leads Lady Knights
to second-place finish
Freshman Root
leads Lady Knights
to second-place finish
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff East Brunswick distance runners compete in the 800-meters during Saturday’s GMC championships at South Plainfield High School.
When the Old Bridge boys track and field team finished behind Piscataway at the recent GMC Relays, the Knights apparently didn’t like the feeling.
As a result, they entered last weekend’s GMC Championships at South Plainfield High School focused on enacting some revenge and winning another conference championship.
Mission accomplished, on both ends.
Thanks to standout performances from Ron Green and Bryant McCombs, and a flurry of top finishes in a number of events, the Knights were able to reclaim the GMC crown, holding off Piscataway, 81-69.
Old Bridge’s Sarah Root stole the show on Saturday, winning a pair of events at the GMC Championships at South Plainfield.
Green dominated the hurdle events on Saturday, first winning the 400-meter hurdles, where his time of 54.89 was nearly two seconds faster than his closest competitor. He then came back to do it again in the 110 hurdles, where he again won in relatively easy fashion in a time of 14.58.
Green also ran a 49.1 anchor in the 4×400 relay, but the Knights were unable to catch Piscataway in that event and took second with a time of 3:24.72. The Chiefs won the event in 3:23.98.
McCombs proved himself to be a sophomore with a bright future by not only winning the 400, but setting a meet record in 48.40. McCombs simply blew the field away in this race, with Sayreville’s Tim Flavaney taking second, by just over a second behind, in 49.85. The Knight youngster also ran a 49.1 split in the 4×400 relay.
Old Bridge also got a trio of second-place finishes from Chris Bezeg (1,600, 4:26.06), Mat Caporaso (3,200, 9:31.51) and Rob Allen (discus, 149-0).
Bezeg and East Brunswick’s Ryan Williams were battling it out for the lead through the first half of the 1,600, but it was Spotwsood’s Kevin Thorpe who saved his best for last, overtaking the two runners in the final 275 meters to capture the win in 4:24.65. Williams came in third in 4:29.48, followed by his teammate, Dan Gilbert, in 4:29.53.
Williams came back to win the 3,200 in 9:21.81, pulling away from Caporaso at the 150-meter mark, before winning by more than 10 seconds.
As for Allen, his throw of 149-0 was not match for South Brunswick’s Yemi Ayeni, who dominated the event, throwing 169-4 on his final attempt.
Among the other top finishers for Old Bridge were Umar Saeed (fourth in the 3,200, 9:46.07); Charlie Fradella (fourth in the shot put, 47-9 1/2); Ken Cardullo (third in the javelin, 161-5); Steve FLorek (fifth in the javelin, 153-1) and Ken Pascale (sixth in the 1,600, 4:32.16).
East Brunswick finished in third for the meet with 58 team points. On top of Williams’ win in the 3,200 and his third-place finish in the 1,600, and Gilbert’s fourth in the 1,600, they also got solid efforts from Greg Bull (third in the 800, 1:59.29; and 3,200, 9:42.49); James Correa (second in the shot put, 48-11 1/4); Kyle Grady (fourth in the 110 hurdles, 15.44); Steve Schreyer (fourth in the pole vault, 11-6); and Ralf Danise (fifth in the discus, 140-10).
Thorpe’s win in the 1,600 keyed Spotswood’s seventh-place team finish (21), while Nelson Stryker (fourth in the 100, 11.24; fifth in the 200, 22.77; and fourth in the 400 — 50.70); and Mike Dvorak (sixth in the 400 hurdles, 57.33) also scored valuable points.
Sayreville’s ninth-place team effort (18 points) was keyed by Flavaney’s efforts (second in the 400, and third in the 200, 22.48), as well as Lance Virnes (sixth in the discus, 139-7).
A.J. Parillo won the long jump with leaps of 21-8, 21-9 1/2, and 21-8, and was one of only two competitors to clear 20 feet twice. His efforts, which also included a third in the 400 (50.66) and a sixth in the 200 (22.88), led the South River Rams to a 10th-place team finish (17 points).
A fifth in the 400 from Rob McGowan (51.55) and a forth in the discus from Tim Payne (142-5) helped Monroe capture 16th-place with six points.
In recent years, a GMC boys championship has come hand-in-hand with a girls title.
Not this year. The Knights performed well, as always, but were unable to keep up with a Piscataway team that took five gold medals and a slew of other top finishes to run away with the team title with 93 points. Old Bridge finished second with 78 points.
However, one Knight athlete who certainly distinguished herself on Saturday was Sarah Root, a freshman who made her GMC championship-debut one to remember with a pair of first-place finishes.Root, who moved to the area from Ohio last year, had an immediate impact when she dominated the 3,200, winning in 11:30.55, well ahead of teammate Kaitlyn Regan, who took second in 11:50.28. Then, for an encore, she overtook the field at the 250-meter mark to capture the 1,600 in 5:19.88).
It was quite a statement from a young runner who should develop into one of the state’s elite distance runners over the next three years.
Old Bridge also got strong performances in a number of other events. Among the top point-contributors were Regan, Cristine Marquez (second in the 400, 58.80; and third in the 800, 2:23.63); Stephanie Lafergola (third in the 3,200, 11:52.81); Rachel Cruz ‚ third in the 400 hurdles, 1:09.30); Shante Wells (third in the discus, 95-2); Ashley Gonzalez (fifth in the 100, 12.68; and 200, 26.15); Rebecca Dobiesz (sixth in the 100 hurdles, 17.63); and the 4×400 relay team that took second in 4:04.39.
Brittany Hohn took second to Piscataway’s Tremaine Shaw in both the 100 (12.49) and 200 (25.64) to lead the Lady Bears to a fifth-place team finish (32). Among the other Bear athletes to contribute points were Megan Donovan (fourth in the 3,200, 11:54.75) and Dana Liteplo (second in the high jump, 5-2).
Sayreville finished in 11th (12 points) thanks to Amy Bodak (second in the javelin, 116-1) and Megan Miller (fourth in the 400 hurdles, 1:10.66), while Spotswood was 14th (seven points) thanks to Carolyn Bowers (second in the pole vault, 7-6).
Monroe’s Ely Segarra (sixth in the 1,600, 5:39.41) scored the Falcons’ lone point.
For public school track and field athletes, the road to the Meet of Champions starts with the NJSIAA State Sectional Championships on Friday and Saturday. Groups II and III will compete at Monmouth Regional, and Groups I and IV at Hillsborough. The first six finishers including ties from each event qualify for the State Groups (II, III and IV) May 28 and 29 at Egg Harbor Township. Group I will hold its championships at Notre Dame (Lawrenceville).