Casimir aids Princeton

Cranbury resident has a strong MCM showing

By: Justin Feil
   HAMILTON — With a team title out of reach, it was the individuals from Princeton High girls’ track team that claimed two gold medals. Natalie Gengel won in the pole vault and Libby Bliss in the 800 meters, which helped PHS to a seventh-place finish.
   Gengel won the pole vault with a clearance of 11-feet, good for the Mercer County Championships meet record, the county record overall, the PHS school record and a personal best.
   "My goal for the meet was just 11-feet," said Gengel, a junior. "It wasn’t to win or anything. I cleared 10-6 last weekend. Last weekend was first weekend I tried that height. In dual meets, I was doing whatever to win."
   Now, she has a record and a starting point for sectionals that come in two weeks.
   "It’s nice having it, but I know I can do better," Gengel said of the record. "It’s kind of a hurdle out of the way."
   While Gengel was defending her title of a year ago, Bliss ran a blistering second lap of the 800 to track down the competition and claim the first county crown of her career.
   "It was great," said Bliss, a sophomore who was also thrilled to finish fourth in the 400 in a personal best. "I always wait the first lap and never take it out. But they took it out really hard and I wasn’t sure I could come back. But when I heard my teammates and coaches yelling around 500 meters to go then, I found something inside of me and sprinted and went for it. It felt good overall. It wasn’t my fastest time, but it felt like it.".
   The Little Tigers girls finished their meet by capturing sixth in the 4×400, thanks in no small part to an ex-Cranbury School standout.
   Former Viking Elesha Casimir staked PHS to a lead by running a strong opening leg. "When I first got out, I felt really good," said Casimir, who was also fifth in the 400 in 58.36. "I knew I had to kick it because I was out in the last lane and they had the stagger so they’d be coming up on me. I just fought. I didn’t feel good at the end. I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t want to come off the track with any regrets."
   Besides Bliss and Gengel’s wins, PHS got a strong showing in the javelin and Zoe Sarnak was third with a personal best throw 115-1 and Cranbury’s Caroline Sholl was fifth in 102-4.
   For the boys, PHS’ Dan Cavallaro and Christophe Dorsey were 3-4 in the 1600, as Princeton finished ninth with 32 points.
   Besides picking up big points in the 1600 from Cavallaro and Dorsey, the Little Tigers got a third-place finish from Louis Abramson in the 800 meters, a fourth from T.R. Johnson in the shot put, a fourth from Cranbury’s Ryan Trupin in the high jump and a courageous third from Tom McKinley in the pole vault.
   "He had not jumped in a week and a half," said PHS head coach John Woodside of McKinley, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in the Little Tigers’ next to last meet. "He had been working on physical therapy and he did some run-throughs on Friday and he didn’t think he could do it. He came out here and did some jumps and said, ‘I think I feel good enough to try it.’"
   Had McKinley not missed one attempt before clearing 12-feet, he would have been in the final jump-off for the individual crown. He’ll look to return to form at the sectional meet.