|
Boys - Girls
Netters:
Some people may be concerned about the results of the Connecticut
state meet this year, but it's the other way around in New Jersey,
where
last night's Meet of Champions at South Brunswick produced a series
of
outstanding efforts, including two meet recordfs for the boys and
a pair of
ties for the girls.
First, the weather. There had been predictions of thunderstorms,
but
none arrived and all we had to deal with was a wind that blew in
the faces
of the sprinters and high hurdlers at up to 6 miles an hour, though
usually
a bit lower. On the other hand, it aided the horizontal jumps which
go in
the other diection there and results in a 19+ in the girls' LJ and
a
near-25-footer in the boys.
There were two double winners, junior Jenna Harris of Franklin
in
the girls 100M (11.96) and 200 (24.32) and Glenn DiGiorgio of Bayonne
in the
boys SP (68-1.4PR) and DT (197-0), a disappointing effort, but
understandable under the conditions (described below)
Boys
100-Todd Dutch of Washington Twp has had a lot of success in the
last three years without attracting much attention. With his main nemesis,
Jamar Ervin, out of the picture, he has dominated the scene this year and
his 10.55 win here over junior football star Dorian Bryant of Kingsway was
outstanding against a 5-mile wind. Bryant, a transfer from Don Bosco, ran
10.65.
200-This was one of the best matches of the night with Dutch going
against 400 winner Ray Williams (see below). Dutch blew out of the
blocks
and Williams couldn't make up the early deficit. The time, 21.52,
wasn't bad
with a 6-mile plus wind hitting the runners as they came off the
turn, No
one else was close to the top pair (Bryant was dq/d for a false
start)
400--Williams has been looking for a sub-47 scratch race since
his
early relay carries and got it here as he went off the blocks faster
than
usual and led all the way to cross the line in a MR of 46.55. In
second
place was sophomore Adian Sanderson at 47.23, effectually tying
the
hand-timed NJ class record held by Dennis Mitchell. Ron Hillian
of Eastern
edged Jade Smith of Camden for 3rd in 47.48.
800--This was the disaster event of the night., There were too
many
starters (12), but the event is so loaded this spring it would have
been
difficult to throw anyone out. (The solution might have been to
give the
favorites a better starting spot, not lane 1-2, or put more runners
in the
outside group of the so-called Calfornia start. An eight-lane track
would
have made this possible.)
As it was the runners scrambled for position around the turn and
indoor AG champ Ken Sinkovitz of Bergen Catholic crashed to the
ground. The
recall gun sounded and there was a re-start, but nither Sinkovitz
nor
Shannon Sherrer of Vineland, was able to repeat their indoor form.
The
winner was Bridgeton junior Rob Edwards, who had earlier run 3rd
in the
1600. His time was a solid 1:53.85. Two dark horses, Thomas Morley
of Haddon
Twp and Dan McDonald of South Brunswick, took the next two places,
but the
final word on this event is still to come at the Nationals.
1600: A prom date had forced Marc Pelerin of Cherokee to choose
this
race over the 3200, but the Villanova-bound Cherokee senior is the
state's
best at either distance and he proved it here, outrunning Parsippany
Hills
soph Parsippany Hills and Edwards in 4:12.74. It was a very evenly
paced
race with Pelerin and Edwards 1-2 most of the way. Zagorski moved
on the
final lap and broke the state soph record at 4:14.48.
One of the surprises in this race was Kevin Bruffy of Sparta, a
complete unknown three weeks ao, who finished 5th in 4:17.62.
3200-With Pelerin absent, Craig Segal of Holmdel had only Jim
Flannery of St. Joseph, Metuchen, to worry about and it was not
Flannery''s
night. Segal was content to lay back and let someone else buck the
hoimestretch wnds in the early going, but took command in the last
two laps
and won as he pleased in 9:22.93. K.C. Brown of Cranford was the
only one to
go with him and finished 2nd ahead of Cinnaminson soph Jon Anderson.
Gray
Reinhard of Morristown, a Princeton recruit, was 4th after leading
for a
couple of laps midway.
HH: This was, as expected, a junior battle with Jeff Porter of
Franklin edging Andre Callender of Seton hall (who led until he
hit the last
hurdle) and Irving Stills of Trenton. All three were under 14.00
in the face
of a light opposing wind. Soph David Whitehurst was impressive in
5th at
14.18, but this was his last MC, as he heads to Lawrenceville School
in the
fall (mainly to play basketball)
IH: The opening event of the meet had no surprises with Maurice
Young of Camden winning by five yards from Shareef Muhammad of Willingboro
in 53.17. Muhammad and another junior, Laejon Brooks of West Orange,
were
also under 54.00. (Mike Morrison intended to run, but was too busy
with the
HJ when the call came)
HJ: Morrison is in top form as he heads to the defense of his
National title. He cleared 7-0 with inches to spare, but went out
at 7-1.
Willingboro also grabbed 2nd place with soph Dijon Thomas clearing
6-8 and
had a third jumper tie for 6th at 6-4.
