MOC next for Vikes; Raiders top track & field athletes

BYWARREN RAPPLEYEA Correspondent

The South Brunswick High School girls track and field team picked up medals in six events and finished in a tie for eighth place in the team standings in the NJSIAAGroup IV state meet at Old Bridge High School June 1-2.

All seven members of the Lady Vikings qualified for the June 7 NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC), also at Old Bridge facility.

Cayla Del Piano led the way for South Brunswick, picking up medals in three separate events. The senior placed fourth in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 5:02.79, just six seconds off the pace and took fifth-place in the 800 in 2:15.72. Del Piano won the Group IV title in the 1,600 during the winter campaign with a time of 4:58.07, to set a school and Middlesex County record.

Del Piano was also part of the 4×400 relay team that finished in fourth place, combining with Aspen McMillan, Rochelle Donald and Alicia Osley to finish the relay in 3:54.24, the second fastest time in team history. Coach Stefan Moorhead noted that it marks the third successive year the Lady Vikings have medaled in the Group IV meet.

Danielle Padovano had a strong meet as well, recording a personal best 36-10 in the shot put — good for third place — and taking sixth in the discus with a toss of 118-9. Lindsay Carbone finished in a tie for third in the pole vault, equaling her personal best of 11-0. The coach added that Osley advanced the MOC with a wild card berth in the 400 posting a 57.93 while finishing seventh in the one-lapper. She will also compete in the 4×100 relay along with McDonald, McMillan and Julia Lekht, who qualified based on their 49.85 performance earlier in the season.

South Brunswick’s strong showing came on the heels of its second-place finish in the Central Jersey Group IV meet on May 26. Moorhead’s team finished six points back of champion West Windsor

Plainsboro.

Osley, Del Piano and McMillan won three medals apiece to pace the Lady Vikes. Osley was second in the 400 and fifth in the 200; Del Piano finished second in the 800 and sixth at 1,600; and McMillan was fifth in the 100- meter hurdles and sixth in the 400-meter hurdles. The trio combined with McDonald to won the 4×400 in a season-best time of 3:55.34.

The strong showings by the Lady Vikings capped another successful campaign. South Brunswick went undefeated in dual meets and won the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Championship and the GMC Relays, both for the seventh straight year.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Davis, of neighboring North Brunswick, tied for first with Shawnee’sAnnie Johnson in the 100 at the Group IV meet in 12.01, and was second in the 200 (24.77). Davis won the 100 (11.98), the 200 (24.78) and the 400 (56.75) at the Central Group IV meet.