Week 7 Race To The Finish: GMC Red and White Division Championships
South Brunswick boys and girls won the Red Division title with host St. Joseph of Metuchen garnering the White in a closely contested event against Metuchen Township’s boys’ team, while the Bulldogs girls team had the most dominant performance of the day by doubling the points of their nearest competitor.
Saturday’s early morning fog hovered over Brennan Family Field as 16 teams arrived to settle the division crowns in a championship format while their counterparts in the Blue and Gold decide their winners with weekly mid-week dual meets.
Kelli Holleran, the 15-year veteran head coach for Metuchen girls, said back in March that her team “has a great group of seniors who are very talented. They take great pride in the strength and tradition of our program. They lead the way for our younger kids, teaching them the ropes and about our expectations.”
Those senior girls, led by Molly Malague, Caroline Schleif, Lily Kupersmit, Sara Lignell and Lilia Ould-Hammou, did just that by pushing a group of freshmen teammates to new heights while performing on the big stage.
Case in point, Kupersmit and Malague set the pace for freshman Gianna Hernandez in the 1600m, who finished second in 5:33.68 sandwiched in between her mentors, while they were first and third respectively in 5:33.51 and 5:33.74.
As for the field events, Lilia Ould-Hammou took first in the discus with a heave of 106-01, the best amongst the Red or White competitors, yet it was her encouragement for freshman Sophia De la Cruz and Carol Johnson-Fish which enabled them to earn points in the throwing events.
The Metuchen girls are hitting their stride at the right time as they look forward to seeing where they stack up with the likes of the Brunswick’s, South and East, who have split the first two major titles of the season.
Speaking of the South Brunswick girls, long-time mentor Stefan Moorehead, felt his team “had a well-rounded meet and scored in just about every event with several girls setting new PR’s.”
He further mentioned that “the East Brunswick coaches joked about trading victories,” however he wasn’t having any of that saying, “No, you guys got one and we’ll take the GMCs in a couple of weeks.”
The Lady Vikings bounced back from their disappointing loss on their home turf in the GMC Relays, placing in every event except the 200m. However, as Moorehead mentioned in his post-meet interview, there were at least 13 place winners who broke personal records.
Six of those PR’s occurred in the distance runs at 800m, 1600m and the 3200m. Mikayla Walker ran 2:31 in the 800m improving by four seconds while Nikita Majithia (5:23.11), Srinidhi Gopalan (5:33.75) and Kayla Gater (5:53.76) went 1-2-3 in the 1600m improving by a combined 16 seconds.
Maybe the largest and most impressive of South Brunswick’s personal accomplishments was Shriya Petti’s performance in the 3200m taking the gold in 12:01.14, which was 32 seconds under her previous best. Teammate Gopalan finished in third setting her second record at 12:14.00.
In the field events, Carly Rosen set PR’s by placing fourth in the javelin, nearly nine feet better at 98-06, and fifth in the shot put with a toss of 84-03 bettering her previous mark by almost five feet.
South Brunswick finished its record-setting day with Violet Goldilla adding six inches in the pole vault at 8-0 giving her fifth in the event and Mattison Burno earning a bronze in the 400m in 1:02.99
Host St. Joseph got up early on second-place Metuchen, sprinting to an early lead in the 400m hurdles with Xavier Rodriguez earning gold while Kwame Herod took home the bronze.
Omari Jones and Robert JoJo Huntley continued to take advantage of their team’s strength by placing first and fourth in the 100m while giving the Falcons a 30-0 cushion after two of 16 events to be contested during the day.
Jones would earn two more golds by winning the 200m in 22.60 while teammates Amari Campbell took silver in 22.82 and Emmanuel Brito would finish fourth in 23.27. Jones won the long jump (20-6.50) and Brito continued the sprint barrage by taking the 400m in 51.32.
Junior Michael Alvarez, along with seniors Joseph DeRosa and James Parmalee, helped maintained the Falcons' edge in the distance runs as Alvarez placed second in the 1600m and first in the 3200m. Parmalee took silver in the 800m and DeRosa scored important points finishing fourth in the 1600m and 3200m.
With St. Joseph scoring in 14 of the 16 events, the hometown Falcons were able to hold off their township neighbor winning the White Division Championship by 21 points with a final score of 144-123.
South Brunswick’s head coach Wilfredo Rivera tweeted out a picture of his team sprawled out on top of the SJ in the middle of the turf field with Damarion Potts in the center holding up their 2022 Red Division Championship plaque.
