Strong openers for South

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   The disappointment of having last Saturday’s opening day rained out was quickly washed away for the South Brunswick High School Track teams with double victories over Edison on Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Vikings upended the visiting Lady Eagles 85-55, and the boys smothered Edison 118-23 on the road.
   Saturday’s meet, the Greater Middlesex Conference Coaches’ Association Relays, had been re-scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 16 at South Plainfield.
   "Overall, it was a very good first performance for everyone," Lady Viking head coach Brian Jost said. "On Saturday, we could have put kids in relays where they have a chance to compete on a low stress level of competition. Instead, they were thrown into a dual meet against another school. And I think they performed with class, with dignity, and with some good performances all across the board — distances, weights, hurdles, and definitely jumps and sprints. We were real pleased all the way."
   The Vikings swept the 100 and 400 meter sprints, aced the 4×400 relay, and took second and third in the 200. Eve Mizerak led the field in the first two events. Jessie Boynton and Simone Hill tied for second in the 100, and Stephanie McIntyre and Hill took second and third in the 400. Boynton and Danielle Hudak finished second and third in the 200. In the 4×400, the final race of the day, Laura Chirico led off, passing the baton to Hudak. Olivia Falcon ran the third leg, and Rebecca Russo anchored.
   Amy Rhein was a double winner, taking the 1600 and 3200 long distance races. Stephanie Rodriguez led a Viking sweep in the long jump, followed by Chirico and Hill. Chirico aced the pole vault by clearing 8-0, and Krista Belick came in third there (6-6). Senior Noelle Johnson placed second in both the shot put and discus.
   Three freshmen announced their arrival on the GMC spring track scene by collecting their first varsity points. Falen Watson, who ran winter track, was second in the intermediate hurdles, and third in the 100 high hurdles. Hudak added a second in the high hurdles and third in the triple jump, to her leg on the winning relay. Hill also scored in three events in her first outing as a Lady Viking.
   This is the second year that the pole vault has been a mandatory part of dual meets for girls, and the triple jump was added this year. Jost sees some problems with the latter event because female bone structure leaves the girls more prone to injuries in this event than their male counterparts.
   "It’s a high-stress event," Jost said. "You can’t really practice it that much, because it puts a lot of extra stress on the legs, and the girls’ bones are just not capable of handling the high stresses that come with practicing that event, and then competing. So, we just try to low-key (the triple jump) and save most of the effort for competition. We’ll do drills on the grass and break down the different parts of the jump. But we don’t really do triple jumping in practice."
   The boys had outstanding performances all around in their blowout at Edison, winning 13 of the 16 events. Teddy Polk won the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, ½ inch. Jeremy Guzman came in first in the 100 and 200, and Yemi Ayeni took the shot and discus, and placed second in the javelin. Sophomore Max Checo was second in the 400 hurdles, high hurdles, and the triple jump.
   "We have a lot of new guys out, so I think it was a good first meet for those guys to get some experience in spring track, and get some of the rust off, especially for the kids who were coming over from winter track," boys’ head coach Will Rivera said. "We’ve been training for months, and finally got to compete against another school."
   The teams will switch places next Tuesday with the boys hosting Perth Amboy, and the girls’ traveling to the Lady Panthers’ track.