Viking girls say nighty-Knights

SBHS breaks Old Bridge’s four-year hold on GMC track & field crown

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   SOUTH PLAINFIELD – The South Brunswick High School girls team was the surprise winner of this year’s team title at the Greater Middlesex Conference Track and Field Championships, held last Saturday at Frank Jost Field. The victory broke a four-year reign by Old Bridge, and helped avenge losses to the Lady Knights in both a dual meet, and the GMC Relay Championships earlier in the season.
   The Vikings placed in 11 out of the 15 events, winning two, to amass a total of 105.5 points. Old Bridge had to settle for second (93 points). They were followed by Piscataway (64.5), East Brunswick (39) and Bishop Ahr (26).
   No one was more surprised with the upset than Viking head coach Brian Jost.
   "To be perfectly honest, we felt we had a better shot during the relays than we did during the open," Jost said. "We thought that they would score a lot more points in the distances than they actually did. Last year, (Old Bridge) went one, two, three in one distance event, and one, two, four in another, which is a tremendous amount of points. We thought they had the same capabilities this year as they did last year, but we were proven wrong."
   Jost, along with other observers, had failed to factor in some top-notch distance runners from Edison, Bishop Ahr and Woodbridge, all of whom played a part in knocking a few points off the Old Bridge total. For the rest of the events, South Brunswick’s performance was senior-dominated.
   Natalya Johnson won the intermediate hurdles with a personal best time of 1:04.5, and she was close to her personal best for second place in the long jump (17-10). Johnson also came in fourth in the 200 meter sprint (26.53), and she ran a leg on the second place 4×400 squad which set a school record (4:02.47).
   Senior Lauren Broadnax earned a silver medal in the 200 (25.82), finished third in the open 400 (senior class record of 58.22), and ran on the 4×400 relay team. Classmate Dayna O’Connor added a fourth in the high hurdles (15.63) and a fifth in the high jump (4-10).
   Another senior who made a mark on Saturday was thrower Kim Yee. She started out the day with a second in the shot put (33-7.5), and closed out the meet with a gold medal in the discus. Yee started out a little shaky in that event. She threw 100-4 in the seeded flight, then had two wild tosses, one of which sailed over an eight foot fence.
   "I got too nervous," Yee said. "Usually, I throw calmly. I had to tell myself, ‘I’ve done it before, I will again.’"
   Yee was seeded third going into the finals, but moved into the top spot on her first attempt with a 107-3. Her second throw was in the same range, but it was the final effort that brought gasps from the gallery.
   Yee left the field in the dust when she landed the disc at 118-7. Morghan Transue made it a one-two punch for the Vikings when she hit 106-3 on her last attempt in the finals to take second place. That’s just three inches shy of her personal best.
   "I was very confident (going in)," Transue said. "Because I knew I could do it. This is my fifth year throwing disc, so if I couldn’t do it this year, that’s kind of sad."
   Transue is just one of several talented juniors who will step into leadership positions next year. Classmate Shafeeha Potts earned the silver medal in the 100 hurdles (15.42), a bronze in the 400 hurdles (1:07), and she tied for sixth in the high jump. Juniors Risa Levine (7-0) and Leah Woogen (6-6) brought in 14 points by going second and third in the pole vault.
   Sophomore Amy Rhein saved the Vikings from being completely shut out in the distance races when she came in sixth in the 3200 (11:45.78).
   Luke Steepy scored the highest finish on the boys’ side when he threw 134-10 for second place in the discus. Other medals went to James Promise for third in the long jump (pb of 20-10¾), Ankush Patel in the 3200 (4th, pb of 9:54.14), Axel Persaud in the pole vault (4th, 10-6), Tyrell Thompson in the high jump (5th, 6-0) and James Ivey in the high jump (6th, 5-10).
   "Honestly, I was disappointed," boys head coach Wagner Marseille said. "I expected better performances from a lot of the guys. I knew coming in that coming out with a championship was going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, I did come in with expectations that guys were going to run a lot better than they did. And that didn’t happen."
   The Vikings used the momentum from their GMC triumph to fuel a good showing at the 33rd Annual East Coast Relays held at Morristown High School on Monday evening. Medals were awarded down to 10th place, and SBHS came home with four sets of hardware and three school records. Yee and Transue came in second in the discus (208-11). The school records were all set in the sprints. Potts, Johnson, O’Connor and Broadnax were third in the shuttle hurdles (1:03.68).
   In the 4×100, it was Denise Thompson to Johnson, to Potts to Broadnax for seventh place in 49.62. In the sprint medley (4:16.71), Johnson and Thompson led off with the 200 legs, followed by Broadnax (400) and Potts (800).
   Looking to the future, Jost set up an all-class squad which finished 11th in the 4×200 (1:51.5). The baton went from O’Connor, a senior, to junior Shante Slaughter, sophomore Anisa Ramos, and freshman Eve Mizerak.
   Both Viking squads will be at Hillsborough High School this coming Friday (4 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m.) for the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV Sectional Championships. This meet is the first step on an athlete’s road to the Meet of Champions.
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   The boys won their second dual met of the season, 90-41, over Woodbridge last Thursday. Promise won the long jump with a pb of 20-6 and the 800 with a 2:03. Thompson had a huge day, winning the 400 (53.4), 200 (pb 23.6), high jump (6-0) and running on the winning relay team with Antony Promise, Emmanuel King and Steve Guadeloupe, Dan Mura won the pole vault (10-0), Greg Spinner won the 3200 (10:35) and Yemi Ayeni won the javelin (131-7) and discus (150-7).