This is the first of a series of weekly reports on NJ high school track which I plan to send you through the rest of this school year.
I will send you my indoor all-state team, probably on either March 14 or 15 right after the two national meets.
Before reviewing the all-group meet, I would like to point out just what it is that makes track and field so different from the
"major" sports on the scholastic calendar.
No doubt most of those who read this saw the TV reports last week of the riot that followed a basketball game in another state.
These kind of incidents are all too frequent in the team sports which, too often, become minor wars because of their necessary
ne-on-one action.
A story of a different kind came out of the recent indoor state meet, one that gained no notice except for those involved, but I
would like to pass it on.
When I arrived at Jadwin for my announcing duties, meet director Don Danser asked me to call down four coaches because
there were items there for them to colect. Two received the trophies owed them for finishing in a tie at the group meet two weeks
earlier, another had to pick up a set of certificates for tying for second. It was the fourth item that made the story.
It was a jacket from Colts Neck High School which had been left behind on Feb. 15, not because someone forgot it, but
becauuse a member of that team had donated it to the young Franklin girl who had collapsed in the lobby after giving her all in
that exciting 1600R finish which she lost to Brittnee Bynoe of Willingboro. who thus averted a third title tie. The Colts Neck bus
had to leave before the emergency squad arrived to provide care for the striken athlete (who, by the way, would lose another due
with Bynoe in the AG meet where the teams again finished 1-2.
But this is nothing out of the ordinary at a track meet; we have seen many such instances over the years. About six or
seven years ago, there was a great mile race at the National outdoor meet in Raleigh, NC, with a field that included several
boys who have since won NCAA or USATF crowns. The field went off and one runner crashed to the ground, hitting his head
in the process. While he lay there, stunned, one of his rivals knelt down to care for him until he was able to get up and join
the others in a second start. The boy who did this, Jonathan Riley, went on a successful career at Stanford, won the NCAA
5K one year and, this past weekend, took the 3K at the USATF championships in Boston before a "hometown" crowd.
Now to Sunday's action. The stars of the meet were Janine Davis of Queen of Peace, who became the second girl to
double the 400 and 800 in this meet (and added a 5th in the 55M for good measure) and Mohamed Khadraoui of Paterson
Kennedy, who broke the meet record in the boys 3200, running 9:06.58 in a very evenly-paced race. Chris Pannone of
Hunterdon Central, who had run Mohamed to the tape in that memorable Gr. IV race four weeks earlier, was 2nd again this
time, but about 25 yards back.
Reuben McCoy of Winslow Twp might have given Mohamed a run for his money but for an unfortunate incident in the
opening 400M event. He was again matched with Adian Sanderson of Ewing, whom he had beaten in the Gr. III meet on Feb.
15. In that one, Sanderson had set the pace, only to be caught in the last 25 yards. This time, the two raced for the lead at
200 meters and McCoy, on the inside had a slight lead when they hit the turn. But there was a collision at that point, Reuben
went down, and Adian was so shaken that he also failed to place and later finished a disappointing 5th in the 55M. McCoy
came back to win the 55H easily in 7.48.
Had there been a team title in the meet, Camden would have been an easy winner. Sherron Bullock finished a close
2nd to Darren Ford of Vineland in the 55M, Carl Smith was 2nd in the 400 to Andrew Anderson of Montclair and the two
ran with Alonzo Brown and Devon Burroughs on a victorious 1600R team. These same four, five days earlier, had set a
national 800R record of 1:26.90 at the Easterns in the New York Armory Center.
The third 800M meeting in two weeks of Greg Gomez of Franklin and Mike Carmody of Berkeley Heights finished
just the way as had the previous two at the NY Armory. Once again, Gomez got the early lead and fought off every challenge
by Carmody, who did not pick the best times to make his move. In this one, he made one bid going into a turn and Greg
was able to hold him off as he had the advantage of the inside lane. The times were quick for Jadwin, 1:55.93 and 1:56.27,
but three seconds off their marks at the Easterns five days earlier.
The 1600 was wide open going in and the lead changed hands several times before Carmen Cavella of Washington
Twp followed the same pattern he had in the Gr. IV race four weeks earlier, charging off the final turn to win by five yards
from James Wyner of Mainland, who, like teammate Greg Hughes---third in the 3200--ran very well considering the paucity
of his outings this winter.
In both field events, the season-long leaders wound up in third place. Kyle Calvo of Somerville, who had won the
Easterns at 6-10 (and barely missed 6-11), fell to 6-06 and lost on misses to Jamal Ames of Somerville. Ell Ash of Willingboro,
who had won the Easterns at 60-1/2, fell off more than four feet, while Dave Zaycek of Wall had a PR of 58-7 to win by eight
inches from Tavaris Wright of Bridgeton.
There was, of course, some notable absentees from the girls' meet. Danielle O'Reilly of Shawnee, who had set a
national girls' PV record of 13-5 at the Varsity Classic and who had three good tries at 13-6 at the Easterns, was
relegated to the role of spectator since that event is not part of the state indoor program. Shanda Jackson of East
Orange, who had won a close Eastern race from Sophia Wallace of Montclair, was injured at the time of the Gr. IV
meet and her season-long rival was left to run against Dominique Merchant of Winslow Twp, whom she had beaten
for the group title and whom she defeated again in a close one at 7.25.
Third in this race was another girl whose main event's are not part of the state program, third-place Consandria
Walker of Hackensack, who had set a state soph mark of 39-3 at the Easterns and is also the leading LJer in the
state this winter.
Davis won the 400 by three yards from Krystal Cantey of Winslow in 57.66 and made a late charge to easily
take the 800 from Alisa Budd of Toms River East in 2:14.60. She had very little time after that for the 55 final and
could not match her heat time of 7.31.
The 1600 was much like the boys' race with the lead changing hands until Lisa Burholder of Cherokee made
her move midway in the race. She seemed on her way to an easy win until Casey Nelson made a late charge which
gave her the win most had expected early in the season in 5:00.21. The 3200, on the other hand, was never a contest
with Jen Clausen adding the AG title to her Eastern win with an indoor PR of 10:54.67. The new two places were a
little surprising, with Jacqui Carroll of Wayne Valley and Julie Ullmeyer of Shore both having big indoor PRs..
Most controversial race of the day was the 55M hurdles. As usual, Tramaine Shaw of Piscataway had a bad
heat and wound up in the first lane. Sonya Sullivan of Manchester Twp, who tied for beat heat time at 8.36, was in
the middle. They went over the line in a virtual dead heat and, unfortunately, several of the judge/timers---who are
there to back up the photo-timer in case of a malfunction---told Shaw she had won. It was some minutes before
the official camra verdict was announced with Sullivan the winner by a hundredth of a second. Typically, Sonya
commisrated with her rival's plight in her belated victory interview.
Unlike the boys, the girls' field event winners were no surprise. Marcene Jack of Mainland, a co-favorite with
the Morris County trio of Tiyana Peters and Jackie Sendgikoski of Mount Olive and Rebecca Baskinger of Butler,
got over 5-6 on her third try to take the gold. (The state's top retunring jumper, Maura Burk of Freehold Twp, is, as
usual, gracing the basketball court this winter.). In the shot put, Sylvia Galarza of Millville was an easy winner at
44-1 1/2, but South Jersey rival Jocelyn White of Delsea had an off day, falling below 40-0 for the first time this
winter, and Lizzelle Cintron of Elizabeth and Amanda Harmata of Raritan went 2-3.