SBHS girls destroy competition to win GMC Relays
By: Sean Richards
The South Brunswick High School girls track & field team didn’t just beat the competition at the recent Greater Middlesex Conference Relays on its home track. It obliterated it.
In the kind of performance most teams can only dream about and never realistically hope to attain, the South Brunswick girls captured the outdoor GMC Relays title for the first time in school history with one outstanding performance after another. The boys, meanwhile, were a respectable second behind two-time defending Group IV state champion Old Bridge.
"It was a great week," said girls coach Stefan Moorhead, whose team then also had a strong showing at the Bernards Invitational on Saturday. "I really can’t single out anyone because the whole team did very well. It’s unusual for everyone to be that good in the same meet."
How dominating were the Vikings at the GMC Relays? Consider the fact the deep team set meet records in the sprint medley, triple jump, long jump and pole vault. When all was done and finished, 25 different members of the team scored points. It added up to 106, which was a whopping 54 points more than the total of second-place North Brunswick.
Indira Morton, who is ranked first in the state in the long jump and javelin, was one of many standouts as she had a long jump of 18-1, ran the 100 hurdles in 15.3, threw the javelin 132-6 and had a shot put throw of 34-6. And she did all of that on the second day of the meet last Thursday.
South Brunswick got off to a strong start the previous day with a meet record 107-11 in the triple jump. In that trio, which shattered the record by over seven feet, were Stephanie McIntyre (37-11), Danielle Hudak (personal record 35-4.5) and Lauryn Strebeck (34-7.5).
The Vikings domination continued the next day with three more meet records.. In the long jump, McIntyre, added a 16-0¼ to go along Morton’s total, and Jamie Thompson jumped 15-7. The total mark of 49-8¼ broke an 18-year meet record.
In the sprint medley, South Brunswick set a record with a pair of freshman leading the way. With senior Yesenia Boynton running the 400-meter leg in 59.8, freshman Melissa Dardani and junior Simone Hill running the 200 in 26.4 and 26.6, respectively, and freshman Sophia Ginez running the 800 anchor leg in2:20.5, the Vikings had a time of 4:13.3.
The "Killer B’s" also came through in the pole vault with all three jumping personal bests. They were Krista Belick (9-6), Jessica Bellizio (8-0) and Maria Biondo (7-0), who broke their own record of 24-6.
"It was the second year in a row they all had personal bests," said Moorhead of the pole vaulters. "It was that kind of meet. Everyone came through."
Also coming in first was the javelin team of Morton (132-6), Trish Langone (93-5) and Jen Luck (82.6).
Taking seconds were the 4×800 team of Rodriguez, Jess Engel, Sara MacMurray and Rebecca Russo with a combined 9:58.1, as well as the distance medley team of Megan Behrend, Strebeck, Lyndsay Sample and Ginez in a time of 12:58.9.
The South Brunswick boys were hoping for more after beating Old Bridge in an earlier dual meet, but were forced to settle for second. Among the highlights for the boys was coming within one second of a meet record in the shuttle hurdles as Josh and Max Checo, T.J. Taikina and Matt Kirbos combined for a 1:00.9.
Checo also made news at the Bernards Invitational, which is a non-scoring individual meet, by winning the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 55.45. Doing what he does best, standout John Viotto won the shot put at Bernards with a personal best 53-10. and Steve Sample rolled to victory in the 3200 with a 9:40.24. Bill Ricketts also won the high jump with a leap of 6-2.
Highlights for the girls at Bernards included the first-place showings of Morton in the javelin (128-0) and long jump (17-8.5), and McIntyre in the triple jump with a meet record jump of 39-8, which tied her personal outdoor best. McIntyre is ranked No. 1 in the state in this event.
The Vikings face another big week with the GMC Individual Championships Saturday at South Plainfield. The girls are the defending champions of this meet and after last week’s performance, it’s hard to see any team slowing down this group.
Because of their first-place potential, the boys should also have a good showing and at the very least close the gap on Old Bridge.