O.B. boys continue dominance at GMC Relays
Lady Knights can’t keep pace with Piscataway
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above, East Brunswick’s Joseph Pascetta clears a hurdle during the shuttle hurdle relay at the GMC Relays at Fairleigh Dickinson University on Jan. 7. At left, Sayreville’s Nicole Knight competes in the 4x800 relay.

Both the boys and girls indoor track teams of Old Bridge High School entered last week’s Greater Middlesex Conference Relays as the favorites.

But after an inspired effort from a talented and deep Piscataway girls team, the Lady Knights had to be content with a second-place finish, while the Old Bridge boys continued their mastery of the local track and field scene with another title.

The Old Bridge boys came away with only one gold medal, in the 4x400 relay, but used a handful of top-three finishes to top the field, scoring 50 team points, all in the track events. As expected, the East Brunswick boys put up a good fight before finishing second (41 points) on the heels of three gold-medal finishes in the 4x800 and distance medley relays, and the shot put.

St. Joseph’s was third (40), followed by Perth Amboy (23.5), Sayreville (19), J.P. Stevens (18), Metuchen (12.8), South Brunswick (11.9), and Spotswood and Piscataway (10 points each).

The Knights’ 4x400 quartet of Ron Green, Allan Lunkenheimer, Paul Racioppi and Dave DePalma blitzed the field, finishing the event in 3:31.2, more than three seconds ahead of second-place St. Joseph’s (3:44.4). While it would mark the Knights’ only first-place finish, they did manage to get second in every other track event, including the 4x200, 4x800, sprint medley, distance medley, and shuttle hurdles.

Their efforts in the track events, which were held on Thursday at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, gave them the 50 points they needed to win the title, even before the field events were held.

East Brunswick did its best to keep pace with the Knights, but simply couldn’t match their success in every track event. The Bears got a win in the 4x800 when the combination of Nick Rowan, Greg Bull, Logan Yu and Ryan Williams ran away from the field in 8:21.7. Then, in the distance medley, Rowan, Bull and Williams came back with Greg Schwalje to top the field in 11:02.5 to earn the Bears their second win of the day.

However, it was East Brunswick’s inability to keep pace with the Knights in the other track events that allowed Old Bridge to pull away. While the Bears did manage to finish fourth in both the shuttle hurdles (34.2) and 4x400 (3:46.6), they could only manage a sixth-place finish in the 4x200 (won by Piscataway in 1:37.2) and finished out of the top six in the 4x800.

The Bears got their third gold medal on Friday when the field events were held at South Brunswick High School. Sal Girgib and Jim Correa combined for a distance of 91.5 feet to win the shot put. The Bears also took fifth in the high jump, but it was not enough to catch Old Bridge.

The St. Joseph High School winter track team was pleased with its third-place finish at the GMC Relays. After just two warm-up meets, a meeting at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and the 168th Street Armory, the Falcons saw what they can do against the county’s finest and now have an idea how good they can be when they face East Brunswick again Jan. 23.

"Heading into the relays I had some doubts as to how well we would do," head coach Gary Trojanowski said. "We had a couple of athletes that were either sick or unavailable and we couldn’t send our strongest team into the competition. Finishing a point from a second-place tie is a good sign. and hopefully we can build on this."

At the GMC relays, the Falcons collected three second-place finishes and a third-place finish to secure third-place as a team.

In the shot put. it was the tandem of junior Michael Scheller and senior Adam McGrath that finished second. Scheller threw the shot 45-4 and teammate McGrath threw for 45 feet.

Finishing second in the high jump relay was junior Chris Thompson and senior Obinna Emenike. Thompson jumped 5-2 and Emenike jumped an amazing 6-4.

"Obinna’s performance secures him a place among the better jumpers in the county," Trojanowski said. "He is a quality athlete and there are only one or two other jumpers in the conference that are in his area."

Also registering a second-place finish was the 4x400 relay team of junior Tim Acevedo, junior Ulrick Butcher, sophomore Errol Watson, and junior Vincent Perrella. The foursome finished in 3:44.4.

The 4x800 relay team of junior Ed Tessalone, sophomore Mike Fanelli, sophomore Kevin Carpenter, and senior Jonathan Salamon finished third in 8:43.7.

Spotswood got a third in the distance medley and a fourth in the 4x800 to earn its ninth-place finish, while Monroe took fifth in the sprint medley and sixth in the 4x800.

Sayreville’s effort was led by the tandem of Trini Flaveney and Jeff Toth, who combined to jump 11-8 to win the high jump. The Bombers also got a third-place finish in the shot put and a sixth-place finish in the sprint medley.

Lady Knights have to settle

for second

The Piscataway High School girls team matched Old Bridge with three gold medals for the meet, but had the advantage in overall finishes to edge the Lady Knights, 56-48.

Piscataway won the 4x200, 4x400 and the shot put, but also scored second-place finishes in the shuttle hurdles and high jump to distance themselves from Old Bridge. Their 4x400 quartet of Michelle Losey, Ayana West, Collene Cumberbatch and Tramaine Shaw set a new meet record in winning, crossing the line in 4:14.5, breaking the old mark of 4:15.4, set by Old Bridge in 1998.

The Knights had quite a few top finishes of their own, starting with the 4x800, where Stephanie Lafergola, Mara McInerney, Sarah Root and Kaitlyn Regan beat the field with their time of 1:51.2. The Knights then won the sprint medley when Cristine Marquez, Ashley Gonzalez, Jalisa Christian and Rachel Cruz beat the field in 4:29.7.

Regan, Danielle Haggaig, McInerney and Lafergola then made it three in a row with a win in the distance medley (13:39.2). Old Bridge also managed to capture a second-place finish in the 4x400 (4:21.4), a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 4x200 (1:57.3) and the shot put (58.5), and a fifth in the shuttle hurdles (38.0).

The East Brunswick girls finished in third place overall (29.4) on the heels of a win in the high jump, where Dana Liteplo and Kathy Cammidge combined to jump 9-10. The Bears also got a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 4x400 (4:30.4) and distance medley (14:20.2) and a sixth in the 4x800 (11:05.6).

South Brunswick’s girls finishes tied for fourth with Edison (23 points) after scoring second-place finishes in the 4x200 (1:56.2) and sprint medley (4:32.7), and a third in the distance medley (14:08.7).

The Vikings also finished tied for fifth in the high jump (9-2).

Monroe’s girls finished in sixth (17 points), and were led by a third-place finish in the 4x400 (4:26.9) and a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 4x800 (10:53.9). The Falcons also took fifth in the 4x200 (1:58.9), sprint medley (4:36.1) and distance medley (14:48.7).

The next few weeks will let the local teams see exactly where they can go as the competition elevates. On Jan. 17 the teams will compete in the state relays at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The GMC individual championships take place on Jan. 20-21 and the state individual championships will take place at Princeton University on Feb. 1.

— Shawn Layton contributed to this story