PV: Another 15-footer came along to win this one, Dave Jackson
of
Hopewell Valley, who left the rest of the field behind at 14-0,
including
Michael Hulme of Eastern, who had cleared an even 15-0 at the Gr.
IV meet.
Jackson added an inch to that as he went for a Mercer County record.
LJ: As already noted, the wind was a big help here, though it
probably also was responsible for a lot of fouling. The top two,
Anthony
Miles of Winslow Twp and Morrison, had only two fair jumps apiece,
Miles
opening with a 23-6, Morrison taking rhe lead with 24-1 on his third
effort
and Miles coming back to win on his final jump at 24-11 1/4.
TJ: This one was not completed until just about everyone went
home
and the jumping might have suffered from a lack of the enthusiasm
which
greeted the earlier LJ. Rowan Clarke of Teaneck won at 44-11 3/4,
but the
win was dimmed somewhat by the absence of Bergen County champ Jeff
Sejour of
Don Bosco, whose graduation had prevented him from qualifying the
previous
Saturday.
SP: The DiGiorgio family must have some kind of record for getting
PRs on the final throw of the competition. Glenn "won"
the event with his
opening toss of 65-1/2, but the big one came on his 6th as he sent
one our
68-1/4. Two others were past the 60-0 mark, Uzoma Orji of Matawan
at 62-5
1/2 and Adam Kuehl of Monmouth at 60-9.
DT: There was a big buildup here for the first meeting of the
season
between two 200-footers, DiGiorgio and Kuehl. But it didn't turn
out that
way. To begin with, the wind died completely during the trials,
which saw
Gabe Gonzalez of Elizabeth briefly take the lead in the third round
at
193-8, only to have DiGiorgio quickly come back with what turned
out to be
ther winning toss of 197-0.
There was an added problem. Because there are no lights available
at
SB for the weight events, the SP and DT are run simultaneously.
So Glenn and
his rivals went from the DT trials immediately to the SP trials,
then back
to the DT finals, then back to the SP finals. "I think we'll
move to Rhode
Island," said Glenn's father (and coach) Dominic, who has a
third son,
Stephen throwing close to 50-0 as a freshman this year. (He won;t
have to;
the meet is probably going back to South Plainfield and its eight-lane
track
next year).
JT: The boys have been having their problems with the international
implement this spring (the girls haven't) and there were no 200-foot
throws
going into this meet. Jim Malizia of St. Joseph, Montvale, settled
that on
his fourth throw with a 203-7, but that would remain as the sole
such mark
of the season. (It didn;t help any that 2001 214+ thrower Miles
Austin
dropped out early with an injury that will probably keep him out
of the
event permanenty---fortunately, he is also proficient in the sprints
and
horizontal jumps)
1600R: The expectations were high for this event and it lived
up to
them, though the expected close competition for the gold failed
to
materialize. Winslow Township took the lead on the first leg and
widened it
regularly on the next three, finishing weel ahead of South Jersey
rivals
Vineland, Willingboro and Eastern in a meet record of 3:12.27. (The
Camden
team dropped the stick in this one last year)
Girls
100M: Harris hasn;t had anyone close to her this year and this race
was no exception as she finished a full two yards ahead of Shameka Speed of
Bridgeton, her time of 11.96 remarkable against the stiff wind.
200M: No difference here, with Harris just doubling the margin
against Halimah Bashir of Willingboro in 24.32, this timre with
a much
lighter wind to contend with. Among the scratches in this race were
Speed,
who was in the LJ finals at the time, and Jen Whitlock of Montclair,
who
really belonged in the 100H, but missed the qualifying because of
a prom the
night before.
400M: Another race that went to form with Okechi Ogbuokiri of
Willingboro and Shakeema Martin of Lakewood repeating their Gr.
III finish,
though a bit slower in 54.76 and 55.04. The race sadly missed the
presence
of defender Tawana Watkins of Paterson Kennedy, out for the season
with a
stress fracture in her back. Queen of Peace frosh Janine Davis was
3rd, just
as teammate Anike Orimogunje had been in the two sprints.
800M: There were really two races here. In the second section,
Voorhees teammates Lindsay Owen and Sara Best went at it. Owen is
another of
the several newcomers to our sport who have made such an impact
in the state
this year. She had not run fast enough, however, at the group level
to
qualify for the top-seeded section here, but almost stole the race
when she
defeated Best in 2:12.35.
This really put the pressure on defender Kim Mineo of Glen Rock
and Katy Trotter of Red Bank. They proved just up to it with a repeat
of the
2001 race, Mineo coming off the final turn to pass Trotter and win
in
2:12.21. Katy got second by a hundredth of a second.
1600: As expected Amanda Trotter went in this one early in the
evening to even the score with another of the newcomers, Casey Nelson
of
Hunterdon Central, who had beaten both twins for the indoor title.
Se took
the lead from the start and opened a 10-yard gap on the backstretch
of the
final lap. It seemed that might be enough, but Nelson came off the
final
turn with a kick that carried her over the line almost 10 yards
ahead in
4:54.94. But her heart still belongs to soccer (she was playing
all spring
for her club team) and she will not join the Trotters on the cross-country
trails next fall.
