NEHS boys’ track excels at relays

By: Kyle Moylan
   With this past Tuesday’s meet against Florence called off, the New Egypt High School boys’ track team has only made one appearance thus far this season.
   It was a good one.
   New Egypt brought a small but very capable group to the Moorestown Relays this past Saturday and placed in numerous events.
   The sprint medley team placed first among all the small schools in the event, but that wasn’t the whole story of the 3:45.6 effort by Justino Roman (200), Langston Lacroix (200), Davion Clanton (400) and Sean Vazquez (800).
   "Our qualifying times were so fast, they put us in with the large schools," New Egypt Coach Sam Palumbo noted. "Cherokee is the only school in the whole meet that beat us.
   "A lot of schools were probably wondering what New Egypt was doing running against these big schools. We surprised a lot of people."
   The 4×100 team of Matt Van Norman, Roman, Clanton and LaCroix placed third in a time of 45.93. That time and the one in the sprint medley both set school records.
   Clanton (19′ 4"), and Lacroix (17′ 9") placed third in the long jump. Van Norman (36′ 5") and Lacroix (36′ 3") were fourth in the triple jump.
   "I was absolutely pleased," Palumbo said. "We competed with the top teams in the state and beat a lot of them.
   "We didn’t bring that many kids. And the ones we brought, we didn’t want to spread out too thin. We wanted to run a few events and get some good times."
   This was also an opportunity to get Vazquez into a 5000 race, which is not usually run in high school. He placed sixth in a time of 16:42, a school record.
   "The five kids that beat him were all Meet of Champion runners from cross country," Palumbo noted. "He (Vazquez) took a lot of time off from what he ran in cross country."
   New Egypt’s scheduled meet versus Florence on Tuesday was called off. The New Egypt girls will compete in the Willingboro Relays on Saturday. Both teams will face Riverside on Monday.
   AHS GIRLS

   The Allentown High girls’ track team was defeated in its season opener by Princeton, 82-57.
   Despite the setback, Allentown had several excellent individual efforts.
   Rachel Scheuerman was first in the 100 (13) and 200 (27.2).
   Brittany O’Brien was first in the shot (29′ 1"), third in the discus (71′ 9"), second in the pole vault (6 feet) and third in the 200 (28.5).
   Quiana Volney was first in the 400 hurdles (1:10.6) and second in the 400 (1:03.7).
   Mary Sancilio was second in the high jump (4′ 10") and javelin (76′ 3").
   Bea Pesciotta was first in the discus (90′ 9") and javelin (90′ 9") Brittany Loriquet was second in the triple jump (32′ 1.5") and third in the 400 hurdles (1:15.5).
   AHS BOYS

   The Allentown High School boys’ track team picked off where it left off from an excellent 2006 season with a 74-66 win over Princeton.
   Matt Sancilio led the way with wins in the discus (115′ 6") and javelin (160′ 1").
   Mike Bartoli was first in the 400 hurdles (58.6) and third in the 200. Brett Taft had similar results with a first in the triple jump (38′ 6") and third in the high jump (5′ 6").
   Sadiki White (4:39.1 in the 1600) and Antonio Trapanese (10′ 6" in the pole vault) also managed firsts.
   Gries was first in the 110 hurdles (17) and second in the high jump (5′ 6").
   The 4×400 of Bartoli, Andrew McGovern, Matt Henderson and Garth DeBlasio won in a time of 3:40. Stephen Cox was second in both the 100 (11.5) and 200 (23.2).
   Both Allentown teams were scheduled to compete against Hightstown yesterday. They will compete in the Steinert Relays on Saturday. On Wednesday, they will be at West Windsor North.