Senior wins two events and sets meet record in discus
By: Carolyn M. Hartko
A few spectacular individual performances led to a solid second-place finish in the team competition for the South Brunswick High School boys’ track team at last Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Track and Field Championships. Old Bridge edged the Vikings out for the team title 90-82, while East Brunswick and Piscataway tied for third at a distant 53 points
"Old Bridge has a lot of star power in most events, and we weren’t going to score in every event," Viking boys’ head coach Wil Rivera said. "I knew that, but we wanted to win, of course. Actually, as close as it was, we were as happy as you could be with finishing second."
Yemi Ayeni was one of three area athletes to capture two gold medals at the day-long meet held at South Plainfield. Ayeni threw a personal best of 59-6½ in the shot put, and cruised to victory in the discus with a 194-7. That distance demolished the old meet record of 177 feet set by Gary Williky of Madison Central (now Old Bridge) in 1976.
Fellow Viking senior Prescott Hill earned a silver medal in the shot (52-4) and a bronze in the disc (156-2). Justin Del Piano cleared 12 feet for second in the pole vault, and Teddy Polk hit 41-8 for third in the triple jump.
On the track, the Vikings had a good day, with all of South’s medal winners posting their best automatic times. Vince Davidson placed second in the 100 meter dash (11.25 seconds) and fourth in the 200 (22.8). Jeremy Guzman tied for third in the 100 (11.31), and he was just behind Davidson in the 200 (22.81). Coron Short also recorded his best automatic times in the 400 intermediate hurdles (4th, 57.81) and the open 400 (6th, 50.15).
South took third and fifth in the 800 with Polk (2:00.44) and Greg Spinner (pb of 2:00.89). In the just-missed category, Steve Sample finished seventh overall in the 3200, just two seconds away from a medal (10:01.32). Cole Crosby was 10th in the same race (10:14.93). Both those times were personal bests.
The Lady Vikings had a much tougher time on Saturday. Piscataway and Old Bridge battled back and forth for the team title, and the Chiefs finally came out on top 90-81. East Brunswick was third (51) followed by South Brunswick (46). But Lady Viking head coach Brian Jost felt his squad had done the best they could.
"At the relays, we were disappointed because the girls could have done better," the coach said. "And here, we were happy with the way they performed, under tough competition. We got a lot of personal bests, so we couldn’t ask for anything more."
Indira Morton led the way with a gold medal in the javelin (pb of 116-0), and a bronze in the long jump (16-8). She just missed a third medal with a 7th place finish in the shot put (32-3). Noelle Johnson captured the silver in the discus (103-3).
In the jumps, sophomore Stephanie McIntyre set a school record in the triple jump, and earned second place, with a leap of 36-2.75. Krista Belick took fifth in the pole vault by clearing 7-6.
On the track, Jessie Boynton clocked a personal best of 59.34 in the open 400, which put her in fourth place. Amy Rhein took fifth in the 3200 (11:56.34).
Although she didn’t place, Stephanie Rodriguez earned a "comeback kid" award for a 2:26 in the 800. Rodriguez is coming off an injury, and missed a month of practices and meets. In the same race, Jess Engel should have received an award for courage.
"Jess got tripped at the start of the 800," Jost said. "And then when they restarted the race, she ran a 2:29. Even though that didn’t score, it just showed a lot of guts and determination on her part."
South finished out the day by coming in third in the 4×400 relay (4:03.95) with McIntyre, Eve Mizerak, Weddy Worjroh and Boynton.
"Our fastest time was a 4:02 which is the school record, and this is the second fastest," Jost said. "And they can do better. They had a good day and ran well, but if each of them improves by five-tenth’s of a second, which is not a lot, you’re down to 4:01 point something. They still have a few meets where they can run that."
Jost is referring to the state meets coming up later this month, and next Tuesday’s final dual meet of the season against Piscataway. They boys are home, and the girls are away. The top SB performers will also be competing on Monday at the East Coast Relays. Jost is taking his 4×100, 4×200, 4×800 and sprint medley teams. The boys are entered in the 4×200, 4×800, and the two-man shot put.
FOOTPRINTS: At the GMC meet, Falen Watson racked up personal bests in both hurdles races with 1:12.25 in the intermediates, and 17.59 in the high hurdles . . . top Lady Viking pole vaulter Laura Chirico had to sit out the GMC individual championships because she twisted her ankle in the county relays . . . The girls beat Stevens 92-42 in this past Tuesday’s dual meet as Eve Mizerak won the 100 and 200, Boynton won the 400, Rodriguez the 800, Engel the 1600, Rhein the 32200, Morton the long jump, shot and javelin, McIntyre the triple jump, Belick the pole vault and Johnson the discus . . . the younger Lady Vikings will be at J.P. Stevens tomorrow night (Friday) for the annual freshman/sophomore meet.