Ironically, the girls’ team was waiting patiently to get their photo opportunity too as Melanie LaCorte decided to go for a new personal record in the high jump setting the bar at 5-3. She came ever so close on her first two attempts; however, she will have to wait to break the mark in less than two weeks at the GMC Championships.
In their second consecutive big meet of the season, the Viking boys team dominated the competition by scoring in all 16 events with 21 different athletes contributing to the team’s total 202.6 points.
The field events relied on the usual lineup of Nicholas Wisbeski, Braden Paulmenn, Christian Farhat and Jean Carlos Martinez Peralta in the discus, shot put and javelin.
Wisbeski took home two golds and a silver with PRs in the shot put at 47-08 and 171-02 in the javelin. Farhat earned a silver and new PR in the shot put at 46-0 while getting a bronze in the discus. Peralta scored a gold medal in the discus at 132-05.
The sprint team of Khiri Summers, Darren Rodman and Matthew Nurse scored in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Summers (11.57) and Rodman (11.58) took fourth and sixth respectively in the 100m. Nurse paced third in the 200m at 22.30 and earned a PR and silver medal in the 400m at 49.37.
Damarion Potts, Ryan Nartey and Jacob Brokaw finished 1-2-3 in the long jump and traded places in the triple jump with Brokaw and Potts sharing first and Nartey finishing fourth.
Potts would earn gold at 6-6 in the high jump while Yathin Vemula took silver at 6-4 and Brian Rawls scored two team points with a fifth-place finish at 5-8.
The biggest surprise of the day was South Brunswick’s Amit Vankadhara finishing with a silver medal in the pole vault and a new personal best of 12-0. That’s a whopping one foot and six inches over his previous mark of 10-6.
Not to be outdone, the distance runners made tremendous strides since the GMC Relays with four of them scoring points and new PR’s.
Sahil Sheth took silver in the 800m and gold in the 1600m with a new PR of 4:21.58 while Arunmozhi Kannan finished fourth at 4:36.65 and Nathaniel Goldin sixth at 4:41.39, both personal bests.
Vinay Narayanan lowered his time in the 3200m by nearly 20 seconds with a bronze medal at 10:11.26 followed by teammate Aidan Silva in fourth at 10:26.74.
Senior Wan Ye and freshman Jason Keiser rounded out the scoring in the hurdles with Keiser earning a fourth place in the 110m hurdles at 16.32 and fifth in the 400m hurdles at 1:00.55. Ye set a personal record of 56.64 and placed fourth in the 400m hurdles.
South Brunswick boys are now two-thirds of the way towards accomplishing their conference goals. However, they will be mightily tested come May 24-25 at Old Bridge High’s Bob DeMarco Stadium for the Greater Middlesex Conference Championships.
Find complete results here, PHOTOS here and VIDEO here
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Girls Top 3 Individual performers for each event
Red 100m Dash: Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 12.58
Tamara Rawles, Piscataway, 12.75
Chloe Smith, East Brunswick, 12.76
White 100m Dash: Ziasia Glasco, Perth Amboy, 12.78
Alaia Taylor, Carteret, 13.35
Nelagh Matthews, Metuchen, 13.41
Red 200m Dash: Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 25.69
Tamara Rawles, Piscataway, 26.08
Chloe Smith, East Brunswick, 26.39
White 200m Dash: Ziasia Glasco, Perth Amboy, 26.79
Jessica Devine, Middlesex, 27.57
Nelagh Matthews, Metuchen, 27.71
Red 400m Dash: Chloe Smith, East Brunswick, 57.75
Jean Morgan, Piscataway, 1:02.69
Mattison Burno, South Brunswick, 1:02.99
