By: Carolyn M. Hartko
South Brunswick winter track athletes continued to have success at their favorite indoor venue. The Vikings took part in the Hispanic Games held this past weekend at the 168th Street Armory in New York City. The popular event drew schools from eight states in the northeast, with varsity competition held on Saturday, and freshman, sophomore, and novice events on Sunday.
"There were over 250 schools there over the course of two days," Viking head coach Brian Jost said. "There were close to 200 schools there (Saturday), and a little over 50 there (Sunday). There were over 5,000 competitors in total. This is the first year that they’ve split it into two days. Otherwise, they would have tried to do it all in one day, which would have been insane."
With such a large field, Yemi Ayeni’s silver medal in the varsity boys’ shot put is very impressive. He set a new school record with a toss of 56-6½ . Fellow senior Prescott Hill matched his personal best with a throw of 51-1¼ , earning the sixth-place medal.
For most of the events that day, medals were awarded for a top-six finish. However, in the 3,000 meter race, plaques were given to those who finished in the top ten. Senior Amy Rhein picked up a seventh place plaque with a school record time of 10:50.
But it wasn’t just the medal performances that impressed Jost this past weekend. Junior Jeremy Guzman came in ninth in the 55 dash. Then Guzman, Charles Willis, Mike Lee and Miguel Akena ran a 1:34.66 in the 4×200, which is an excellent time for this point in the season. Ditto for Eve Mizerak, Weddy Worjroh, Olivia Falcon and Jessie Boynton, who clocked a 1:50.89 in the girls’ flight of the same race.
"Jessie and Weddy also ran well in the 400," Jost said. "Weddy ran a 61 flat, which may be a freshman class record. And Jessie ran a 61.19. She’s a sophomore."
Most of the Viking varsity athletes competed very well at the Hispanic games. A few other individuals who stood out were Stephanie Rodriquez (2:27, 800), Teddy Polk (2:04, 800) and Steve Sample (4:45, 1600).
The Vikings also earned several sets of medals on Sunday in freshman, sophomore, and Class (or novice) flights. The later was open to any track or field athlete regardless of year in school who had not earned a varsity medal so far this season.
John Viotto (43 feet) and Joe Johnson (38) won the class shot put relay with a combined total of 81 feet. The Lady Vikings placed fourth and sixth in the Class 4×800. Kirsten Kisch, Megan Jago, Laurie Kamm and Laura Transue came in fourth, followed by Samantha Cohen, Amanda Gogolin, Amy Lynch and Polly Massaro in sixth.
In sophomore action, Najeeb Hussain, Eli Chamoun, Anthony DeNuzzo and Rishi Mathur placed fourth in the 4×800, and Mandeep Singh, Max Checo, Connie Kodersha and Amite Padte came in sixth in the 4×200.
Rebecca Russo and Alyssa Reinfeldt won the freshman girls’ high jump with a combined height of 8-8. Russo, Falen Watson, Danielle Hudak and Reinfeldt also took home medals for the 4×200 and the 4×400. Steve Lewis, John Liptak, Brian Presti and Chris LaCorte won bronze medals in the freshman boys’ 4×800, and Pete Fiorentino, Juho Chah, Matt Kirbos and Chris Raghavan picked up sixth in the 4×200.
The Viking underclassmen where scheduled to compete in an informal dual meet at J.P. Stevens on Tuesday of this week. The varsity athletes were staying behind to practice for the NJSIAA Group IV Relays which will be held at Jadwin Gym in Princeton Saturday.
