GMC 2018 Sportsmanship Awards iphone video Greg Tufaro
OLD BRIDGE – It wasn’t easy.
In some seasons, both the South Brunswick High School boys and girls teams cruise to titles at the Greater Middlesex Conference championships. But this spring? Both trailed entering Saturday’s final day and every leap, distance and finish counted.
In the end, the Vikings girls rallied to win their 13th straight championship by 14 points over Sayreville in the closest finish since their run started in 2006. The South Brunswick boys team, meanwhile, edged Old Bridge by 6.75 points to win its sixth title in seven seasons.
Both squads won with its depth. The boys had one champion and the girls had three winners. Afterward, it was time to exhale.
“Everything matters,” South Brunswick girls coach Stefan Moorhead said. “And I told the girls that in every event, every point you got to really scrap and fight hard because it could be the difference. And I think they took that to heart and they stepped up. I mean, we had a ton of personal bests. There were so many, that really, the kids came through.”
Vikings boys coach Wilfredo Rivera said, “This was a kind of a grind it out, type of championship.”
Lucky 13
After Friday, Sayreville led the Vikings girls by 15 points, 48-33. Saturday morning, Moorhead and the captains addressed the team in the locker room before leaving. The message was clear – everyone needed to be sharp and perform their best.
“We knew that no matter what, we had to fight for it,” junior Sabrina Ray said. “We never assumed that we can take it easily.”
Moorhead said, “Sayreville was amazing. They pushed us to the brink. They have a great team. They’ve been improving the past few years. They brought out the best in us.”
In the end, the Vikings won 112-98. Saturday, South Brunswick performed especially well in the pole vault and the 800. The Vikings placed first, second and sixth in each event which counted for 38 team points. In the 800, Essence Baker repeated as champion in 2:15.12, followed by teammate Nikhila Obbineni (2:17.53). Chantel Osley took sixth – the top six finishers in each event earn team points.
Baker said she’s been working on the middle part of her race to go along with her strong starts and finishes.
In the pole vault, Ray also repeated as champion with Camryn Meranchik placing second and Riley Ratcliffe taking sixth. Ray’s 10-6 was impressive, especially considering she was hampered by an early season ankle injury and had a more recent hamstring injury.
“I came here today hungry to win and I just kind of forgot about that,” Ray said. “I pushed through it because I knew what I had to do.”
The Vikings also scored high in the three relays. On Friday, the 4x800 team took first place (Marisa Keiser, Cassandra Vega, Danae Audibert, Baker). Saturday, they earned silver medals in the 4x100 (Sanaai Johnson, Joanna Taitt, Riley Ratcliffe, Lauren Powell) and the 4x400 (Taitt, Powell, Osley, Baker).
“It was an all-around team effort,” Moorhead said. “We scored throws, jumps, hurdles, sprints, distance, relays, so I’m really very, very proud of them.”
The athletes didn’t know for sure that they had won until the end.
“I was trying to ask the coaches, but they wouldn’t tell me,” said Baker with a laugh. “And at the end, coach Moorhead was like, ‘Listen for the score.’ I was like, ‘Did we win?’ And he’s like, ‘Just listen.’ I said, ‘Did we win?’ He’s like, ‘Just listen.’ I said, ‘Did we win?’ And he gave me a thumbs up.”
And the celebration was on.
The boys are back
After Friday, East Brunswick was in first with 38 points followed by defending champ Old Bridge (31 points) and South Brunswick (26 points). By the time the winning plaque was awarded, South Brunswick claimed first with 66.75 points ahead of Old Bridge (59 points), Colonia, which scored 29 points on Saturday, emerged to finish third with 47 points. To illustrate the county’s depth, East Brunswick fell to fifth place with 43 points, as Piscataway took fourth with 46 points.
No matter what the other teams did, all South Brunswick could do was perform their best.
“That’s the thing with track, I can’t run a defense to stop someone else," Rivera said. "So we just have to maximize our guys, put ourselves in the best position. And I felt like we could, but we had to have a better day than we did yesterday and that definitely happened.”
South Brunswick had one champion as Josh Cella captured the 110 hurdles Saturday. The Vikings scored in 12 of 18 events with multiple scorers in four events, including Malcolm Yarber placing fourth in the 110 hurdles.
The Vikings 4x800 team took second (Hamza Shehata, Amael Audibert, Ethan Febinger, Miles Liggins); the 4x100 placed third (Quisana Conley, Chukwuyem Oruebor, Cella, Ibraheem Adeyemo) and the 4x400 took fourth (Cella, Conley, Matthew Bacchi, Adam Gorka).
