cold weather didn’t help either. But we did get both victories, so we are happy about that.’’
Rahway came into the shuttle hurdles missing one its regulars, Vinny Marcino (back surgery), but the Union County kings showed its depth as Marquise Frasier filled in and Pierre Darisme came up with a sizzling 14.1 come from behind anchor to give Rahway the win.,
Darisme was a couple steps behind Manchester’s Eric Delaney when he took off to run the anchor leg.
``I knew when I saw how close he was that I was going to get him,’’ said Darisme, the county 110 hurdle champion.
Rahway’s first three legs were handled by Chris Whyte (14.3), Jose Pena-Benjamin (15.8) and Marquise Frasier (15.5).
Darisme said he had no doubt that Frasier would come through.
``We have some muchy depth that we knew Marquise would step up and come through,’’ he said. ``We came here to get our fastest time and we got what we wanted.’’
Meanwhile, in the pole vault, Amezquita continued his torrid season when he used a shorter approach and still cleared a state best for this season of 15-2, tied for No. 23 in NJ history.
``It’s only a one inch P.R., but I’ll take it,’’ said Amezquita. ``To have less speed and still get 15-2 makes me real happy. I know when I get on a bigger pole I will go higher. I am really hoping to get 16-0 this year.’’
Only seven vaulters have ever cleared 16-0 or better in NJ outdoors. The way he’s progressing, Amezquita seems to have a realistic shot at becoming the eighth.
Freehold Township also had a big meet, winning the 3x400 hurdles in 2:51.23 and the 4x800 in 7:59.05.
In the hurdles, Freehold received a 55.81 from Bobby Searby, a 56.96 from Jeff Kole and a 58.46 from Ramier Wright.
Freehold’s 4x800 win was highlighted by a 1:58.2 anchor from Abe Hamami.
In other highlights, Tim Carey split 48.3 on the 400 leg to put Washington ahead for good and Xavier Fraction anchored in 4:18.5 to cap off a NJ #4 and US #24 10:19.11 DM victory.
One of the most remarkable performance came from Bloomfield’s Jonathan McKoy, who came up with the performance of his life when the senior soared 23-2 ¼ , No. 2 in the NJ this season, on his final attempt to rally his team to victory in the team long jump.
It was a remarable bounce back effort by McKoy, who only jumped 19-9 to take 10th at the Essex County Championships this past weekend.
``I wasn’t getting the board at all at the county meet and I just went back to what the coach from Montclair Immaculate told me at the beginning of the season about finishsing the jumnp with my chest out ane legs extended. It all came together today,’’ said McKoy, who came into the meet with a modest personal best of 21-9.
Individually, Nick Vena of Morristown had the best throws of the meet in the shot put (67-11 ¼) and the discus (162-5)… Zach Keefer of Morristown ran the top time of the meet in the 400 hurdles (55.30)…All-America Glenn Scheideler of Randolph clwared a meet best 6-8 in the high jump…Dan Drugac let loose a 187-9 in the javelin to lead all thorwers and lead Boonton to the title… Shane Carle (153-0) and Connor Saker (144-11) gave Jackson the discus title with a 297-11
SPLIT ZONE
Danny daCosta of Union Catholic and Matt LaForgia of Pingry each split 3:10.5 to leadoff the DM….D.J. Thornton of Union Catholic anchored the runner-up DM team in 4:20.8…..Pingry’s Dan Schuchinsky went 4:19.8 in the DM…George Galasso of Holmdel had a 4:22.2 DM anchor…Isaiah Gill of Plainfield led off the winning 4x200 with a 21.4. Pat Schellberg of Delbarton went 1:55.1 for the fourth-place SM team…Soph. Mike Mazzaccaro finished off CBA’s 4x,1600 win (17:54.25) with a 4:21.8. ..Kurt Jones of Manchester led off the runner-up shuttle hurdle team with a 14.3. ...Jr. Ben Raskin of Summit went 48.9 on his 400 carry in the DM. |
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