By: Carolyn M. Hartko
South Brunswick thrower Yemi Ayeni just keeps getting better and better. The high school senior amazed the gallery at the Central Jersey Group IV Sectional Championships when his second discus throw of the preliminary round measured out at 204 feet eight inches, making Ayeni just the sixth high school boy in state history to break the 200 foot barrier.
"It was a great thing to see," Viking boys’ head coach Wil Rivera said. "Yemi’s the type of kid who wants to do well and he does well. The bigger the stage, the bigger Yemi gets. It’s nice too, because he won the Penn Relays, but this is a state meet, and he’s at his top form."
At that point, everyone knew that the gold medal was in the bag, so Ayeni could have stopped there and just enjoyed his accomplishment. The silver medal went to Jamaar Figueroa of Old Bridge who hit 164-1. But the Viking continued to take his turns, and no one was disappointed with the results. He threw 203 for his last attempt in the prelims, then went on to hit 199-11, 201 and 191 in the finals.
"It was a real nice day," Ayeni said, in what is probably the sports understatement of the year.
Surpassing 200 feet has been Ayeni’s goal all season. Up to this point, he hasn’t given much thought to the state record of 216-11 set by former New York Giant Ron Dayne of Overbrook High School in 1996. But the 204-8 is the fourth best throw in state history, and Ayeni, who has chosen the University of Virginia for his college career, still has a few meets to go this spring.
"I’m not done yet," Ayeni said. "I still have the Group meet this Friday and Saturday. And I still have the Meet of Champs. I feel something big is going to happen at the Meet of Champs, so I’m really looking forward to that.
"And then of course afterwards is the national meet. I think there’s going to be some real good competition ahead. So, the sky’s the limit. I have it in the back of my mind that I’m going to do some damage. I can’t give an exact number yet, but I know it’s going to be something good that’ll be around for a long time."
In the throwing events, all the focus at the CJ IV sectional, held at Hillsborough High School, was on Saturday’s boys’ discus. However, it was actually Ayeni’s second gold medal performance of the two-day event. On Friday evening, he won the shot put with a toss of 58-9.5, just shy of his personal best.
Next week’s Group IV Championship has the same format as the sectional a two-day meet with the shot put on Friday evening, and the discus on Saturday. Ayeni will compete in both events again, this time down at Egg Harbor Township High School. Because it is a 2½ drive from South Brunswick, Ayeni and several teammates are planning to stay overnight Friday.
One teammate who will be competing alongside Ayeni in both throwing events is fellow senior Prescott Hill. Hill threw a personal best 158-1 in the discus for third place, and he was sixth in the shot (51-1¾).
Rivera pointed out that going in to the Group IV meet, the top six seeds in the discus are all from Central Jersey, and four out of the six are from the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division. The fourth and sixth place finishers were from Franklin.
On the track, Teddy Polk took the silver medal in the 800 with a personal best time of 1:57.36. He will go into the Group IV meet as the ninth seed. That puts him in a good position to finish in the top six, which would earn him a trip to the MOC.
"(Teddy’s) coming along," Rivera said. "His times have been dropping all year. At the county meet, he finished third with a 1:59. At the Bernards meet, he ran 1:58. So, he dropped it really low on Saturday. He’s ready to go."
Polk also anchored the sixth place 4×400 relay team. Emery Greenfield, Greg Spinner, Chris Greco and Polk ran a 3:28.20, the foursome’s fastest time of the season. In the pole vault, Justin DelPiano is hoping to jump better than the 11-6 that earned him a sixth place tie at the sectionals. He will need to match or surpass his personal best of 12-6 to move on to the MOC.
The Lady Vikings have two girls moving on in the pole vault. Laura Chirico, still recovering from a sprained ankle, placed fifth by clearing 8-6, and Krista Belick was sixth (8-0).
"(The ankle is) still a little sore," girls’ head coach Brian Jost said. "She doesn’t have full mobility, but she just jumped high enough to qualify. She’s in the next meet, and hopefully a few more days of recovery will get her to almost 100 percent by next Friday."
Jost was especially pleased with a fourth place finish in the 4×400 relay. Stephanie McIntyre, Eve Mizerak, Stephanie Rodriguez and Jessie Boynton set a new school record of 4:01.24. McIntyre also advanced in the triple jump where a leap of 34-8 was good for fourth place.
The Championships for Groups I, III, and IV are set for this coming weekend at Egg Harbor. Group II, and the Parochial Groups A and B will be at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville.