Several area girls reach Meet of Champions
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Meet of Champions is all about another chance for some area girls.
For Fiona Paladino, it’s a chance to snare gold in the high jump. The Montgomery High School junior repeated as Group IV girls champion at 5-feet-8 on Saturday, the lone area gold medalist. She also placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.76 seconds.
”Fiona had a really nice meet,” said MHS head coach Jim Goodfriend. “She didn’t have a really good meet last week. She ran a nice time in the highs to get fifth. In the long jump, she PR’d but didn’t place.”
Like last year, Paladino will go into Thursday’s MOC at South Plainfield with the top jump in the state. She has improved in each of her trips to the state final, and hopes to move up again after last year’s fourth-place finish.
Paladino is one of five Montgomery girls to advance to the MOC from the Group IV meet in which the Cougars finished fifth in the team standings. Personal records and school records fell as Addie Sonaike was second in the triple jump at 39-2, Jillian Prentice was second in the 3,200 in 10:42.60 and ninth in the 1,600 in 5:04.40, Lara Shegoski was sixth in the 3,200 in 10:49.07 and 10th in the 1,600 in 5:07.39. Both are expected to run just the 3,200 Thursday. Laura Ng was sixth in the pole vault at 10-6.
”All my big guns, they’re going to the Meet of Champions in their best events,” said Goodfriend, who is stepping down as head coach after Thursday’s meet. “Jillian is going to run the two-mile. She had a good meet. Lara had a good meet. Addie had a PR by about 14 inches. I’m pretty happy. I wanted all my top kids to go on, and they made it.”
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls 4×400 relay is just happy to have another chance after finishing 11th in the Group IV meet in 4:01.31.
”We were all upset with the time and place,” said Katie Calder, a senior on the Pirates relay. “I did not think we were going to get out.”
After crunching the numbers Saturday night, the Pirates found that their 4:01.31 earned them the final wild card spot for the MOC by two-tenths of a second. Ironically, it is the same time that they ran at last year’s MOC. They are thrilled to have the chance to return.
”We wanted to have that extra chance that we never got to fulfill at groups,” said the Pirates’ Emily Mauro, who also placed 10th in the open 400, but did not get a wild card entry as an individual. “I feel like I ran a good (leg). I could have run better. I’m happy with my team. I got to pass people. I wasn’t really happy with my 400 on Friday. I felt I needed to redeem myself for the team.”
The Pirates will be joined at the MOC by Caroline Kellner, who ran to fifth in 3,200 in 10:48.09. Kellner, a sophomore, is making her second straight showing at the MOC. The relay will cheer for her before focusing on running in the final event of the night Thursday.
”I’m really excited to get another chance to run,” Calder said. “I love these girls so much. We haven’t been hitting times we know we can hit. I’m excited to get one more chance to get a ridiculous time that I know we’re capable of hitting.”
The Pirates have been shooting to run 3:55 all season. They hope to put a complete race together at the MOC in their final chance together.
Said Mauro: “We needed that extra push. We know we can do better than that. We can take the frustration from groups and carry it on and do really well on Thursday.”
In the Group III meet at South Plainfield, Princeton High and West Windsor-Plainsboro North qualified two girls apiece for the MOC. WW-P North’s Ryan Williams was third in the 100 hurdles in 14.72.
”This is her first Meet of Champions,” said Knights coach Monica Biro. “It’s something we’ve been talking about since the beginning of winter. She was excited to get there. She is not satisfied with third place. She’s happy to get out, but she wants to do some more things at the Meet of Champions.
”She matched her personal best overall. She’s back on. She’s been battling some injuries here and there. She’s got some bad shins. She’s ready to do some good things.”
Christina LiPuma was sixth in the 400 hurdles in 1:05.24. It will be the first MOC as well.
”Christina got sixth from the second heat,” Biro said. “She looked great. She works so hard every day and (Friday) she put the face on and went after it. She just fought. It was great to see her get out from that heat.”
Rebekka Vuojolainen will return to the MOC after placing third in the triple jump at 35-3. She also tied for eighth in pole vault at 10-feet, but the cutoff for wild card entries required no misses at the 10-feet height. Sophomore sprinter Bryell Wheeler will return to the MOC as well after earning the final wild card spot with her eighth-place finish in the 100 meters in 12.91 seconds. She was also 13th in the 200 in 26.38 seconds.