Old Bridge still the class of the GMC field
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Sayreville's Pedro Morales clears a hurdle en route to a fourth-place finish in the high hurdles at Saturday's GMCChampionships in South Plainfield. Below left, Old Bridge's Bonnie Diora tries to clear the bar in the pole vault competition, while below right, Sayreville's Nick Corvino launches the shot put.

Say this for the Old Bridge boys track and field team: they certainly know how to make a statement.

The Knights thoroughly dominated the competition on Saturday en route to winning their sixth consecutive Greater Middlesex Conference championship, beating second-place South Brunswick by 53 points, only 12 points less than the Vikings managed to score as a team.

Senior Matt Ciambriello led the onslaught, as he doubled in his final GMC meet, winning the 3,200 in 9:32, then coming back to beat a fresh field in the 1,600 in 4:25.2. However, he was not alone in bringing home the gold - Allan Lunkenheimer and Brian Florek also beat the field, with Lunkenheimer winning the 400 in 47.9, and Florek outdistancing the field in the javelin (200-2) by 30 feet.

Lunkenheimer also took second in the 200, where Metuchen's Dejuan Miller ran the race of his life to beat Lunkenheimer with a lean at the wire, with both runners clocked at 21.7. Florek added a second place in the discus (141-11) as well.

Meanwhile, the Old Bridge 4x400 relay team of James Hauser, Evan Petrovich, Shawn Phillip and Nick Carbone was over two seconds faster than the second-place quartet from Piscataway to give the Knights its fourth gold medal on the day.

But the credit for the Knights' success should be spread around, because the GMC's best team scored early and often in several events. In fact, in some events on the track, the Knights had as many as three finishers in the top six.

Among the Knights who contributed points to the cause were Sean Davila (third in the 400, 50.1), Petrovich (sixth in the 400, 50.7), Carbone (second in the 800, 1:57.1), Hauser (third in the 800, 1:57.5), Sheriff Showunmi (fourth in the 800, 1:57.9), Travis Mahoney (third in the 3,200, 9:39.2), Breandon Lyman (fourth in the 3,200, 9:43.9), George Rinaldo (second in the 400 intermediate hurdles, 55.9), Shawn Phillip (sixth in the 400 hurdles, 57.5), and Chris Swinarski (third in the discus, 139-9).

Monroe finished seventh in the team competition (27 points), led by Zach Theinert's win in the 800. Theinert beat a strong field to the line in 1:56.5 to give the Falcons their lone gold medal on the day.

Also scoring points for the Falcons were Billy Phillips (fourth in the 200, 22.3), Adam Modzelewski (fourth in the 400, 50.4), Joe Ferro (fifth in the 100 high hurdles, 15.5) and the 4x400 relay team, which took third in 3:26.8.

The only other local boys to score points for their respective teams were Sayreville's Pedro Morales (fourth in the 110 hurdles, 15.4) and Matt Grutych (sixth in the shot put, 45-0), and East Brunswick's Dave Byrne (third in the pole vault, 11-6),

South Brunswick's girls track and field team hasn't lost a step.

After winning the Greater Middlesex Conference team championship last season, the Vikings entered Saturday's meet hoping to prove that they not only remain the conference's top team, but that the gap between themselves and everyone else widened over the course of a year.

That is exactly what the Vikings did on Saturday, as they threw, jumped and ran away with the team title, scoring 95.9 team points, beating second-place J.P. Stevens by a whopping 36.5-point margin.

The Vikings did it on the track, led by freshman Sophia Ginez's double - she won the 3,200 in a time of 11:32.3 then came back to outduel Bishop Ahr's Diana Martin to win the 1,600 in a time of 5:30.6 - while Indira Morton led the effort in the field, winning both the javelin (133-9) and the long jump (17-9).

But this was much more than a two-person effort, as the Vikings showed they have the conference beat in both talent and depth.

Nicole Ragucci scored a double of her own, winning the 400 (56.6) and the pole vault (10-0) to lead Monroe to a seventh-place finish with 23 points. Ragucci also scored a fifth-place finish in the 200 (26.0), while Katie Rusnock added a sixth-place in the 1,600 (5:37.8) to aid the Falcons' cause.

Old Bridge got a win from Stephanie Paturzo in the 800 (2:22), while also getting points from Nicole Vassallo (fourth in the high jump, 4-10), and the 4x400 relay team, which took fourth in 4:10.8.

Among the other local girls to contribute points to their teams were East Brunswick's Brittni Rodriguez (second in the 100 high hurdles, 14.7, and fourth in the 200, 25.9), Naomi Stahl (third in the 400, 58.3, and second in the 800, 2:24.4), Erin Comerford (third in the 3,200, 11:53.7, and fifth in the 1,600, 5:37.6), and Erika Liu (fourth in the discus, 99-10); and Sayreville's Heather Miara (third in the 1,600, 5:27.2), Shannon McKenna (fifth in the 3,200, 12:08), Lynn Mayer (second in the high jump, 5-6, and fifth in the triple jump, 33-7 1/2), and the 4x400 relay team (sixth in 4:14.3).

For local track and field stars, it's now time to concentrate on next weekend's NJSIAA State Sectionals.