Walters’ third leads North’s record meet
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
SOUTH PLAINFIELD — The West Windsor-Plainsboro North track and field contingent won’t be forgetting its first trip to the outdoor Meet of Champions anytime soon.
The first trip for nine of the 10 Knights to go to South Plainfield on Thursday ended with a school-record five medals for top-eight finishes, led by a third-place finish by Chelsea Walters in the girls’ long jump and a freshman boys’ 3,200 state record by Jim Rosa.
”I’m happy,” said Walters, the junior who jumped 17-7½ for third place, the best finish among the Knights on Thursday. “It’s my first time at the Meet of Champs and I actually placed.”
Rosa placed sixth in 9:11.56, well ahead of the 2006 record of 9:14.61. Joe Rosa nearly eclipsed the mark as well. He was seventh in 9:15.38.
”It means everything,” said Jim Rosa. “It was my goal coming into the season. To get it in my last race of the season, it’s just awesome.”
Trish Reilly placed fifth in the girls’ 1,600 meters, and for the first time in her career, broke five minutes with a 4:59.89. She knew she was close at the end.
”It definitely changed my view of the race to find out I was sub-5,” said the junior distance runner. “It was probably one of my greatest moments of my track career. It feels great.”
Barnett Wu did not medal last year, but the senior completed his career with an eighth-place finish in the discus Thursday. Other seniors who finished their careers at the MOC were John LiPuma, who placed 11th in the 1,600 with a personal-best 4:21.34, Steve Au-Yeung, who was 28th in the 800 meters, and Evan Mitos, who was 16th in the 400 and 31st in the long jump.
The Knights had two entrants in a pair of events. In addition to Au-Yeung, Ryan Sleeper was 18th in the 800 meters. Tyler Corkedale was ninth in the 1,600 in a new best 4:18.48. He was one place out of the Knights’ sixth medal of the day.
”It was a good race,” Corkedale said. “Going into it, ninth place wasn’t the goal. But it was a good race. It was a good day.”
Walters equaled the best finish at the MOC by anyone in WW-P North history. Holland Thomas placed third in the girls’ 100 hurdles in 2006.
”My hopes were just to place,” Walters said. “I changed my steps last week, taking a risk, and it didn’t work out. I had to go back to what I did at sectionals.
”My first three jumps, I knew had made finals, but I wanted to place. I know those girls had big jumps in them. I thought about what I’ve worked for all season, and I put everything I had into it.”
Walters was in second until the next-to-last jump of the meet. Still, settling for third in an event that wasn’t her primary event until midway through the season was impressive.
”After her performance in sectionals,” said Knights girls’ coach Bill Mealy, “we thought she had the potential to win the whole thing. The nice thing today is every jump got better than the previous one. It was there for the taking. She was sitting in second until that last jump.”
Even though it was her first trip to the MOC, Walters responded to the challenge of the top meet in New Jersey.
”She’s pretty confident about herself,” Mealy said. “I’ve never heard her say anything negative about getting ready to perform. She likes a challenge. She likes good competition and a challenge. I think she knows now that the better competition brings out the best in you.”
And after a big finish, Walters is hoping she will have another chance next year to compete for the top spot.
”I’m giving it more than what I have this year because I know what my potential is,” she said. “And maybe I won’t just come for the long jump this year. I’ll try to come for a running event on the track.”
Reilly turned in a record performance in her top running event. Her sub-5 mile was especially encouraging given that she didn’t compete until the last four weeks due to injury.
”I’m happy I got this far,” Reilly said. “At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think I’d be able to be fifth at the Meet of Champs. I tried to keep my head on right and I stayed determined. I’m really happy to be here obviously.”
It was a physical mile with one runner being knocked to the track. Reilly survived the jostling and broke out over the final 100 meters as she caught sight of the clock. Finishing fifth in an elite field has her ready for a big senior year.
”I have to keep moving forward and get ready for cross country and be happy I got as far as I did,” Reilly said. “It definitely gets me excited and makes me raise the bar even higher for next year. I’ll have high expectations. It gets me used to the level of competition you see at state meets. It’s good preparation. It’s been an exciting day.”
Jim Rosa enjoyed a record-setting finish to his freshman year. He was just a second away from the mark at the Group III meet, and improved significantly Thursday to shatter the record.
”I thought I was a lot closer than I actually was,” Rosa said. “I thought the clock turned on 9:14 right before I crossed the line, but I guess not. I just wanted to break it no matter what the time was.
”The plan was to go out faster for the first mile than last time, then really start pushing the third 800 because that’s where we slowed down last time. We were trying to get in front of all those guys in the 800. That didn’t happen, but we still ran really fast.”
Joe Rosa, too, was pushing for the record. He was happy to have improved significantly since the indoor season. His 3,200 time was 20 seconds faster than his winter best.
”Before the race, I wrote down all the splits I wanted to do,” Joe Rosa said. “I was right on for all of them to give me a chance to go after that record in the last 800, but I didn’t close as well as I would have liked to.
”I’d say it went pretty well. I set a high goal and almost reached it. I’m happy with the season. It just feels awesome.”
Both Rosa boys went home with MOC medals, the first of their track careers.
”That was another of my goals during the season, to get a medal here or to get in the top six,” Rosa said. “At indoors, I was seventh, and I just missed a medal because there are only medals for the top six there.”
Added Joe: “I’m really happy for him because we’re always together. I also have someone to chase now.”