WEST WINDSOR: Team effort gives Knights first win

North girls are tops in county

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Olivia Harpel may be known for her ability with a lacrosse stick, but if it weren’t for lacrosse season, she’d be doing track and field in the spring.
   ”I’ve said that too,” said the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North junior. “Our program is great, and our coaches are great. Our leaders, Pati (Dziekonska) and Simone (Counts), are great. It’s such a cool team. It’s such a fun team to be a part of. Last year was my first year on it. It was a good two years so far.”
   After running winter track for the first time last year, Harpel helped the Knight girls lacrosse team win its first Mercer County Tournament last spring. On Sunday at Lawrenceville School, Harpel scored in all four of her events to help WW-P North girls track and field team win their first Mercer County Championship.
   ”Obviously it’s very exciting,” Harpel said. “Cross country, indoor and outdoor track, North girls have never won an MCT title. Not that we expected to, but maybe it’s a little overdue. We’re excited. We certainly wanted that at the beginning of the season.
   ”It’s exciting for Coach (Monica) Biro who has put in so much time and Coach (Brian) Gould, who has put in so much time. For our coaches who have been with the program so long, it’s nice to accomplish it.”
   The Knights left no doubt about it. Their 103 points was 32 more than runner-up West Windsor-Plainsboro South, which made a strong showing of its own. Princeton High was fourth with 42 points.
   ”They’ve been close for quite a while,” said Knights head coach Brian Gould, who focuses on coaching the distance events. “What’s nice about that is it’s the same girls that have been close for a while. They’re been training together for a while. The same girls have been competing since they’ve been freshmen, and there’s a hunger there. The hunger can drive you to rise to the occasion and exceed expectations. Just to see how elated they are after doing this was special.”
   WW-P South made a strong showing on the boys side for second there as well with 68 points to trail only Trenton High’s 83. WW-P North was third with 60½, while PHS was sixth with 22.
   ”We really make it a team effort,” Harpel said. “You don’t have to run 18 events to win it; we have a strong enough team to win it. We really focus on the team as a whole, and that’s why it was so exciting. It wasn’t one person. It was our whole team really.”
   Dziekonska won the long jump at 18-feet-7 and the 55-meter hurdles in 8.28 seconds and took second in the 400 meters. Rebecca Jin was second in the pole vault. Nely Vasquez picked up a point in the shot put. Harpel was fourth and Jin was fifth in the long jump. Harpel was third and Margaux Powell was fourth in the 55-meter dash. Counts won the 1,600 meters in 5:10.32 while Manolya Altan was fifth. Counts also won the 800 in 2:25.50. Powell was third and Harpel was fourth in the 200. Altan was third, Ilyssa Stark was fourth and Yuzki Oey fifth in the 3,200. Harpel, Counts, Wendy He and Dziekonska placed third in the 4×400 relay.
   ”We scored in every event but high jump, where they’re new and just learning,” said Biro, the coach who focuses on sprints and hurdles. “It’s the first time we scored in shot put. We had all three score in the 3,200. We scored in long jump for the first time. We had all three girls in long jump score. We had two girls in the 200 and the two girls in the dash, and we went 3-4 in the hurdles and dash.
   ”It’s a younger team. We only have a couple seniors. They’re more mature, and with racing under their belt, and winning Group IV (sectionals outdoors) last year, that helped.”
   WW-P South’s Michelle Gao won the pole vault at 10-feet and Susanne Kardaras was fourth. Paige Brown was second in the high jump, Kalayha Smith was fourth and LyAsia Carter was fifth. Brown was second in long jump and third in the hurdles. Deirdre Casey was second in the 1,600 and Julia Deen was fourth. Deen won the 3,200 in 11:36.95. Casey was fifth and Edlyn Gulama was sixth in the 800. Brittany Washington was fifth in the 400. Bianca Ingato, Gulama, Casey and Washington were fifth in the 4×400.
   PHS’ Michelle Bazille won the shot put at 35-feet-10¾. Natalie Loughran was third in long jump. Emelia Lopez-Ona was third and Paige Metzheiser was fourth in the 400. Amelia Whaley was second in the 3,200. Metzheiser, Lopez-Ona, Allie Rogers and Kelsey Liverman were second in the 4×400 relay.
   On the boys side, WW-P North’s Antony Zeng was second and Jerrick Zhang took third in the shot put. Mike Lewis was second, Danny Schwartz was fourth and CJ Markisz was fifth in the 55-meter dash. Alan Wang was fourth for pole vault. Aleks Rzempoluch tied for fifth in high jump. DJ Patterson was third in the long jump and Wang was sixth. Arvind Arikatla was fourth in the 1,600. Kevin Maa was fourth in the 800. Schwartz was fourth in the 200. Eddie Cunningham was fourth in the 3,200. Markisz, Arikatla, Maa and Samuel Praveen were fourth in the 4×400.
   For WW-P South, Jake Riff won the mile in 4:25.91 and Dan Riff was second. Dan Riff won the 3,200 in 9:38.52 and Jake Riff was second with Tom Vinci third. Eddison Gulama won the 800 in 1:59.11 and George Hamilton was third. The Pirates won the 4×400 relay in 3:29.71.
   PHS’ Tim Brennan won the shot put with a personal-best 53-11¾. Connor Donahue was sixth in the 1,600. Joe Gray was fifth in the 400. Ian McIsaac was second in the 800. Jacob Rist was sixth in the 3,200.
   Dziekonska was given the Most Courageous Award for her performance, and the Knights didn’t even run her in one of her favorite events, the 200 meters.
   ”We know she’ll produce a fast time and high place, but she knew this was the best thing for the team today,” Biro said.
   Dziekonska wasn’t the only one to adjust her events for the team. Jin stepped up to compete in the long jump, and Harpel passed up the hurdles that she could have scored in to help the team by doing other events.
   ”I like them all and I’m trying a bunch of new things like hurdles and long jump,” Harpel said. “They’re kind of newer for me. I like the 200. The 4×4 is great because it’s a relay and the dash is fast. I really like them all. I don’t really have a favorite.”
   She just wanted to do what she could to help the Knights finally pick up a county track title. Now they’ll turn their attention to the sectionals, where they placed second a year ago.
   ”We want to go into a meet and not take anything for granted and not take anyone lightly,” Gould said. “We want them to compete to the best of their ability. A hundred and three points in a championship meet is a staggering number. I hope they’re confident, not just for the sectionals but the group meet.”
   Winning the county for the first time has the WW-P North girls aiming high for the end of the indoor season.
   ”Sectionals is a whole other day of racing that we want to work for,” Harpel said. “It’s motivating to win. I’m more than excited.”