By: Kyle Moylan
Given a chance to compete against the best, the members of the Allentown High School girls’ track team were at their best at the Penn Relays.
Allentown qualified two relays teams and one individual for competition at the Penn Relays last Thursday. The relay teams came away with two school records.
Kristi Catelli, Casey Catelli, Bisola Egbe and Jen Grabowski combined for a school-record time of 52.48 in the 4×100. Grabowski, Safiya White, Brittany Loriquet and Jessica Archer then set a school record of 4:16 in the 4×400. To show how well the girls performed, the old school record was 4:19.8.
"It was very exciting," noted Allentown girls’ track Coach Jacqueline Mulryne. "The girls were thrilled to be there and they ran their best. I couldn’t ask for any more than that."
Lina Sancilio competed as an individual in the javelin and placed 11th with a throw of 117 feet. Sancilio was seeded 15th coming into the event.
"That wasn’t her best throw, but the conditions weren’t the best for that event," Mulryne said.
In regular season action, Allentown improved to 3-1 with an 87-53 win over Princeton.
"A lot of our meets are closely matched," noted Mulryne. "I reminded the girls that every point counted. They stepped up and put their hearts and souls into this meet. It looks like an easy win. The reality is if you flip-flop a few scores, it makes a big difference."
Grabowski turned in another great performance, winning the triple jump (33-10), the long jump (16-9) and the high jump (5-2). She placed third in the 200 (26.6).
"Jen Grabowski has always been very flexible and diverse," noted Mulryne. "Even during a meet, you can switch her around to different events depending on how things are going."
Sancilio doesn’t switch around to many events, but she dominates the ones she’s in. Sancilio won the shot (29-1) and the javelin (111-9). Liana Hernandez added a third in the discus (70-4) and Bonnie Kizis was second in the discus (81-6) and third shot (27-3) to give Allentown additional points in the throwing events.
White won the 400 hurdles (1:13.1) and was third in the 400 (1:06.2).
Bisola Egbe was first in the 100 hurdles (17.5), second in the 100 (13) and third in the long jump (15-5).
Kristin Qutub also placed in three events. She was second in the 800 (2:44.5) and third in the 1600 (5:44.8) and 3200 (13:16.2).
Rounding out the results, Erin Donaghy won the 1600 (5:39.5), the 4×400 team won (4:32), Loriquet was second in the 400 (1:06.) and third in the 400 hurdles (1:16.1), Raquel Redwood was second in both the high jump (4-8) and pole Vault (8 feet), Kristi Catelli was second in the long jump (16-4) and third in the high jump (4-8), Allison Donaghy was second in the 3200 (12:40.4), Mackenzie Lamb was third in the pole vault (7-4) and Quianna Volney was second in the 400 hurdles (1:15.1).
Allentown was scheduled to compete against Hamilton and Lawrence this past Tuesday. On Saturday, Allentown will be competing in the Long Branch Relays. On Wednesday, Allentown will be at Hopewell Valley for a meet.
"The year has gone about the way I thought it would," Mulryne said. "We have a very good team. The competition is also very good. A lot of these meets can go either way."
More often than not, this year they have gone in Allentown’s direction.
BOYS
The Allentown High School boys’ track team was defeated by Princeton, 76-64.
Despite the loss, Cameron Grant had a tremendous day, winning the 100 (11.3), the 400 (52.3) and 200 (23.7). Grant also joined Tian Shackleford, Jim Fisher and Lee Varanyak as part of the winning 4×400 team.
Nick Sancilio had a great day in the throwing events, placing first in the javelin (123-8), second in the discus (95-9) and third in the shot (39-4).
Jarret Huneke was first in the high hurdles (16.4) and second in the 400 hurdles (1:01.5).
Dennis Smith won the long jump at 17-8 and was third in the high jump (5-3).
RHS
Freshman Courtney Stewart continued her successful season for Robbinsville’s young track team, taking sixth place in the varsity high jump at the Lions Invitational with a leap of 4-6.
The rest of the Ravens fared well in a mixture of varsity and freshman events at Middletown North High School. The team was scheduled to join Princeton and Nottingham in a meet this past Tuesday.
Robbinsville will be hosting a meet today (May 5) against the against the JV squad from West Windsor Plainsboro.
"It is a chance to share the new facility with friends and family of the track program, and to let the kids have a home meet this year," noted Robbinsville Coach Scott Copperman.
