By Tim Morris
The Monmouth County Relays provided area track and field athletes with a tune-up for this week’s county outdoor championships.
Red Bank Catholic (RBC) High School’s girls put their full arsenal on display in winning the team championship May 5 at Long Branch High School. The Caseys scored points in 14 of the 16 events with their sprinters, distance runners, throwers and jumpers, as they finished 14 points ahead of runner-up Howell High School, 85-71.
“Things are different over here,” head coach Rob DeFilippis said. “We have jumpers and throwers. Last year, we lost by six points to Rumson-Fair Haven [Regional High School] because they covered all the events and we didn’t.
“This year, we made sure that we were covered in every event. Out depth definitely helped us.”
In the field, Jyllissa Harris and Casie Riley both cleared 5-0 in the high jump to tie for first place and win the relay.
Samantha Spallanzi had the best long jump, 16-2¼, helping the Caseys take fourth in that event.
On the track, Julia Cangialosi, Megan Cronk, Gabriella Ferrigine and Shaviahnah King won the distance medley in 12:57.87.
RBC also took the 4×800 relay in 9:42.82. The team was Cangialosi, Cronk, Shayne McNally and Ferrigine.
Shore Regional High School won the 4×400 in 4:12.06 with the quartet of Hannah Birdsall, Megan Quill, Amanda Fontana and Meaghan Hellmers.
Monica Heil anchored St. John Vianney High School’s girls to the 4×200 championship. Katie DiFrancesco, Ashley Omoregie and Sarah Van Duzer ran the first three legs for the Lancers.
Christian Brothers Academy dominated the boys competition, rolling up 95.33 points. Ocean Township High School took second with 60.
The Spartans won three relay titles at Long Branch.
Sprinters Jeff Andre, Kevin Brandow and Michael Krug were part of two of the wins. They teamed with Andrew Sadikov to win the 4×200 (1:31.87).
Elliot Gindi anchored the trio to the win the 1,600 sprint medley in 3:35.40.
Qudratullah Qadiri won the pole vault, scaling 13-0. Teammate Dean Golan was third overall (12-0) and when the two vaults were combined, it was more than enough to give them first place in the relay.
Will Lutkewitte led Christian Brother Academy to wins in the shot put and discus relays with the best throws. He won the shot put with a toss of 54-6½ and when that was added to Matt Markowski’s 44-4¼, the Colts were first.
Lutkewitte’s 153-10 discus whirl was more than 23 feet further than anyone else. Dan Mead was fifth (123-1), giving the Colts an easy win in the event.
On the track, the Colts won the 4×1,600 relay in 19:11.30 with Jon Dooling, Sean Martinek, Matthew Roma and Nick Trigani.
Tim Jacoutot ran the fastest time in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (56.12). Brendan Bodisch (58.14) and Christian Berger (1:02.83) completed the Colts’ victorious relay team in this event.
Drake Anzano, Colin Trigani, Martinek and Nick Trigani won the distance medley (11:00.17).
The Monmouth County Championships, which is where the individual competitions begin, are scheduled for May 11 and 13 at Holmdel High School’s Bob Roggy Field.