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Schools

Shore Conference Shines at the Meet of Champions

Local schools had two champions and numerous top-eight finishers in the weather-shortened NJSIAA Meet of Champions Thursday.

MATAWAN – Before the thunder and lightning engulfed the track and field complex at Old Bridge High School to halt the festivities, the Shore Conference made its presence felt at Thursday’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions.

The Christian Brothers Academy 4x800 relay team and Lakewood senior long jumper Essence Mayers each took home gold medals with first-place finishes to lead the way, while Long Branch senior sprinter Miles Shuler had a pair of second-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter races.

The meet ended prematurely because of a thunder and lightning storm that forced it to be postponed. The meet will be completed at 6 p.m. on Monday at Old Bridge.

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The boys and girls 3,200, the boys and girls 4x400 relay, the boys and girls pole vault, the boys long jump, the girls triple jump, the boys shot put, and the girls javelin were all postponed because of the storm. The boys 3,200 was in progress and was entering the last lap with West Windsor North’s Joe Rosa on a record pace when it was halted by NJSIAA officials because of lightning.

Before the weather cooled off a sweltering day in which temperatures were more than 100 degrees on the artificial turf infield of the track, there were several notable finishes by Shore Conference athletes.

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The CBA relay team of juniors Conrad Lippert, Tim Gorman and George Kelly, along with senior Dan Mykityshyn, ran a 7:46.77 to beat Kingsway (7:47.66) and deliver on their status as pre-race favorites. The Colts entered the meet with the fastest time of any team in the state this spring at 7:46.15, and Kelly ran a 57.7 anchor leg on Thursday to help bring home the title by holding off Kingsway football and basketball standout Rondell Gilmore.

Mayers leaped 18-9 ¼ to capture gold in the long jump, finishing ahead of Our Lady of Mercy’s Tacquaya Tobias (18-4 ¼) by a comfortable margin after entering the meet with the second-longest jump of anyone in the state this season.

The most high-profile races of the day involved Shuler, a Rutgers-bound football standout who was looking to repeat as 100-meter champion. After surging from behind to beat Timber Creek’s Damiere Byrd in last season’s final, this time Shuler could not catch the South Carolina-bound football star when Byrd pulled away with about 35 meters to go.

Byrd finished in 10.41 seconds, with Shuler taking second with a 10.55, which was a few ticks slower than the Shore Conference-record 10.39 he ran to win the race last year. Ocean Township junior Mike Andre took fourth with a 10.7.

Shuler’s time was his fastest of the spring, but it was not enough to overcome a determined Byrd, who had not forgotten last season’s loss.

“It was pretty much was on my mind for a couple months after the race, to be honest, but I finally was able to put it behind me,’’ Byrd said about last year’s race.

“Damiere, he worked really hard for this,’’ Shuler said. “He's been training, and he got the better of it today.’’

At about 65 meters, Byrd hit top speed and started to pull away with 35 meters to go. He had entered the day with the fastest time in the state this spring, a 10.36 that he ran in the South Jersey Group III meet in which he injured his hamstring. That is his personal best, but Thursday was more about avenging the loss to Shuler more than putting up a great time, as Byrd recovered from the hamstring injury to win a state title at less than 100 percent.

“Usually when it comes to running, if you shoot for a specific time it never really happens,’’ he said. “You really psych yourself out, so I just pretty much wanted to go out here and win and if the time came, it came, and if it didn't, I'm not really upset about that.’’

Shuler then tried to regroup for the 200, knowing that Snyder’s Zamir Thomas would be looking for some revenge after being beaten by Shuler for a Group II title.

“He’s a strong kid, and he’s been working hard,’’ Shuler said. “Zamir is a competitor, and he got it today.’’

Thomas was able to get an edge on Shuler and the final turn and did not look back to win. It still took him running a personal-best 21.03 to hold off Shuler, who also ran a personal-best of 21.31 in finishing second.

“Even though it didn't come out as I expected this year, I worked hard and all these other sprinters worked hard also,’’ Shuler said. “They were just more prepared than me. That was it.’’

The only other second-place finisher on the day from the Shore Conference was Red Bank Catholic senior Molly McNamara, a Little Silver resident who took second in the 800 with a 2:11.66 to finish behind Sparta’s Erika Veidis (2:09.86). McNamara entered as the pre-race favorite thanks to an ankle injury suffered by defending champion Ajee Wilson of Neptune that kept her from competing.

McNamara had run a personal-best 2:08.92 to win the Shore Conference Championships earlier in the season and was coming off a Non-Public A title in the 800 with a 2:09.21 last weekend. She had run essentially by herself and gone all out to run a personal-best 4:44.90 to win the Non-Public A 1,600-meter race last weekend and achieve her goal of qualifying for the adidas High School Dream Mile, which she said left her somewhat fatigued for Thursday’s meet.

Her routine was also thrown off because she did not do her usual pre-race run on Wednesday because of the heat.

