By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls track and field team knew it would need every possible point it could muster to win the Group III state championship.
So the Pirates made sure to score just enough to edge Winslow, 38-37, for the state title.
“It was a good finish,” said senior Kathryn Schoenauer, who was second in the 55-meter hurdles and fourth in the 55 dash. “Coming off sectionals we were really excited and wanted to be able to win groups because we won Group 4 last year. We were all pumped up leading up to the meet. I think it showed with how we did. We had to make sure we got all the points we needed to get first place.
“We went into the 4×4 knowing we needed at least fifth and we got fifth.”
Christina Rancan finished first in the 1,600 meters, second in the 800 meters and third in the 3,200 meters to join Schoenauer in scoring a majority of the team’s points. The two played a huge role in lifting the Pirates to the crown.
“When we won Group 4 last year we had a much deeper team,” WW-P South coach Todd Smith said. “We had Dierdre (Casey) and Edlyn (Gulama) last year as well as the kids we have now. We had a good day. It’s nice for the girls to be able to win this and give us some momentum heading into the spring season.”
Rancan and Schoenauer will compete in the Meet of Champions on Saturday in Toms River along with several other area athletes who qualified with their performances in the state meets.
“I moved on for hurdles and dash,” Schoenauer said. “I am definitely running hurdles and I am not sure about dash, I am hoping to go out and possibly get a PR and definitely place. We also have Christina who moved on and did great. She is amazing and is such an import member of the team. She got the points she needed to get.
“It’s exciting. We lost a lot of good team members and good distance girls. It is definitely harder to bounce back. See what we can do in this meet shows the depth of the program and how good we are as a team.”
In the girls meet, Lou Mailhe of Princeton finished sixth in the 3,200 meters. In the Group Iv girls meet, Julia Hans of Montgomery was sixth in the 3,200 meters and the Cougars’ Hannah was third in the high jump.
In the Group III boys meet, WW-P South’s Tim Bason won the 1,600 meters. Princeton’s Alex Roth was second in the 3,200 meters and the Little Tigers’ Will Hare was fourth in the same event. WW-P South’s Xavier Smith was fifth in the 55 hurdles. WW-P North’s Kacper Rzempoluch was second in the pole vault and the Knights’ were third in the 4×400 relay.
For the WW-P South girls, who had won a sectional title a week earlier, the state crown tops off a very productive winter.
“We are still focused on winter haven’t thought about the spring yet,” Schoenauer said.. “We try to go meet by meet and perform how we are supposed to each time we compete. But looking at it as winter comes to an end, I feel like it is going to be a great spring.”
