Teams impress with top-three finishes
By: Justin Feil
The Montgomery and West Windsor-Plainsboro South High girls’ teams are hoping that several top three finishes at the Lavino Relays on Saturday are only a sign of things to come this weekend in the state Group Relays to be held at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym.
Twice it took meet records to down MHS and WW-PS relays.
For the Cougars, Jen Carson and Catherine Singley took second in the long jump at 29-feet-8¾ as the team from Neshaminy (Pa.) High equaled the Lavino record of 32-feet-4.
"Those two girls are very talented to begin with," said MHS head coach Jen Riddell of her own team. "They had worked on it in the spring, but not much since then. It was pretty interesting."
MHS was also encouraged by a second-place finish in the shot put relay by Lakea Johnston and Lauren Bartos, who combined for a 59-feet-4 best.
"Lakea, being a senior, we wanted her to have that opportunity," Riddell said. "We were so excited for our shot. They were hoping to each break 30 (feet), so they were a little disappointed they didn’t get that, but then when they found out they were second, it was such a confidence builder."
With the Cougars due to run at Peddie today before taking on an always talented Group II field Saturday at Jadwin, that confidence couldn’t come at a better time. MHS also picked up a pair of fourth-place finishes in the shuttle hurdles and in the 4×800. They were sixth in the 4×400.
"Our 4×800 broke the school record," said Riddell of the 10:24.65 run Saturday by Christine Nystrom, Laura Singley, Tara Gorka and Nikki Sciotto. "Our school record before was 10:33, and what made it really nice is that it’s three of the same girls who had the old record. So they can tell they’re all improving."
The only three Pirate teams that placed all finished in the top three. WW-PS’ distance medley team of Allison Warner, Emily Piuggi, Michelle Barbarasch and Lisa Miller broke the existing Lavino Relays record of 13:18 with a time of 13:16.95, but finished second as Hopewell Valley set a lower standard.
"It’s a fast track," said WW-PS head coach Todd Smith, whose team will compete in the Group III Relays Saturday at Jadwin. "Every time we’ve run the DMR, we’ve improved. We knocked three seconds off the time we ran at the Armory (Invitational)."
The Pirates also finished second in the 4×800 and were third in the sprint medley.
"We ran our fastest time yet in the 4×800," Smith said. "Hopefully we can get a little faster in the week and come away with a few points at states.
"We ran against Hopewell, Voorhees who’s a good team and Lawrenceville had a good (4×800). When we get to states, there are so many great teams so it’ll be tough. I guess our focus will be on the DMR first since that’s what will be run first. Then we’ll see what we can do in the 4×800. We’re trying to get our 4×800 under 10 (minutes) to qualify for Penn Relays in the spring. The good thing again is that all the girls who placed are sophomores."
Warner, Barbarasch, Christina Brocker and Miller teamed up for the 4×800 and Lizzie Heron, Piuggi, Warner and Miller were on the sprint medley.
"We really didn’t know what to expect," Smith said. "We had a lot of girls who were running for the first time this year. We got the rust out a little. Last year, we couldn’t even fill relays. Now we have enough girls to fill every event on the track. We’ll have to work on the field, but our girls are coming along."
Princeton High also had three teams finish in the top eight at the Lavino Relays in preparation for the Group III Relays. The Little Tigers’ 4×200 was fourth, their sprint medley fifth and their high jump relay was sixth.
On the boys’ side, PHS had the highest finishes with a second place in the 4×400 and third in the 4×200. They were also fifth in the distance medley and eighth in the sprint medley.
Montgomery High’s boys were second in the shuttle hurdles, fourth in the 4×400 and distance medley relays, fifth in the shot put and seventh in the pole vault. The West Windsor-Plainsboro High North boys were sixth in the distance medley and the WW-PS boys were eighth in the shuttle hurdles.
And all the teams came away hoping that the experience will serve them well at the Group II and Group III Relays.
"We weren’t used to all that competition," Riddell said. "It is very important for them to see that before we get exposed to states. It helps get us some good times and hopefully seed them really well. We love the Lavino Relays. They definitely worked to our advantage."