White 400m Dash: Caroline Schleif, Metuchen, 1:01.42
Esperanza Mojica, Aquinas, 1:02.44
Marina Armour, Metuchen, 1:02.48
Red 800m Run: Victoria Lobrow, Old Bridge, 2:20.39
Gianna Tuso, Old Bridge, 2:22.63
Riley O’Regan, Old Bridge, 2:23.30
White 800m Run: Sara Lignell, Metuchen, 2:32.99
Maggie Rivera, Metuchen, 2:33.29
Yeslyn Marte, Perth Amboy, 2:34.68
Red 1600m Run: Nikita Majithia, South Brunswick, 5:23.39
Srinidhi Gopalan, South Brunswick, 5:33.75
Melissa Keenan East Brunswick, 5:41.12
White 1600m Run: Lilly Kupersmit, Metuchen, 5:33.51
Gianna Hernandez, Metuchen, 5:33.68
Molly Malague, Metuchen, 5:33.74
Red 3200m Run: Shriya Peddi, South Brunswick, 12:01.14
Nikita Majithia, South Brunswick, 12:13.87
Srinidhi Gopalan, South Brunswick, 12:14.00
White 3200m Run: Molly Malague, Metuchen, 10:48.49
Tee Atwater, Highland Park, 12:21.85
Lidia Lekhal, Highland Park, 13:14.47
Red 100m Hurdles: Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 16.55
Paige Michlik, East Brunswick, 16.76
Yarelis Reid, North Brunswick, 17.00
White 100m Hurdles: Nelagh Matthews, Metuchen, 17.37
Sara Hyman, Metuchen, 17.41
Vaya Hang, Highland Park, 17.91
Red 400m Hurdles: Yarelis Reid, North Brunswick, 1:08.42
Alyssa Penn, Old Bridge, 1:09.15
Mikayla Walker, South Brunswick, 1:09.30
White 400m Hurdles: Imagen Walters, Middlesex, 1:09.34
Victoria Vega, Timothy Christian, 1:12.42
Sara Lignell, Metuchen, 1:13.80
Red 4X400m Relay: Piscataway, 4:06.33
South Brunswick, 4:17.23
East Brunswick, 4:26.08
White 4x400m Relay: Metuchen, 4:21.56
Middlesex, 4:21.61
Spotswood, 4:33.03
Red High Jump: Melanie LaCorte, South Brunswick, 5-00
Alexandria Lau, Old Bridge, 4-10
Anna Sawicki, East Brunswick, 4-08
White High Jump: Tonna Ogina, Highland Park, 5-02
Omotola Oyinkolade, JF Kennedy, 4-10
Yaya Hang, Highland Park, 4-06
Red Pole Vault: Kathryn McSweeney, East Brunswick, 10-06
Arianna McSweeney, East Brunswick, J10-06
Hanna Puritz, North Brunswick, 9-00
Red Long Jump: Renee Nartey, South Brunswick, 16-05
Ariana D’Onofrio, East Brunswick, 16-03
Julia Russell, Monroe, 15-07
White Long Jump: Omotola Oyinkolade, JF Kennedy, 16-0
Beauty Nwanze, Carteret, 15-10.25
Sarah Hyman, Metuchen, 15-04
Red Triple Jump: Renee Nartey, South Brunswick, 34-07
Melanie LaCorte, South Brunswick, 31-09
Violet Goldilla, South Brunswick, 31-07
White Triple Jump: Tonna Ogina, Highland Park, 33-04
Amy Olesky, Spotswood 30-10
Meghan Bicsko, Spotswood, 30-05.25
Red Shot Put: Zi’yanah Baker, South Brunswick, 33-08
Emily Oppong-Dwamena, East Brunswick, 31-09
Denise Agyemang-Boateng, South Brunswick, 31-07.50
White Shot Put: Ja’Nya Davis, JF Kennedy, 32-05
Lilia Ould-Hammou, Metuchen, 29-02
Ozioma Odiknwa, Highland Park, 27-03
Red Discus: Kayla Collins, East Brunswick, 103-02
Angeline Thomas, Monroe, 88-08
Camryn Mammone, South Brunswick, 85-07
White Discus: Lilia Ould-Hammou, Metuchen, 106-01
Sophia De la Cruz, Metuchen, 91-01
Esperanza Mojica, Aquinas, 88-09
Red Javelin: Alessandra Colon, North Brunswick, 112-05
Olivia Willemsen, Piscataway, 105-02
Jesmarie Jimenez-Girau, North Brunswick, 99-01
White Javelin: Vida Lopez, JF Kennedy, 87-02
Alison Forsell, Spotswood, 86-00
Cali Onuska, Spotswood, 73-09
Boys Top 3 Individual performers for each event:
Red 100m Dash: Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 11.01
Dallas Jones, Piscataway, 11.32
Dan Agunbiade, Monroe, 11.56
White 100m Dash: Omari Jones, St. Joseph, 11.30
Marvin Jimenez, Perth Amboy, 11.49
Ja’Kir Thomas, Carteret, 11.76
Red 200m Dash: Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 21.79
Chris Serrao, East Brunswick, 21.82
