BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer
JERSEY CITY — It appears the Jackson High School girls indoor track team owns the Ocean County title.
The Lady Jags met little resistance in claiming their third consecutive county title last Saturday by collecting a total of 84 points to win the crown easily at the Jersey City Armory.
Jackson’s nearest competitor was Brick Township, which finished with 39.
Not only was it another lopsided Jackson victory in a meet of this stature, but it marks the Lady Jags’ sixth indoor crown overall.
“We ran well as a team,” Jackson coach Alton Johnson said. “We felt pretty confident about our chances coming into this event. We knew that if we ran the way we are capable, that we would have a good chance of winning.”
Indeed, Jackson dominated from the outset and placed at least one athlete in every event as it cruised unchallenged to the championship.
Jenn Clausen captured the 2-mile race in a time of 11:17.9, besting her nearest competition by 16 seconds.
“She is one of the best in the state,” Johnson said.
“She has been running well. Staying healthy is the key for all our team members. If we’re running without injury, we can be an extremely tough team to compete against.”
The Lady Jags’ mile relay squad also posted an easy victory. The quartet of Jordan Bunch, Nicole Castranova, Ashley Mlotkiewicz and Lauren Blake took the event in a time of 4:19.8.
Earlier in the meet, Blake captured the 440 with a time of 60.9. In fact, the 440 proved to be an event the Jags scored a bunch of points in.
In addition to Blake’s victory, Jackson placed runners in fourth and fifth places as well. Bunch was fourth (62.9), while Castranova was fifth (62.9) to give Jackson valuable points.
“When you can place that many runners in a single event, you know that you have plenty of depth,” Johnson said.
“We collect a lot of points by having more than one runner place.”
Bryanna Johnson, daughter of the Jags’ coach, finished second in the 55 hurdles and third in the 55-meter dash, respectively.
Johnson’s 8.8 second time in the 55 hurdles was less than a second off the winning time. Early in the meet, Johnson posted a 7.5 in the 55 meter dash.
In the high jump, Jessica Fortune finished runner-up with a leap of 5-foot-0, while teammate Ashley Avilleira was fourth in the 2-mile run with a time of 12:23.
Amanda Marino was third in the mile run (5:31.1) and Erin Kennedy was third in the 880 in 2:31.4.
“We’re still looking forward to a couple more events,” Johnson said. “We just take it one meet at a time. We want to remain healthy and keep improving our times. Those are the two goals we are always stressing to the kids.”
LHS boys finish runner-up
Cameron Craig captured the 55-meter dash in a time of 6.7 seconds as the Piners amassed a total of 48 points to finish in second place behind Toms River North.
Steven Chennels won the 880 with a time of 2:07. Lakewood’s mile relay squad of Emanuel Mayers, Trevor Brown, Isaiah Rios and Craig won in a time of 3:41.6.
Brown also placed second behind Craig in the 55 meters with a time of 6.8.