BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
Robin Daniels of Brick Township, who fell short of making the NJSIAA Meet of Champions a year ago, could not be denied this time.
Daniels beat her own school record in the 800 meters with a 2:13.95, nearly 3.5 seconds ahead of the fifth-place finisher, in the NJSIAA Group IV championships at Egg Harbor. The top six advance to the Meet of Champions, which is being held Wednesday at South Plainfield starting at 3:30 p.m.
Teammate Erin Redden qualified in the 3,200 as a wild card selection after finishing seventh in Group IV Saturday in 11:11.
Two other group qualifiers fell short of advancing to the Meet of Champions — freshman Jackie Daniels (Robin’s sister) ran a personal-best 11:28 in the 3,200 meters but finished 11th. Junior Tia Testa threw the javelin 101 feet for 12th place.
Robin Daniels, an MOC qualifier indoors, was no worse than sixth place throughout the race.
She was in fourth place, was passed by two runners midway through the race and then had a strong kick over the final 200 meters to move back up to fourth. And she got added satisfaction finishing ahead of one of the runners who was ahead of her in the state sectionals.
The time surpassed her previous school record of 2:15.9 in mid-May, when she shattered a 25-year-old school record while finishing second in the Ocean County championships. Daniels, who is headed to Cornell this fall, clocked a 2:16.65 in the Central Jersey sectionals two weekends ago for second place.
“We went out really, really fast, and everybody went out right away,” said Daniels.
“I didn’t fall apart at the end. It’s the best I’ve run.”
That may have been the case on a few occasions a year ago when she consistently clocked in the 2:20s, but Daniels has consistently dropped her time this year and has been under 2:20.06 in last year’s Group IV meet that left her well short of qualifying for the Meet of Champions.
She competed in the indoors Meet of Champions, finishing third in the 800 and said, “it helps being used to faster races and bigger competition.”
But the start on Saturday in Egg Harbor was a little faster than she is accustomed to.
“I haven’t run as fast [at the start of races], but once it happened it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be,” said Daniels. “I was told [by assistant coach K.C. Meehan] that I was running 62, 63 seconds when I came off that first lap, and I thought, ‘Wow,’ but I felt I could do this.”
“She ran 67 seconds over the first half of her race in the state sectionals and I told her she could run faster than that,” said Meehan. “She started faster, and I told her, ‘You could handle this.’ She was just phenomenal. She looked great — strong the whole race.”
Daniels says competing in the toughest and fastest group in the state will prepare her for the Meet of Champions, where she anticipates another blistering start.
“I think the race will go out just as fast, if not faster, and most of the girls will be the same ones as in Group IV, who are pretty fast. I’ll go out at the same pace.”
Although some high school fans regard the Meet of Champions as strictly a showcase of the top runners in the state, Daniels says she is shooting to finish high.
“I want to do well and run my best,” she said. “There’s no way I can be disappointed with the kind of season I’ve had, but knowing this could be my last high school 800 if I don’t qualify for nationals, I want to finish among the top eight.”
And she will be rooted on by and will root for one of her teammates and training partner — Redden.
“I’m pretty happy I got in. It may not look like the best way, but I ran in a pretty competitive field in Group IV,” said Redden, referring to the wild-card format that was instituted for indoor and outdoor track & field for the first time this school year. Rob Mahler of Brick Township qualified for the indoors Meet of Champions in the shot put as a wild card.
“Hey, it gives you a chance,” said Mahler.
Redden also qualified indoors for the MOC, finishing third in the 3,200. She said the experience of running against the best in the state indoors and doing well in it has helped prepare her psychologically for the task at hand outdoors, although she said she’d gear her strategy with how the race unfolds.
“I guess it gives you a little confidence,” said Redden, who is headed to the University of West Virginia. “I’m pretty familiar with the runners. I’ll just go out and run hard. It’s my last race.”
“I told her she has to run a little bit of a smarter race and let the race take her through but if she runs faster, I’m not complaining because she knows her body,” Meehan said. “I’m just so excited for both of them because they’re hard workers and so talented. They had such a great year.”