“I just wasn’t feeling 100 percent,’’ said McNamara, who will continue her career at Stanford University. “I came out and ran my hardest today, and I did the best I could. You can’t race perfectly every time. I would’ve loved another (MOC title) to go with my indoor title today, I won’t lie.

“It doesn’t ruin my season, and it doesn’t make or break everything. You can’t have a good race every race, and I still have three more big meets. It had to happen at some point that it wasn’t a perfect race. I probably wouldn’t have picked Meet of Champs for it to happen, but life goes on, and you move on and use it as motivation for the next one.’’

McNamara’s RBC teammate, junior Lindsey Belleran, took third in the 800 with a 2:12.83, which was just off her personal best of 2:12.73.

Other girls competitors who recorded top-eight finishes included RBC’s Meghan McMullin, who was third in the 400 hurdles with a 1:02.60, and Jackson Memorial’s Chanel Rogers, who was fifth with a 1:02.99.

Lacey freshman Danielle Leavitt was impressive in her first Meet of Champions, taking fourth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:01.28, which was a few seconds off the 4:58.88 she ran last weekend to finish fourth in Group III. RBC junior Liana Marzano was one spot behind Leavitt in fifth place with a 5:02.35, and Point Pleasant Beach junior Brianna Feerst finished just outside the top eight with a 5:10.04, good for 10th place.

Central Regional’s Samantha Jensen also took third in the 100 hurdles with a 14.48, and Point Boro senior Katie Frye was sixth in the 400 with a 25.13.

In the field events, RBC junior Brianne Reed finished third in the long jump with a leap of 18-1 ¾, and the Shore Conference had a pair of top-five finishers in the discus. Toms River South junior Chelsea Carballo took third with a throw of 128-4, and Brick senior Kaitlyn Brunner was fourth with a 126-11.

On the boys side, perhaps the most grateful performers with something to prove were Lacey senior Zach Torrell and Middletown South senior Christian Spaulding in the javelin. Last weekend, the two competed in the Group III Championships, only to be disqualified for an officiating mistake.

The two had to rush off to their prom on Friday night, so they asked the head official if they could throw with the Group II competitors earlier in the day. They were told that was acceptable and that their scores would be transferred over to the Group III competition.

Torrell threw a personal-best 191-10, good for first place, while Spaulding threw a 184-6, good for second place. After they left, several other Group III coaches complained that they should not have been allowed to throw with the other group.

Instead of a 1-2 finish, the duo ended up being disqualified for throwing with the wrong group. After the ensuing controversy, it took NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko stepping in to finally re-instate the two to allow them to compete in Thursday’s meet. Whether they will ever receive medals for their Group III performance remains to be seen.

The two took advantage of the opportunity on Thursday as Spaulding threw a personal-best 198-1 to place fourth and Torrell’s best throw of 191 feet was good for eighth place. Spaulding’s throw was seven feet better than his previous personal best.

When I found out the next morning (about being disqualified), I was like, ‘This is unbelievable,’’’ Spaulding said. “I thought all that work just went down to nothing, so it was good to get a chance to throw here (at the MOC). My first throw was 192 (feet) and that was showing them that I deserved to be here and I earned my spot.’’

“It was tough to have the Group III title stripped away from me, but it lit a fire under me,’’ said Torrell, who will continue his career at Monmouth University. “I just wanted to come out here, compete and place (in the top eight) because I knew I was supposed to be here.’’

Also on the boys side, Southern Regional junior Ryan North obliterated his previous personal best with a jump of 46-11 ¼ to take fourth in the triple jump, bettering his previous mark of 45-5 ½. Lakewood senior Daquan Moore grabbed a sixth-place finish in the triple jump with a 45-3.

Jackson Memorial senior Connor Saker was third in the discus with a throw of 181 feet and Matawan senior Andre Hodge, a football standout headed to Eastern Illinois, was seventh with a 170-9.

Central Regional senior Joe Hardy leaped 6-6 to place fifth in the high jump, and Freehold Township’s Jonathan Galya finished seventh. CBA’s George Kelly, in addition to anchoring the winning 4x800 relay team, also took fourth in the 1,600 with a personal-best 4:14.72. St. Rose’s Colin Richmond also snagged a top-eight finish in the 1,600 with a personal-best 4:16.25.

CBA senior Matt Pozo was fifth in the 110 hurdles with a 14.56, and sophomore teammate Theodore Foster placed seventh in the 400 at 48.80. RBC senior Kevin Byrne took fifth in the 800 with a 1:53.37, while Wall senior Terrence Maliff was the highest finisher from the Shore in the 400 hurdles with a 59.04 for 24th place.

Middletown North’s Nishan Patel competed in three wheelchair events, taking fourth in the 1,600-meter race in 7:26.23, fourth in the mixed 400 in 1:42.86 and fourth in the 800 in 3:32.56.

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