North boys, South girls top area
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
While many of the regular names came up with typically big performances at Sunday’s Mercer County Championships, Anthony Lee was a new name who picked a good time to produce a big personal record.
The junior was one of a number of athletes from West Windsor-Plainsboro North to earn a best at the first in a string of big meets to end the season.
”It’s a pretty big deal for a lot of us,” Lee said. “It’s the start of trying to run really fast times. It’s the start of those meets. We started doing more speed workouts and more speed stuff. Hopefully we keep getting faster.”
Lee’s 9:56.4 was good for a new personal record, and a medal for sixth place overall, in the boys’ two-mile run. It provided one of the points that helped the Knight boys finish second behind Trenton.
”I’ve had some good training,” said Lee, whose previous best was 10:13. “I’ve been waiting for a good race to come.
”It was my goal to get sixth and score for the team. I didn’t run it for time or anything. I wanted to be competitive and let my time come with it.”
The Knights were led by Tyler Corkdale, who won the 800 meters by three-hundredths of a second in 2:01.71 and was second in the mile. Steve Au-Yeung was third and Ryan Sleeper was fifth. John LiPuma was third and Jim Rosa fourth in the two-mile. LiPuma was fourth in the mile and Rosa was seventh. Jay Lee was second in the pole vault and sixth in the 55 hurdles. The Knights’ 4×400 relay was sixth. Barnett Wu was third and Corey Abernathy fifth in the shot put.
”They did awesome,” said North head coach Brian Gould. “We had four school records, took home 15 medals and had 10 PRs today.”
Also the boys’ side, Brian Leung won the mile in 4:19.40 and captured the two-mile in 9:24.39. The senior helped West Windsor-Plainsboro South finish fourth in the standings.
”He thought he could have run 4:17 or 4:16 in the mile,” said Pirates head coach Todd Smith. “He had a good day. He wasn’t really contested so he was pushing himself. He made the two-mile tougher on himself and ran the last mile hard to get ready for the states. He came back in 4:30 to make it tougher.
”It’s really fun with him. You don’t have to say anything to him now. He goes out and does his whole thing. He and Kurt (Wayton, the Pirates’ distance coach) have such a good relationship. They trust each other. It’s real positive.”
Keith Griffith was fourth for the Pirates in the 800 meters and Sam Macaluso was fifth in the two-mile and sixth in the mile. Matt Foster tied for third in the high jump. Their 4×400 relay was fourth.
”It was pretty good,” Smith said. “I was happy. The girls were third and the boys were fourth. We had some kids sick. I think the girls could get second if they were healthy. The boys came and competed and did the best they could today.”
The Princeton High School boys had one medalist in sixth-place pole vaulter Joe Champlin.
On the girls’ side, Sammy Howell and Katie Kellner led the WW-P South girls to the highest area finish, third, at the MCC. Howell cleared 5-foot-6 to capture the high jump crown.
”Sammy no-heighted at the county meet last year,” Smith said. “It’s the second week in a row she cleared 5-6. I’m not ready to call her consistent yet, but she’s getting there. She tried to do a 10-step approach and it worked out for her. She had an early miss, but she put the pressure on. She was the first to clear 5-4. And then she made 5-6. She had a good attempt at 5-8. Her last attempt was really good.
”It’s been a great progression. Last year, we were dabbling around with 5-4, then she went to 5-6 outdoors. Now she’s at 5-6 indoors. It’s been exciting to see her progression. Hopefully with some tweaking and practice, she’ll be able to hit 5-8.”
Kellner was fourth in the mile before winning the two-mile race in 11:16.11.
”She was happy,” Smith said. “She did a great double. We were happy with the way she ran the mile. Then she won the two-mile running away from everybody.”
The Pirates’ other female medalists were Ashleigh Delemos who was fourth in the 55 dash, Gabrielle Hunter was third in the 400 meters, Ting Ting Zhou was fifth in the two-mile, and the Pirates’ 4×400 relay was third.
The Knight girls finished fourth led by Trish Reilly’s win in the mile. It was the second year winning for the junior, who also ran second to Kellner in the two-mile Sunday.
”I know after winning last year, she wanted to win again,” Gould said. “She ran five seconds faster. She looked really good.
”I thought they competed well. I think we were fourth last year. Everyone competed well. We had a ton of PRs on the girls’ side. Hopewell was unbelievable. South and Ewing competed well too. They did everything they could today.”
Other medalists from the WW-P North girls’ team included Chelsea Walters who was third in the 55 dash and Ryan Williams who was fourth in the 55 hurdles, fifth in the 55 dash and sixth in the 200, Kelly Callahan who was fifth in the 800 meters and Kailee Andrucyk who was fourth in the two-mile. The Knights’ 4×400 was fourth.
The Mercer County competitors jump right into the sectionals this coming weekend. Lee enters them as a more confident runner after his significant time drop Sunday. He comes off a strong fall in which he was in the Knights’ top seven for its Meet of Champions team. Sunday’s results only help him go forward this winter.
”It’ll give me more confidence to run out front with more of the faster guys,” he said. “It shows me I can run up there.
”It was different when I was out there with the big guys. Brian Leung paced the first mile and we came through in perfect time, about 4:55. We were packed in at the first mile. It didn’t feel that hard. It’s good experience.”
Lee hopes it will benefit him as the Knights look to do as well in the indoor season as they did in the cross country campaign when they placed fifth at the MOC. North is ready for some more milestones in the winter.
”The counties for us is the start of the championship season,” Gould said. “From here, we go to sectionals, and groups and hopefully the Meet of Champions. This is where we start to see the hard work pay off.
”For two and a half months, they’ve been doing the work for the next three or four weeks. Now they’re trying to win something of some value. They’re competitive. Every time we go to a meet, they want the PRs and school records and the medals. They did a great job of it today.”