by Rudy Brandl, The Packet Group
The Lawrence High boys knew every point was going to be crucial in last week’s much-anticipated dual meet vs. Nottingham.
Lawrence was missing a handful of key athletes who were away on spring break, which put a little extra pressure on the rest of the team to produce points. The Cards had tied Nottingham last season, so another tight meet was expected.
The Cardinals received the collective team effort they needed to pull out a 71-69 victory. Head coach Jonathan Chichilitti was stumped when trying to pick his Athlete of the Meet, so he selected the entire team.
”The third place points were as important as the wins,” Chichilitti said. “I thought the meet would be really close on paper. Every point was so crucial. We had some nice surprises.”
Azzdean Coleman’s victory in the javelin was the biggest surprise for the Cardinals. Coleman hit a winning mark of 137 feet, 6 inches to score five big team points.
Darnell Hudson came up big in the triple jump, winning the event with a mark of 38-5. Chichilitti was also happy with the performance of his shot putters, who produced eight team points for finishing 1-2.
Ethan Posey led the throwers with victories in the shot (41-5½) and discus (118-10). Tom Kmiec came through with an important second place in the shot (39-2).
Marcin Truszkowski really impressed his coach with a great display of versatility and stamina. Truszkowski finished second in the 1,600 (4:47.6) and won the 800 (2:11.0), took a short break during the 200 and came back to finish third in the 3,200 (11:01.8). That point for finishing third put Lawrence over the top.
”Marcin did something I’ve never seen an athlete do in a meet,” Chichilitti said. “He totally put the team’s need ahead of his own. He was up for the challenge.”
Lawrence also received first places from E.J. Watson (400 hurdles, 58.8), T.J. Kelly (400, 52.3) and Pat Thiel (pole vault, 11-0). Other LHS points were scored by Dion Ross in the 100 (2nd, 11.2) and 200 (2nd, 23.1), Scott Figatner in the 1,600 (3rd, 5:07.6) and 3,200 (2nd, 10:59.8) Kelly in the 800 (3rd, 2:24), Keith Sherman in the triple jump (3rd, 18-7) and Hudson in the high jump (3rd, 5-6).
”This tells me we’re good at overcoming adversity,” Chichilitti said. “We’re building a winning attitude here. We’re starting to pick up wins. We feel like we’re supposed to win meets.”
The Lawrence girls are hoping to get to that point in the very near future. The Cards fell short of their first victory in last week’s meet vs. Nottingham but posted some great times on the track again. Lawrence lost by 14 points (74-60) but did not score in the weight events.
”It was a close meet,” LHS girls’ head coach Tim Collins said. “We didn’t do well in the throws because we’re young there. We were winning the rest of the meet but we didn’t score in the throwing events.”
Seniors Justine Kelley and Liz Darbee continued to be great leaders for the LHS girls. Darbee was the star of the meet with a complete sweep of the distance events. Darbee finished first in the 1,600 (6:08), 800 (2:39) and 3,200 (14:20). She also cleared 6-0 to take first place in the pole vault. Kelley won the 100 (13.2) and 400 (1:06.8) and finished second in the 200 (28.0). She also ran a 1:06 split on the winning 4×400 relay team.
Other highlights for the girls included Imani Hobby winning the triple jump (29-3), with teammates Esha Anderson and Jasmine Mason completing a 1-2-3 sweep in the event. Junior Adriana Gabriel finished second in the 100 (13.3) and third in the 200 (28.6) and long jump (12-6). Sophomore Virginia Vinch took second in the high jump (4-6) and freshman Rachel Joyce placed third in the 100 hurdles (19.5).
”We still have to develop the hurdlers, jumpers and throwers,” Collins said. “A lot of people are not yet near their potential.”
The LHS track and field teams were scheduled to host Robbinsville Wednesday and Trenton next Monday.