“These (wins) are kind of sweet because it’s not like we had necessarily big points in big events,” Rivera said. “We just kind of kept scoring points, scraping fifths and sixths and fourths together and placed in all three relays, so that kind of speaks to our depth. Really happy with the outcome. The kids worked hard and in spite of not having the best day yesterday, I told the kids we have an opportunity, and that’s all you ever want. They came back strong today and kind of closed out the meet, so it was very nice to get it done.”
No record, but a repeat
Shortly after Piscataway junior Shauntae Nelson repeated as the 200-meters champ, the PA announcer noted she had broken her own meet record set last season. Turns out, it was a typo in the program and it wasn’t a record after all. The 2017 Shauntae Nelson was a tad better than the 2018 Shauntae Nelson.
Still, a win is a win and it’s a good start as championship season gets underway.
“It wasn’t a new record, however, it is still good to just win the counties in general,” Nelson said. “I was not necessarily disappointed. I mean, I was just always focused on running my race. In all honesty, this was my first open 200 of the season, so to be able to come out here and run 24 in general, is just good. It’s a good start.”
For the record, Nelson won Saturday with a 24.84. In 2017, she set the meet mark with a 24.67. She’s coming off a fabulous winter season, having captured the Meet of Champions 200 title. Nelson said her start has gotten a lot quicker and is excited make another run to the MOC.
“It’s better outside,” she said. “The curves are much wider. Track surfaces are better outdoors, so I guess once you get to faster tracks, better times to come. Hopefully.”
Monroe's Kaplan takes 800
When it came to the 800, fans just got so used to seeing Rey Rivera’s name attached to the event through the years. The former Old Bridge star set a GMC Championship meet record, won three outdoor and two indoor Meet of Champions titles and captured the New Balance Nationals gold medal. But Saturday, he was running in the Big East Championships as a freshman at Georgetown.
“Now we all have a chance,” Monroe’s Jordan Kaplan said. “He’s amazing,”
In the new era of Middlesex County 800 meters, it was Kaplan making his mark with a win in 1:54.90. He also had another first in Saturday’s race – setting the pace for the first time in his career. He held off Edison senior Chris Smith, who placed second in 1:57.58. In the GMC indoor track championships on Jan. 13, it was Smith claiming first with Kaplan taking third.
Kaplan has improved immensely after placing 17th last season as a freshman in 2:02.05. He said his training in the 400 has helped with his kick and speed in the 800.
That was evident on Saturday. Kaplan said he took the lead at 100 meters, sensing it was Smith’s game plan to catch him at the end.
“He let me pace the race,” Kaplan said. “That’s his strategy, he wants me to pace it, die out but I didn’t.”
Did he like leading?
“I was a little nervous,” Kaplan said. “I thought maybe I would die out, but I didn’t so I’m happy. Like I said before, I never paced before.”
But he was able to pace all the way to a gold medal.
Highland Park takes gold
Highland Park is one of the smaller schools in the county, but they’ve had big track success in recent years. Saturday, Julia Marks added to that legacy. The junior won the 100 hurdles in 15.211, just edging East Brunswick’s Victoria Constantin’s 15.219.
On the boys side, sophomore Ethan Gildenberg won the 3200 on Saturday in 9:35.91 ahead of Old Bridge’s Cyril Harvey (9:36.52).
“We’re having a lucky few years, I think with a lot of talent right now with such a small group,” Marks said. “So it’s just exciting to, I guess, make an impact.”
Old Bridge throwers
On Friday, Old Bridge took both of the throwing events. In the javelin, Anthony Ragusa repeated as champion with a 183-8. In the shot put, Corey Durden took first with a 52-11. Like seas
Ragusa, a senior, is only in his second year of serious javelin competing after going out for track after not making the school’s baseball team. He started out throwing in the 100-feet range, but is now in the low 180s.
“I just wanted to do something,” he said. “Stay busy and I just fell in love with the event. This is the last event I tried, but it worked out to be the best.”
Durden, meanwhile, threw in the 49-foot range last season. He’s now able to throw 57 feet after a year’s worth of work that has led to improved technique and confidence.
“A lot of people think that just because you’re strong, you can throw far,” Durden said. “But there’s a lot of footwork. … A lot of hard work, You got to lift. Practice technique. It’s hard to be one of the best in the state, to be at the top level.”
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