HHS girls pile up points in the weights

Maloney, O’Connor lead talented cast of throwers

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   The Hillsborough High girls who throw the weights understand their importance on this impressive track and field team. They’ve been piling up points to help the Raiders prevail in championship meets all season.
   This weekend, they’ll be asked to come up big once again when the Raiders attempt to win the Central Jersey Group 4 title at their home facility in Hillsborough. The competition will be fierce, especially with a loaded Jackson team in the section, but the HHS throwers are ready to accept the challenge.
   "We had a meeting about what they did in a meet they had recently and they’re pretty good," junior Taryn O’Connor said. "We’re going to have to work at it, but we have a really good chance."
   "There’s a lot of expectations," Hillsborough weights coach Chris Guglielmo said. "We hold ourselves to a pretty high standard. We want that pressure. We’re just trying to live up to it."
   O’Connor and her fellow HHS throwers have dominated the four big meets so far this spring. They swept the shot put, discus and javelin at the Skyland Conference and Somerset County relay championship meets in April, setting four meet records in the process.
   O’Connor, Ingrid Berrio and Angela Davia combined for meet records in the shot put at both events. Their season-best 112-6½ broke a 10-year-old mark by almost two feet.
   Senior Colleen Maloney led a trio of throwers to meet records in each of the other two relay championship meets. She joined Ellyn Griggs and Davia for a new javelin standard (294-7) in the Skyland Relays, where they broke a 12-year-old record by eight feet. Maloney and O’Connor joined Ali John to shatter the county relay discus record (312-4) by nearly 19 feet.
   "They work really hard and they’re determined," Guglielmo said. "They’ve been really consistent all year. Our distances have been pretty much the same. Now we’re trying to make that jump at the end."
   The dominance carried over into the May series of individual championship meets. Hillsborough went 1-2-3 in the Skyland shot put with O’Connor (41-0½), Berrio (37-9) and Davia (35-7). Maloney swept the discus and javelin titles on both the county and conference level to increase her stunning career total to nine major individual outdoor meet titles.
   All three HHS competitors scored in every throwing event at the county meet, including Meghan Morley in the discus (5th, 101-1) and Griggs in the javelin (6th, 86-11). Six different Hillsborough throwers contributed to the balanced assault.
   Hillsborough accumulated 56 points in the Skyland meet and 57 in the Somerset County meet. Those figures outscored most of the teams in the field.
   "It is a lot of pressure but it’s a good feeling for all of us because we can contribute so much to the team," said Maloney, the school record-holder in the discus (125-0) who is still about seven feet shy of Maggie Vieman’s 28-year old javelin standard.
   O’Connor, who holds the school’s indoor (41-7) and outdoor (41-9½) shot put records and owns two Meet of Champions medals, is still waiting for that real monster throw to come. She’s cleared 42 feet in practice and hopes to hit that mark in a meet. Her coaches believe she’s capable of uncorking a 45-footer.
   "I have it in me but I just have to do it in a meet," she said. "I want to get first (place) because I want us to get the points."
   O’Connor and the Raider throwers also were looking to outscore the rest of the team in a friendly challenge during the Skyland Conference Championships. They came up a fraction of a point short, but the end result was a balanced attack and another team trophy.
   Competition fuels this talented group on many levels. They want to beat the opposing schools, outscore their running and jumping teammates and rank at the top of their own event performance lists.
   "There is competition between us," O’Connor said. "It’s making me want to do better in disc. Colleen pushes me because I want to do better and I still want to keep the top mark in the shot."
   Maloney took notice when Davia, an up and coming sophomore, fired a 114-8 in the javelin. Maloney hit 126-8 last year but hasn’t been up that high in recent meets. She now has to work hard to remain in the No. 1 slot on the team.
   "We all push each other and that’s good for us," Maloney said. "We all want to be the best."
   Maloney, who has a legitimate shot to capture a Meet of Champions medal in the discus and javelin, is hoping her best throws are yet to come. She recently reminisced about Hillsborough’s last sectional title in 2003 with senior teammate Allison Marcsisin, who has returned to her old form as the team’s top distance runner.
   "I was a freshman the last time we did it," Maloney said. "As a freshman, you don’t really have any idea what’s going on. Just to be able to do that as a senior would be a special way to go out."