By: Carolyn M. Hartko
All the South Brunswick High School boys’ track team was looking for at this year’s Greater Middlesex Conference Relay Championships was a little respect. With three sets of gold medals leading to 53 team points and a third-place team finish in the two day event, no one is dissing the Vikings anymore.
"I think we did really well," Viking boys’ head coach Dan Kerekes said. "Everybody was very happy with the third place finish. I know our guys are waiting for the (GMC) individual (championships) now."
The pre-race favorite, Old Bridge, ran away with the team title, amassing 102 team points. Piscataway (62 points) placed second. South Brunswick, the host school, squeaked past number four, East Brunswick (51).
The pole vault squad led the way with a first place finish on the first day of competition. Sophomore Alex Persaud had the best vault of the day, clearing 11-6. Rob Cioffi and Dan Mura combined with Persaud for the winning height of 32-0. The Vikings aced the high jump behind the efforts of sophomore James Ivey and juniors Tyrell Thompson and James Promise. Ivey and Thompson joined with Steve Folkes for a fourth in the long jump.
The distance medley squad rounded out the gold medal winners. Scott Yeager led off that race with the 800 meter leg, followed by Folkes (400) and Dan McDonald (1200). Matt Randal ran the 1600 anchor leg. McDonald, Yeager and Randal had also earned silver medals in the 4×1600, joined by Ankush Patel.
There were no medals in the throwing events, but South picked up fourth place points in the shot put (Sean Carner, Samer Atallah and Ed Couperthwaite) and the discus (Luke Steepy, Grant Hackworth and Couperthwaite). The Vikings also got a point for a sixth place finish in the 4×400 (McDonald, Randal, Emanuel King and Promise).
As with the boy’s competition, Old Bridge High School dominated the girls’ events. The Lady Knights posted 83 points, with Piscataway in second (64) and the Lady Vikings in third (44).
"I thought we would be good for anywhere between second and fourth," Lady Viking head coach Brian Jost said. "We got the third, and we didn’t run a 4×400. Some people had some aches and pains and we just didn’t want to take any chances. Now we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the injuries stay away so that we can have a successful season."
The girls had one gold medal finish. Rebecca Dezan led the discus relay with the day’s best throw of 116-2. Kim Yee and Morghan Transue were also among the top performers in that event. Yee, Dezan and Noelle Johnson added a fourth place in the shot put.
The hurdlers came away with two sets of bronze medals. In the intermediates, Shafeeha Potts, Kate Kardosh and Terry Smoke ran a combined time of 3:36.7. On day two, Potts Kardosh, Dayna O’Connor and Lauren Broadenax posted a 1:09.5 in the shuttle hurdles.
In other track action, Denise Thompson, Natalya Johnson, O’Connor and Broadenax came in third in the 4×100. With Engedaye Polk replacing O’Connor, the same group placed fifth in the 4×200. The final point came from a sixth place finish in the 4×1600 (Amy Rhein, Sari Kaufman, Alison Rossi and Lauren White).
With the GMC Relays now out of the way, emphasis will shift to individual competition. Several of the top Vikings branched out this weekend with a trip to the Monmouth Invitational. In the girls’ action, Dezan won the discus (118-0). O’Connor earned bronze medals in both the high hurdles (personal best of 16.1 seconds) and the high jump (4-10). Broadenax ran personal best in both the 400 (59.3, third place) and the 200 (25.8, fourth).
Potts set a new sophomore class record in the intermediate hurdles (1:09.8, fifth place), and Rhein was fifth in the 3000 (11:40.3). Transue placed sixth in the discus with a throw in the mid-90’s.
On the boys’ side, Randal won the 3000 meter race (8:58.4), and McDonald aced the 1500 (4:08). Folkes placed in both the 400 (52.5, third) and the 100 dash. He just missed in the long jump, finishing seventh overall. Yeager was fifth in the 1500 (4:15.4).
The GMC schools will be back in South Brunswick this coming Saturday for the individual conference championships at 9 a.m.
FOOTPRINTS: The boy underclassmen took part in the Colt Invitational on Sunday, the annual freshman/sophomore meet sponsored by Middlesex County College. The Vikings had three winners: Greg Spinner (freshman 800), Excel Persaud (freshman 3,000) and A. Persaud (sophomore pole vault). The latter also placed third in the sophomore 800.
