Hopewell Valley indoor track
By: Jim Green
The Hopewell Valley Central High School girls indoor track team had no interest in sharing this one.
A week after earning a tie with Woodrow Wilson at the state relay championships, the Lady Bulldogs went out and proved they are alone atop the heap in Group II. Junior Emily Sherrard won one event and placed second in another Sunday at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gymnasium to lead Hopewell to its third Group II individual team championship in four years. The Lady Bulldogs tallied 38 points to beat out second-place Rahway, which finished with 30.
"It was probably extra special," Hopewell coach Aaron Oldfield said. "They wanted to come out this week and prove they were the better team."
Sherrard won the 800-meter run (2:20.14) and placed second in the 1,600 (5:07.65), while senior leader Natalie Mapp came through with another clutch performance, bouncing back from two seventh-place finishes to take a critical second in the 400 (58.87). Junior Miriam Khan took fourth in the 400 (1:00.59), and also claimed sixth-place finishes in the 55 (7.52) and 200 (26.55) qualifying her for the Meet of Champions in all three events. The top six finishers in each event qualified for the Meet of Champions, which will be held Feb. 27 at Jadwin.
"It was a little bit less stressful than last week (at the Relay Championships)," Oldfield said. "We knew we had the athletes to do it. It was just a matter of performing. Everything went as planned. There were no surprises."
The Lady Bulldogs knew they would again face stiff competition. At the relay championships, they had to gut out wins in each of the last two races to claim their share of the state championship. The goal was to make sure that didn’t happen again.
"I don’t think anybody wanted a tie again," Sherrard said. "You want to be the only ones that win. It pushed everybody to work that much harder to get that extra place for one or two more points that can make a difference in the end."
And Sherrard certainly did her part, accounting for 18 of Hopewell’s 38 points. She also entered the 3,200 a race she has never run before just in case the Lady Bulldogs ended up needing points, and she placed eighth at 11:44.44. On top of that, her time in the 1,600 broke the Mercer County record.
"She came through with another one of her fantastic days," Oldfield said.
The Lady Bulldogs learned last year how slim the margin for error is at the group championships. Hopewell had won back-to-back championships before finishing just nine points behind victorious Parsippany at the 2004 Group II meet.
"Last year, we were in position to win," Oldfield said. "We just didn’t finish a couple of races like we wanted to. It’s so hard to win these championships, because you have so many teams. Everything has to be on, and everything has to click right in order to win a title."
Hopewell was clicking from the first event Sunday, as junior Kristen Volpe who played a key role as a runner at the relay championships took third in the pole vault at 8-0 for six quick points.
"That got our ball rolling," Oldfield said. "She knew what her job was, and she got the job done. We have no indoor facility for her to practice the pole vault in, so she’s really getting the short end of the stick, and she’s done a fantastic job for us."
Khan chipped in with her two sixth-place finishes, which each garnered one point.
"She’s another one of the key contributors," Oldfield said. "She doesn’t make the headlines, but she’s going to the Meet of Champions in three events. That’s just a remarkable performance."
Rahway’s LaShonda Carter single-handedly put her squad in contention for the team title, winning the 55 (7.40), the 200 (25.84) and placing second in high jump (5-2). With Carter competing in the 400, Oldfield knew his team could basically clinch the championship by outscoring her in the event.
And that’s exactly what happened. Mapp, as usual, rose to the occasion in the biggest race of the day, rebounding from her seventh-place finishes in the 55 and 200 to finish second in the 400. Khan followed in fourth, beating out Carter by one place.
"We told them they could put the meet away with a great race, and they did exactly that," Oldfield said.
Oldfield never doubted that he could count on Mapp who now holds the Hopewell Valley track program record as a member of eight state-championship teams to lead the Lady Bulldogs back to the top of Group II.
"What she brings to the program in terms of tradition and leadership," Oldfield said. "She’s soft-spoken, but you can tell she’s really passionate and cares a lot about the sport."
NOTES: Freshman Sarah Gustafson was 26th in the 800 (2:33.16), sophomore Megan Fitzpatrick was 12th in the 3,200 (11:53.33), Khan was 12th in the 55 hurdles (9:13), and sophomore Abby Harris-Shea was 17th in the high jump (4-8).
On the boys side, senior Andrew Freeman was 22nd in the 800 (2:10.42), while senior Dan Petty was 24th (2:10.60). Junior Paul Wagner was 11th in the shot put (44-0 ¼), senior Michael Batanian was 19th in the 3,200 (10:29.11), and sophomore Matt Hilderbrandt was 28th in the 1,600 (4:53.48).

