The South Brunswick High School girls track team continued its strong spring campaign by winning the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Track and Field Championships on Saturday for the fifth successive season.
Coach Stefan Moorhead’s Vikings turned in a dominant performance to easily outdistance neighboring North Brunswick, 149-68, at South Plainfield High School’s Jost Field. South Brunswick finished first in five events and took second place in seven events. Earlier in the year, the Vikings won the GMC Coaches Relays in similar fashion.
Sophia Ginez won at both 1,600 and 3,200 meters for the fourth year in a row. In the former, the senior crossed the finish line in 5:22.07, two ticks before teammate Cayla Del Piano, while in the latter event Ginez finished in 11:40, eight seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
Mariah Browne also won a pair of events for the Vikes. The junior won the long jump with a 17-11 performance and took the triple jump with a 37-5. South Brunswick’s Jamie Thompson was second in the long jump (17-1) and Lauryn Steinbeck was second in the triple jump (35-9).
Jamielyn Samper, Joy Spriggs, Alicia Osley and Del Piano combined to win the 4×400 in 4:02.8, narrowly defeating the North Brunswick foursome, which crossed the line in 4:03.28.
“The girls definitely had a good day and it was good to win again, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Moorhead said. “We have to start preparing for the state sectionals; that’s going to be another big test.”
Thompson also finished second in the 100- meter hurdles and took third place in the 400- meter hurdles. Other second-place finishers for South Brunswick included Amber Brown, discus; Kiya Strickland, javelin; and Amanda Smilgis, pole vault. Rachel Johnson took third at 100 meters, as did Chloe Hall in the discus. Lyndsey Sample, 3,200 meters, Patricia Langone, javelin, Jennifer O’Laughlin, triple jump, and Danielle Padovano, discuss, all finished fourth in their respective events.
North Brunswick, meanwhile, was led by Laura Williams, who turned in a terrific allaround performance playing a key role in her team’s second-place overall finish. One of her many highlights came in the 400-meter hurdles, where she set a meet record time of 1:01.51, breaking the mark of 1:02.35 that had been held by Piscataway’s Tremaine Shaw.
Williams also won at 400 meters with a time of 56.68, more than a full second ahead of Old Bridge High School’s Jillian Grant. In the 4×400, Williams pulled her team from fourth to second after briefly taking the lead. She also took third place in the triple jump with a 38-8.5
The Raiders were strong in the shot put with Yamika Carpenter, 37-3, finishing second and Quaneeka Davila, 36-8, taking third-place honors. In addition, Breanna Nicholson was third in the high jump with a 4-10.
Chelsea Glincman finished fourth in the pole vault and was fifth in both the triple jump and the 100-meter hurdles. Kaitlyn Davis took fourth place in both the 100-meter and 200- meter sprints.
The NJSIAA state sectionals will be held May 21-22. North and South Brunswick will be competing in the Central Jersey Group IV section, which will be held at Hillsborough High School.