Matthew Nurse, South Brunswick, 22.30
White 200m Dash: Omari Jones, St. Joseph, 22.60
Amari Campbell, St. Joseph, 22.82
Mavin Jimenez, Perth Amboy, 23.25
Red 400m Dash: Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 49.32
Matthew Nurse, South Brunswick, 49.37
Nikolai James, Old Bridge, 49.40
White 400m Dash: Emmanuel Brito, St. Joseph, 51.32
Faraji Screven, JF Kennedy, 51.38
Angel Natal, Perth Amboy, 52.12
Red 800m Run: Thomas Blach, Old Bridge, 1:57.91
Sahil Sheth, South Brunswick, 1:59.84
Matthew Lucas, Monroe, 2:00.91
White 800m Run: Brandon Sinclair, Metuchen, 1:59.08
James Parmalee, St. Joseph, 2:00.05
Eric Schleif, Metuchen, 2:07.20
Red 1600m Run: Sahil Sheth, South Brunswick, 4:21.58
Maan Patel, Monroe, 4:26.63
Riley Appleton East Brunswick, 4:30.92
White 1600m Run: Liam Tilton, Highland Park, 4:20.8
Michael Alvarez, St. Joseph, 4:21.07
Alex, Metuchen, 4:32.52
Red 3200m Run: Kieran Donnelly, Old Bridge, 9:36.43
Tyler Quan, East Brunswick, 9:58.46
Vinay Narayanan, South Brunswick, 10:11.26
White 3200m Run: Michael Alvarez, St. Joseph, 9:51.13
Juan Nicholas Hidalgo, Metuchen, 10:02.83
Adam Patelski, Metuchen, 10:11.54
Red 110m Hurdles: Chris Serrao, East Brunswick, 14.93
Chiemiele Anosike, East Brunswick, 15.15
Marquis Perry, North Brunswick, 15.28
White 100m Hurdles: Vedant Naik, Metuchen, 16.16
Nick Davis, Metuchen, 17.74
Britian Orange, Carteret, 18.17
Red 400m Hurdles: Chris Serrao, East Brunswick, 53.03
Chiemiele Anosike, East Brunswick, 56.17
Andre Pearson, North Brunswick, 56.35
White 400m Hurdles: Xavier Rodriguez, St. Joseph, 59.05
Nathan Adams, Metuchen, 59.35
Kwame Herod, St. Joseph, 1:01.93
Red 4X400m Relay: Piscataway, 3:32.11
North Brunswick 3:32.28
East Brunswick, 3:33.92
White 4x400m Relay: St. Joseph, 3:26.58
Metuchen, 3:29.33
Perth Amboy, 3:38.11
Red High Jump: Damarion Potts, South Brunswick, 6-06
Yathin Vemula, South Brunwsick 6-02
Brian Butler, Piscataway, 5-10
White High Jump: Brandon Johnson, Timothy Christian, 5-10
Kwame Herod, St. Joseph, 5-08
Ben Santus, Metuchen, 5-04
Red Pole Vault: Javee Dumas, East Brunswick, 12-06
Amit Vankadhara, South Brunswick,12-00
Dominic Wong, Old Bridge, 11-00
White Pole Vault: Logan Clancy, Metuchen, 9:00
Red Long Jump: Damarion Potts, South Brunswick, 22-00
Ryan Nartey, South Brunswick, 20-03.50
Jacob Brokaw, South Brunswick, 19-10
White Long Jump: Omari Jones, St. Joseph, 20-06.50
Brandon Bandoy, Spotswood, 20-06
Ja’Kir Thomas, Carteret, 20-03.75
Red Triple Jump: Jacob Brokaw, South Brunswick, 42-10.50
Damarion Potts, South Brunswick, 42-00.50
Ryan Nartey, South Brunswick, 41-11.50
White Triple Jump: Yariel Castellanos, Carteret, 38-08
Brandon Bandoy, Spotswood 37-09
Patrick Williams, Middlesex, 37-05.50
Red Shot Put: Nicholas Wisbeski, South Brunswick, 47-08.75
Christian Farhat, South Brunswick, 46-04.75
Luke Maisonet, Old Bridge, 42-01.50
White Shot Put: Nico Tricoles, Aquinas, 39-06.25
Kai Martinez, St. Joseph, 38-02.50
Matt Bianchini, Metuchen, 36-11
Red Discus: Jean Carlos Martinez Peralta, South Brunswick, 132-05
Nicholas Wisbeski, South Brunswick, 127-09
Christian Farhat, South Brunswick, 126-08
White Discus: Fleurian Germain, Metuchen, 133-08
Roberto Araoz, Middlesex, 113-08
Matt Binchini, Metuchen, 105-01
Red Javelin: Nicholas Wisbeski, South Brunswick, 171-02
Braden Paulmenn, South Brunswick, 148-03
Christopher Scalafani, Old Bridge, 126-11
White Javelin: Anthony Gonzalez, Middlesex, 125-10
Matt Blanchini, Metuchen, 120-03
Kevin Agostisi, Spotswood,111-07
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Week 7 Race To The Finish: GMC Red and White Division Championships
