By Bob Nuse, Sports Editopr
For the Montgomery High girls indoor track and field team, a solid performance at the Central Jersey Group IV championship meet was the continuation of what has been a very good season.
“We finished in the top three or four in all the big meets,” Montgomery coach Tim Bartholomew said. “We have a strong group of girls and a lot of depth. A lot of them did a great job at the sectional meet. We had quite a few girls get seventh or eight so if we had moved up a spot or two we could have scored more points and finished a little higher.”
The Cougars performed well enough to finish in a tie for third place at the CJ IV meet. South Brunswick scored 74 points to run away with the team title. Franklin was second with 47½ points, while the Cougars tied Hillsborough for third with 26 points. The Montgomery boys finished 10th with 11 points.
“We are in one of the toughest sections,” Bartholomew said. “Some of our girls that got seventh and didn’t qualify would have been top three in one of the other sections. But overall I was very happy with the way we performed. We were excited. It went very well and I thought they performed great.”
The Cougar girls finished the meet with two sectional winners. Sophomore Julia Hans won the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:14.45, while Hannah Taylor won the high jump with a 5-feet, 6-inch effort.
“Julia, we knew she was capable of winning,” Bartholomew said. “We weren’t sure if she was the favorite. She was seeded second but then the Hillsborough girl didn’t run so we thought she could win. Hannah, every time she is in a competition we fully expect she has a chance to win. She jumped very well. I was excited for her.”
One other Montgomery girls, Queen Divine, qualified for the state Group IV meet when she finished third in the 55-meter hurdles. For the Cougar boys, Ajay Sarath was third in the 3,200 meter, while Patrick Warren was fourth in the 55-meter dash and fifth in the high jump to qualify for the Group IV meet.
“Queen has come along great this year,” Bartholomew said. “She has put in a lot of hard work. She is also excellent in the triple jump and we’re looking forward to the spring to give her a chance to compete in that event.”
Near misses for qualifying on the girls side included Sara Boyer, who was seventh in the 1,600, just .07 seconds away from qualifying with a sixth place finish. Sarah Knight was eighth in the 55-meter dash. Jenna Devchand was eighth in the pole vault and Peyton Schanckenberg was eighth in the shot put.“Sara Boyer had a PR in by eight seconds and that includes outdoors,” Bartholomew said. She had a great race. She performed great but just didn’t get out of the section. It’s a great stepping stone for her to know she did so well and was so close. It’s great motivation to wok even harder.”
The Cougars will compete in the Group IV state meet on Friday in Toms River. Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro North and WW-P South will compete in the Group III meet on Saturday. The Meet of Champions is Feb. 27 in Toms River.
