Three headed to state track group championships

Brick Township shot-putters Lisa Stuto and Katie Brunner and distance runner Megan Schenk advanced out of Sunday’s NJSIAA Group III South state sectionals into Saturday’s group championships at the Bennett Athletic Complex bubble in Toms River.

Stuto won the shot put in a subpar 40 feet 1 inch and Brunner was sixth at 31- 0. Stuto’s throw was 5 feet ahead of the field.

Schenk was fifth in the 3,200 in 12:20, running primarily on her own for most of the race behind a tightly bunched lead pack. Schenk’s best time this season was 12:09. Chelsea Barreto finished out of qualifying in the hurdles when she finished ninth in a season-best :09.74. Barreto got a late start because of an injury, but coach Bill Brunner said he “expects big things in the spring” from Barreto during outdoor season.

Stuto “needs to have her best week of practice” after she threw 2 feet below what she did in winning the Ocean County meet over rival Shannon Watt of Jackson, Brunner said.

“At this point, she won’t beat Shannon Watt in the MOC [Meet of Champions] with the way she’s throwing,” he said. “She did not perform well. She’s been off her game for a couple of weeks and has not been consistent.”

Brunner said part of it is psychological because Stuto has been used to throwing with DeAnne Hahn, who is off to a college career at the University of Minnesota.

“She needs to focus, because DeAnne’s being gone seems to bother her, and it shouldn’t,” he said. “She should take the opportunity to blossom, and she’s not taking the lead role.”

But he hopes that Stuto flashes that form she showed last spring, when she finished fifth in the shot put at the MOC outdoors.