By: Carolyn M. Hartko
It was a long haul, but the two hour trip (one way) to the Kutztown University Indoor Track Invitational last weekend proved to be a profitable venture for the South Brunswick High School winter track teams. The Vikings collected a couple of medals, scored some personal best performances and got a chance to measure themselves against different schools from a five-state area including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
"It was crowded, and long to get there," Viking head coach Brian Jost said. "We left at 5:45 in the morning and we didn’t get back ’til nine o’clock at night. But we had some good results, and that’s the reason we went to the meet."
The Lady Viking 4×400 meter team (Eve Mizerak, Weddy Worjroh, Stephanie Rodriquez and Jessie Boynton) improved their time to 4:11, earning a set of bronze medals in the process.
"The girls’ 4×400 was our last event, and they’d been sitting around since we got there at eight o’clock in the morning. They did run individual events, but then they competed at 6:30. For them to run that time under those conditions says a lot about them as athletes and competitors."
Senior distance runner Amy Rhein picked up a fourth place medal in the 3,000 with a time of 10:58, and Rodriguez came in fifth in the 800 (2:28). Sophomore Krista Belick cleared 4-10 in the high jump for the first time, although that height was not good enough to place.
In the boys’ flights, junior Jeremy Guzman and sophomore Charles Willis made it to the final heat of the 55 dash, and they finished up 8th and 9th overall, respectively. Axel Persaud cleared 11-6 in the pole vault, a good performance considering high school athletes don’t normally get a chance to vault in the winter.
"We really can’t practice the pole vault, so we use the meets as basically practice time," Jost said. "Axel did 11-6 which is good, but 12 feet or higher was the scoring place."
In spite of the distance traveled, the new venue proved a welcome change for the Vikings, and there wasn’t another Greater Middlesex Conference team in sight. Jost brought over 40 athletes to Kutztown.
"I think everyone that went there came away seeing where they’re at at this stage of the season, and some of them ran really good times," the coach said. "So, we were pleased."
With outdoor practice spaces still covered with snow, Jost is looking to add a couple of indoor meets to the schedule to keep the Vikings in fighting trim for the NJSIAA Group IV Championships coming up in two weeks. One possibility is a dual meet at Peddie School in Hightstown. JV track and field athletes will be going to the Coca-Cola Classic at the 168th Street Armory in New York City on Feb. 19, the day before the Group IV meet.

