By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The South Brunswick High School boys’ squad was one of the teams that took very easily to the new format for winter track instituted by the Greater Middlesex Conference. There were no scheduled outdoor dual meets, which allowed coaches and athletes to concentrate on big invitational indoor meets from Pennsylvania to New York.
Two senior Vikings especially, shot putters Yemi Ayeni and Prescott Hill, enjoyed the chance to shine. Individually, and as a relay team, they were formidable opponents every time out.
"Yemi and Prescott dominated the shot put in the state this year," Viking head coach Brian Jost said. "And both of them performing at a high level throughout the season set a good tone for the rest of the team."
The Viking duo was the top ranked two-person relay team in New Jersey this winter. They won the Marine Corps Holiday Classic, the GMC Relays, and the NJSIAA Group IV Relays. They placed one and two in the GMC individual championships, with Ayeni taking the top spot. Hill won the shot put at the Bishop Loughlin Games, and placed seventh at the Group IV Championships.
Ayeni came in second at the Hispanic Games, third in Group IV, and fifth at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions. He continued to improve after the state championship, placing third at Eastern States Championships with a personal best throw of 57-5. He went on to improve on that with a toss of 58-4.75 at the high school nationals in Landover, Maryland the weekend of March 13, earning the sixth place medal.
Ayeni and Hill were both named to the all-Red Division, and all-GMC teams, for winter track. Along with another all-Red pick, sophomore Charles Willis, this group led their team to a second place tie in the GMC Relays, and a fourth-place finish in the GMC individual championships.
"Our sprinters also performed well all through the season, but really came to a head at the Eastern States Championships where all four of them that were entered in the 55 advanced to the semi-finals," Jost said. "And then Jeremy Guzman got sixth place overall at the Eastern States, which is a tremendous accomplishment."
Guzman ran a 6.59 in the finals, where five out of the eight runners were from New Jersey. Senior Emanuel King (6.83), Willis (6.86) and junior Miguel Akena (6.97) were the other three semi-finalists.
"Our distance kids were basically young, but we had (senior) Teddy Polk out for the first time this year, and (junior) Anthony Vaverka," Jost said. "They teamed up with (junior) Emery Greenfield and (senior) Greg Spinner to run a real good 4×800 over the course of the season."
Jost was also pleased with the hurdlers who made up the shuttle hurdle team at the GMC Relays. It was the only shuttle hurdle race South was entered in all year, and Max Checo, Ian Zacharides, Demian German and Matt Johnson pulled off a fourth-place finish.
The remaining senior letter winners this past winter were Chris Adams (distance) and Axel Persaud (distance, pole vault, high jump). Rounding out the 2004-05 roster were juniors Michael Lee, David Stefanowicz, John Viotto and Joseph Wong, and sophomores Cole Crosby, Rishi Mathur and Steve Sample.
With all of the indoor experience behind them, this group will form a solid core for the upcoming spring season ahead.
