By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The venue may have been different, but the faces were the same. The South Brunswick High School girls’ track team traveled to Matawan for the Huskie Relays last weekend, but found themselves matched against a lot of familiar Greater Middlesex Conference foes in Division III, the flight for the larger schools.
Old Bridge came away with the team title in Division III, and the Lady Vikings finished in fifth place, behind fourth-place Piscataway. Sayreville and East Brunswick also finished in the top 10.
South Brunswick placed in five running and two jumping events, but did not enter any of the throwing events on Saturday.
"We held our own against them," Viking head coach Brian Jost said of his GMC neighbors. "We’re still trying out different things in some of the relays. We knew without the weights we’d have no shot at the team championship, but we wanted to see how some other people in different positions would be able to perform.
"We were pleased with the results. It gave the girls another opportunity to compete on a Saturday. Our main goal is to be ready for the GMC Relays later on in May, but this gives the teams a sense of where they’re at right now, and as (the GMC meet) approaches, we’ll see what we have to work on to help the girls improve."
South Brunswick continues to shine in the sprints. Natalya Johnson, Shafeeha Potts, Denise Thompson and Lauren Broadnax took silver medals for both the 4×100 and 4×200 meter races. In the sprint medley, Broadnax ran the opening 400 leg, passing off to Shante Slaughter and Eve Mizerak for the 200 portions. Amy Rhein ran the 800 anchor leg, bringing the team up from fourth into a second place finish. Rhein’s split of 2:33 was four seconds faster than her previous best for an 800.
The Vikings came in third in the shuttle hurdles (Johnson, Potts, Broadnax, Dayna O’Connor) and sixth in the 4×400 (O’Connor, Thompson, Slaughter, Mizerak).
Because of the six-jump rule in the high jump, O’Connor and Potts only got to clear 4-8 each, but that still gave them the bronze medal in that event. Johnson and Thompson combined for fourth place in the long jump.
Although they didn’t place, Jost felt that his distance medley team (Lauren White, Slaughter, Jessica Mandel and Rhein) ran well in their race. And he entered an all-freshman team in the 4×800, to give some different people a chance to run in competition. Laurie Kamm, Megan Jago, Monica Patel and Laura Transue did a nice job in that event.
In spite of South’s good showing, Jost will probably look for a different venue next year, as the Huskie meet has grown too big to manage efficiently.
"There were too many teams," Jost said. "It started at nine in the morning and we were still running at seven at night. Especially considering that we started in heavy rain. Luckily, that stopped around noon, and it got sunny and warm, but you’re just there all day long. It’s just too much. Six, seven hours is fine for the kids, and the coaches, but this was about 10 hours."
The Viking boys did not travel to Matawan, but they will get their turn this coming weekend at Holmdel. Jost also intends to enter a few of the Lady Vikings in sprints, hurdles, high jump and long jump on Saturday.
In dual meet action, both Viking teams lost to Old Bridge this past Tuesday. The 93-38 loss drops the boys to 1-2. They were overpowered on the track, but did well in the field events at Old Bridge. Tyrel Thompson cleared 6-0 to win the high jump, and Axel Persaud took the pole vault (11-0). James Ivey completed the sweep in the jumps with a leap of 20-1 ¼ in the long jump. Luke Steepy won the discus with a toss of 150-9.
The Lady Knights (2-0) just snuck past the Vikings 68-62 at South Brunswick. The meet was a preview of the two county championships, and athletes from both squads showed their best.
For example, in the discus, Viking Kim Yee won with a toss of 105-5, but two other girls also broke 100. Viking junior Morghan Transue came in second at 103-8, and Kim Stengle of Old Bridge took third (101-5).
On the track, Broadnax won the 400 (59.1), followed by teammate Johnson in 1:00.2. Christine Marquez of Old Bridge came in third (1:01.3). There was another close finish in the 4×400 which South won 4:10.3 to 4:10.9. Other SB firsts went to Potts (400 hurdles, tie for high jump), O’Connor (5-0, high jump), Johnson (17-7, long jump) and Risa Levine (7-0, pole vault). The Lady Vikings are now 1-1.
