By Guy Kipp, Sports Writer
The South Brunswick High School girls’ track & field team took first in two events and the Vikings’ boys’ track squad also won an event in the Raider Relays last Saturday at Hillsborough High School.
The girls also captured a second, two thirds and four other top-six finishes in Hillsborough, while the boys’ day also included three second-place finishes and three thirds.
The Vikings’ girls’ sprinters won both the 4×100 and the 4×200 with their best times of the spring season. Melissa Dardani, Zaniah Maynor, Janae Baker and Simone Hill teamed to run the 4×100 in 50.7, topping second-place Cherokee (51.0). In the 4×200, Dardani (26.6), Baker (26.8), Shadae Riggins (27.6) and Hill (26.6) won with a time of 1:47.6, two seconds better than second-place Lenape.
Although the 3×400 hurdle team was second in that event, the trio of Jamie Thompson (67.6), Jamie Sharper (68.7) and Falen Watson (70.5) had a time of 3:26.8, which was the second-best time ever for South Brunswick in that event.
The long jump team of Thompson (15-7 1/4) and Watson (14-5) finished third at 30-¼. Also placing third was the 4×400 team of Thompson (63.6), Samper (62.1), Riggins (62.9) and Sophia Ginez (62.0), who combined for their season-best time of 4:10.6.
In the novice division, the South Brunswick girls took third in the 4×400, as Jenna Wandishin (68.9), Angelica Villena (68.0), June McQueen (66.6) and Yasmine Burd (68.7) teamed for a time of 4:32.2.
The Lady Vikings earlier last week extended their dual meet record to 3-0 with a 100-40 triumph over Edison. Trish Langone set personal bests in the javelin (100-7) and discus (88-3) to win both events against Edison.
The South Brunswick boys’ trip to Hillsborough was highlighted by a first-place finish in the 4×200, where Jaron Baker, Brian Oni, Cody Shelcusky and Mike Ricketts ran 1:32.0 to edge out Montgomery (1:32.1).
The Vikings’ boys came in second in the 4×400, the 800 sprint medley and the shot put relay.
Kristopher Raghavan, Zach Ryan, Josh Checo and John Liptak came in at 3:31.9 in the 4×400. South Brunswick’s team of Justin McLendon, Rohan Katipally, Kyle Morse and Zach Ryan ran the 800 sprint medley in 1:39.0. Sean Lease and Dominick Padovano gave the Vikings a second-place finish in the shot put relay (86-9), with Lease’s throw of 44-7 the third-best of the meet.
Coming in third for the Vikings in the boys’ meet at Hillsborough were the 4×100 team of Shelcusky, Oni, McLendon and Baker (44.2), and the distance medley group of Jonathan Bellizio, Jordan Boulware, Jimmy Maloney and Daniel Boyle (11:14.4).
South Brunswick ran its record in boys’ dual meets to 4-0 with a 132-8 victory over Edison earlier last week. Some of the winners there included Steven Lewis (2:08 in the 800), Matt Kirbos (15.5 in the 110 hurdles and 14-6 in the pole vault), Khalid Weston (20-11¼) in the long jump) and Mohamed Sanu (42-¼ in the triple jump).
