By Warren Rappleyea
With 19 different athletes contributing points, South Brunswick High School’s girls track and field team brought home the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) championship May 16 for the 11th year in a row.
South Brunswick is now preparing for the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV meet May 27 and 28 at Hillsborough High School. The top six finishers in each event will then go on to the overall Group IV championship June 3 at Egg Harbor Township High School.
The Lady Vikings appeared to be in a battle after finishing the first day of the GMC competition just eight points ahead of East Brunswick High School. Coach Stefan Moorehead’s team exploded on the second day, posting 98 points to best the Bears, 147-85, in the meet held at Old Bridge High School. Overall, the Lady Vikings won seven of the 18 events and placed in 14 events.
Desirae Osley won both the 400 (56.65) and 200 (25.20) — picking up her first two outdoor titles in the process — to lead South Brunswick. Osley also anchored the gold-medal winning 4×400 team, which also included Essence Baker, Brianna Araque, and Inayah Jones and finished in a season-best 3:55.19. Osley, Jones, Baker and Latisha Witherspoon combined to finish second in the 4×100.
“This was a very important meet for Desirae,” Moorehead said. “Our county is so competitive, and she really wanted to win an outdoor championship. I couldn’t be happier for her. She worked so hard to get it.”
Courteney Campbell won the high jump with a height of 5-6, and Olivia Scattergood’s toss of 111-11 was good for first place in the discus.
The Lady Vikings also finished first through third on both the pole vault and the javelin. Daniella Izzo (10-6) was first in the pole vault, followed by Maggie Kaplan (9-6) and Camryn Merachik (9-6), respectively. Miranda Irizarry (113-10) won the javelin, with Paige Buchanan (111-6) finishing second and Julianna Franco (103-1) taking third-place honors. Buchanan was also third in the discus.
Moorehead pointed to the midseason East Brunswick Invitational meet as a turning point for his team, which finished second behind the host team.
“East Brunswick beat us by eight or 10 points, and that was kind of a wake-up call for our team,” said Moorehead, whose girls were undefeated in dual meets and also won the GMC Relays. “It certainly gave me credibility when I told them that they would be challenged in the GMC this year.”
South Brunswick’s boys team also turned in a superb performance to win the GMC crown, finishing with 120 points — well ahead of second-place Old Bridge, which had 95 points.
Seventeen different athletes put points on the board for the Vikings. The 4×100 team of Andrew Fehte, Wendell Allen, Joshua Cella and Harmodio Cruz set a new meet record at 43.29. Nic Botett won both the shot put (57-2) and the discus (164-8), and Michael Sangimino (168-0) finished first in the javelin.
Ryan Budhu finished second in both the 1,600 and 3,200; Harmodio Cruz took second in the 200 and third in the 400; Sayvon Jarrett was third in the discus; Spencer Rowe took third in the pole vault; and Jared Fisher crossed the line third in the 800.