Rainey wins 100, Leslie places in jumps
By: Bob Nuse
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys’ track team didn’t come close to winning a team championship at the Central Jersey Group III meet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a great meet for the Knights.
Three of their athletes advanced to next weekend’s state Group III meet, led by Iquan Rainey, who won the 100 meters, and Jerome Leslie, who placed in all three jumping events.
"It was a pretty good meet for us," North coach Brian Gould said. "Iquan had a very good day. He won the 100 and was third in the 200. And Jerome had a real nice meet, qualifying in all three jumping events. That’s a great accomplishment for him to be focused enough to do that.
"And we also had Sean McNulty qualify in the 3200, which was nice for him after he had run the 1600 a day earlier."
Rainey, a transfer from Monmouth Regional, returned to his former home track and won the 100 in impressive fashion. He finished in 10.97, edging Neptune’s Cory Nelms by .01.
"We talked before the 100 and his goal was to win the event," Gould said. "He knew he could win it if he ran his best race. The 100 is always such a tough event to tell what might happen. The competition was real good, but he ran a great race. He was excited to go back and see a lot of his former teammates and he had a great meet.
"He didn’t have a great Mercer County meet the week before, so I think he might have come into the meet a little under the radar. But we knew he was capable of winning if he ran his best."
Rainey also finished third in the 200 in 22.19, just .55 behind former teammate Charles Cox from Monmouth. Leslie qualified for the Group III meet in the long jump, triple jump and high jump. He was third in the high jump with a 6-foot effort, sixth in the long jump with a 20-11½, and third in the triple jump with a 44-8¼ effort.
"That’s a great accomplishment for him," Gould said. "To be that focused for three different events and to be able to prepare like that. He had been hurting a little in practice all week with his hamstring, so we weren’t sure what to expect.
"He was a little disappointed in his long jump. It wasn’t his best, but he got through and now he has a week to get healthy. But his triple jump was a great effort. He was only a quarter inch off his best. He really wants to get to 45-feet and hopefully he can do that next week."
McNulty, who was ninth in a very fast 1600 meters, bounced back and finished fifth in the 3200 meters in 9:5238.
The WW-P South boys performed well and finished third in Central Jersey Group IV. The Pirates finished with 56 team points. Old Bridge easily won the CJ IV title with 145 points. Brian Leung and Sifiso Takirambude had the top finishes for the Pirates, as each took a second place on Saturday.
Leung finished second in the 3200 meters with a time of 9:40.1. He was also third in the 1600 meters with a time of 4:22.9. Takirambude was second in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 14.3. He also took a third place in the 400 hurdles with a time of 55.5. Takirambude also was part of the 1600-meter relay team that finished third, joining Joe Brown, Stuart Adams and Brian Soltau.
The Pirates received third places from Soltau in the 200 meters and Andrew Long in the pole vault. Soltau was fourth in the 400 meters and Josh Fitzgerald was fourth in the javelin. Brown took sixth in the 400 meters, while Drew Lachenmayer was sixth in the discus.
Montgomery was fourth in the North Jersey, Section 2 Group III meet. The Cougars finished with 36 team points. New Brunswick won the sectional title with 79 points.
Ben Copeland had the best day of any of the Cougars, as he won the 110 hurdles in 14.71 and was second in the 400 hurdles in 54.28. Ryan Warner was third in the 800 meters (1:58.42) and fifth in the 400 meters (50.88).
Jon Friemark was fourth in the 800 meters in 1:59.11, while Connor Paladino was fifth in the long jump (20-feet, 6-inches) and Kyle Rotter was fifth in the pole vault (12-feet). Kevin Schroek was sixth in the high jump (5-10).
Princeton finished 12th in the CJ III meet with 19 points. Tom Hellestern had the top finish of any of the Little Tigers with a second in the long jump (21-10). Pinto Adbola and Mike Grier finished tied for fourth in the high jump at 6-feet.
Adam Brunner finished fifth in the discus (144-10) and Dan Cavallaro was fifth in the 1600 meters (4:28). Max Wooley finished sixth in the pole vault with an 11-foot effort.

