BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Jackson’s Amanda Marino holds a slight lead over Freehold Township’s Charlotte Walsh and Monsignor Donovan’s Amanda Cavallo en route to winning the 1,600-meter race at Sunday’s Shore Conference Indoor Championships at Red Bank Regional. LITTLE SILVER — Alton Johnson never expected it to be this easy.
In fact, the Jackson High School girls indoor track coach projected that his squad was going to be pressed to retain its Shore Conference championship.
“I figured this meet was going to be tougher than the group championship,” Johnson said. “The Shore Conference teams can be quite competitive.”
The Lady Jaguars easily outdistanced the rest of the field en route to compiling a total of 77 points to win their third consecutive Shore Conference crown last Saturday at Red Bank Regional High School.
“I thought the kids performed extraordinarily well,” Johnson said. “You never know what to expect when you have a squad that is as young as ours. They were certainly prepared to run today.”
Of course, Jackson’s chore of defending its title was a bit easier when Colts Neck decided not to compete.
“They have a very talented club,” Johnson said. “There is no doubt that they could have scored some points. I still think that we would have come out on top in the end. We have a very talented team.”
Jackson got a huge performance from distance runner Amanda Marino, who captured two events as the Jags raced to an early lead and never looked back.
Marino won both the 800 and 1,600 meters. She posted a winning time of 2:18.68 in the 800 and won the 1,600 in 5:15.51.
“We told her not to worry so much about time,” Johnson said.
“She ran a couple of real solid races. She is ahead of where she was last year at this time. Now, we just have to make sure that we keep everyone healthy for the outdoor season, which is coming up in the spring.”
Jenn Clausen, who still is not 100 percent, won the 3,200 meters in a time of 11:15.83. Her nearest competitor was more than 11 seconds behind.
“She keeps getting stronger and stronger,” Johnson said. “She’s taken 10 seconds off her time from the group meet. As she continues to get stronger, she is going to keep lowering that time.”
Jackson’s depth proved too much for opponents. The Lady Jaguars compiled 31 points after two events.
“We just put it on cruise control after that point,” Johnson said.
Nicole Castronuova was runner-up in the 400 meters behind Ocean’s Tiffany Grant. Castronuova’s time of 59.25 was less than a second slower than Grant. Teammate Kim Menafra was third in a time of 59.31 as Jackson picked up bonus points for the 2-3 finish.
Kelly Fortune finished second in the 55 hurdles in 8.94 seconds.
In addition, Fortune was tied for fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-0.
In the 55-meter dash, Lakewood High School’s Shavon Graves finished first in a time of 7.27. Jackson placed two runners in the top six in the event. Menafra was fourth (7.56) and Jordan Bunch was fifth (7.64).
Jackson’s 4×400 relay team of Bunch, Menafra, Castronuova and Ebere Oktaraeke was second in a time of 4:10.20.
Howell’s Anna DiPaolo was fourth in the shot put (35-4). Lakewood’s Deanne Hahn was the lone girl over 40 feet with her winning throw of 41-0.
Rebecca Graziano finished sixth in the shot put with a toss of 33-8.
Johnson doesn’t know what to expect when he takes 17 athletes to the Meet of Champions Sunday at Princeton University.
“It should be very interesting,” he said. “They’re young and hungry and capable of doing great things. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Sunday’s Indoor MOC in Jadwin Gymnasium will start at 9 a.m.