3200: Amanda skipped a sure win here and left it to another of
the
Voorhees stars, Liz Wort, who followed the same tactics as Segal
had in the
earlier boys race, letting others set the pace, then taking over
to win in
10:49.93, dragging the next three, led by soph Erin Enderly of Ocean
Twp,
under 11:00.
100H: When Allison Nesbitt entered Mt. St. Mary's four years ago,
the girls' academy had no track team. It fielded its first squad
when she
was a sophomore and nor it has an all-group champion as Allison
ran away
from the field here in 14.31 (She had finished second to Whitlock
in the
indoor race). Junior Kim Henry of Old Bridge was second.
400H: With Watkins on the sideline. little was expected here,
so it
was quite a shock when the first two finishers went under 1:00,
Siobhan
Counts of Plainfield edging Erin Crawford of Hillsboro in 59.78.
They will
have it to do over next year as both are juniors. Willingboro had
two girls
under 1:03 in the race, relay members Rhea Mann and 400 winner Okechi
Ogbuokiri, also juniors.
HJ: Going into this one, NJ had one 5-10 jumper, senior Lisa Schenk
of Jackson. Coming out, they had two more, from the same regional
school
district, junior Debra Vento of Freehold Boro and sophomore Maura
Burk of
Freehold Twp, both of whom tied the meet record, set 21 years ago
by Tish
Edwards of Mater Dei (It is one of the few NJ records not held by
Tatiana
Smolin, who succeeded Edwards as champion and hold the overall state
record
both indoors and out; these are the next targets for Vento and Burk,
though
Maura will probably pass up indoors to play basketball). Another
soph,
Colleen Farrell of Warren Hills, aleared 5-8 to place third.
PV: A few months ago, Olivia Kalinowska was attending school in
her
native Poland. But her family joined the migration from that country
to New
Jersey and settled, not in Bayonne or Clifton, the most popular
target for
their fellow-countrymen, but deep in Ocean County. Olivia entered
Pinelands
HS and the rest is now history, as she cleared 12-0 ton win this
one from
favored Danielle O'Reilly of Shawnee, who had cleared that SR height
several
times this year, including last weekend's qualifying meet.
This should be quite a rivalry as both girls are sophomores.
LJ: The winds really did their job here, pushing five girls past
the
18-foot mark and Kelsi Russell of Phillipsburg just past 19-0. (Last
weekend, with slightly adverse winds, three of these girls were
in the
mid-17s, while two failed to make 17-0. The 100M leaders, Harris
and Speed
were in the group.
TJ: For the second year in a row, an "outsider: (defined
in NJ as
someone not from Bergen or Passaic County) won this one, Ebony Foster
of
Hillsboro just edging Trish McGowan of Ridgewood at 37-0. Most surprising
of
the finishers was frosh Brittany Bonney of Wayne Hills at 36-8 1/2.
SP: Nicola Wilson of Trenton had the final word in her year-long
battle with the Fazekas sisters as she won here at 44-6 1/2. Actually
only
Jessica Fazkas was involved, placing 2nd at 42-4, as sister Kelly
had
failed to get past the Gr. III meet. Junior Ashley Holmes of Summit
joined
the state;s large 40-foot crew in third at 41-7.
DT: Jessica Fazekas reversed things on Wilson in this event---which,
like the boys, was held simultaneously with the shot put--going
past 140-0
for the first time at 140-8. Jocelyn White of Delsea----the school
that
produced NCAA HT champ Jasmine Moton---was third at 130-1.
JT: New Jersey has an inordinate number of star basketball players
also starring in track and field this year, The list includes sprinter
Shakeema Martin of Lakewood, distance runners Sara Best of Voorhees
and
Ashley Wolf of Montville, high jumpers Burke and Farrell, hurdler
Stephanie
Machin of New Providence, but the best, both ways, may be Kelly
Robinson of
Raritah, all-state on the court, and now an all-group champion in
this event
at 141-3.
Like the other weight events, this one followed form at the top
with
Robinson finishing 14 inches ahead of Caitlin Cielo, who, like Kelly,
has a
PR over 148 feet this spring.
1600R: The question here really was not who would win, but how
fast
they would run. Willingboro's all-underclass team had been involved
more
with individual events in earlier meets and, for that matter did
a lot of
that here, Ogbuokiri running both 400s, Mann the 400 hurdles and
Bashir the
200, But they really ran this one, Okechi going under 54.0 on the
third leg
and Bashir under 55.0 on the anchor in a runaway 3:44.64 win, just
a second
off Plainfield's 21-year-old meet record.
An entry mixup at the Gr. III meet had kept Willingboro's indoor
rival, Wilson of Camden, out of the race, but, two other South Jersey
teams,
Eastern and Winslow Twp, still finished 2-3 ahead of a Trentonbteam
which
has never gotten over the loss of anchor Shabazz Kelly, also a victim
of a
stress fracture. .
Ed Grant
New Jersey State Meet home page
|
