Week 9 Race To The Finish: Greater Middlesex Conference Championships
Tuesday and Wednesday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Championships at Old Bridge H.S. went as planned for the South Brunswick boys, which completed the trifecta for county dominance by winning the 2022 GMC Championship trophy to go along with the GMC Relays and the GMC Red Division titles.
The girls title announcement, however, was a bit more dramatic as the results were being tabulated in a closely contested event between small school power Metuchen and one of Middlesex County’s largest school districts, the Piscataway Chiefs.
For those who are not familiar with the Lady Bulldogs of Metuchen, their strength lies in their elite distance runners like seniors Molly Malague, Caroline Schleif and Sara Lignell, who nurtured freshman Gianna Hernandez and Kaitlyn Conner for this David versus Goliath moment.
The Chiefs and their coaching staff understood this would be a battle for the ages, and they would have to rely on their strengths, which are the sprints and hurdles, if they wanted to be in the hunt at the end of the second day of competition.
The Piscataway brain trust decided the night before to make a change in the 200m which paid dividends. The trio of Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Tamara Rawles and Enobong George finished 1-2-3 earning 24 team points.
The move proved to be genius as Metuchen would do the same thing in the 1600m race, which followed the 200m dash, with Malague, Schleif and Conner taking gold, silver, and bronze. Thus, neither team had the advantage as the points were neutralized.
With the 4x400 relay being the last event, Metuchen would finish in fifth earning two team points, whereas the Chiefs finished ninth and out of the scoring. It would now come down to the final field event tabulations to determine the winner.
As the South Brunswick boys were being introduced along with runner-up East Brunswick, the girls anxiously awaited the final tally which was announced as 89 points for Piscataway and 84 points for runner-up Metuchen.
The Chiefs’ celebration was on, as they ended an 18-year drought by winning the 2022 Greater Middlesex Conference Girls Spring Track Championship while executing a last-minute plan on the final day of competition
Head Coach Ashwin Anantharaman stated “this was a true team effort, we stress with our girls to focus on what we can do, whatever happens, it will happen. Today it panned out very well.”
As for the second place Metuchen girls, they gave it their all finishing ahead of 19 other schools which makes them one of the favorites to win a sectional title come the first weekend in June.
The South Brunswick boys have relied on the field events, the jumps and the consistent scoring in all events while winning the GMC Relays and Red Division trophies thus far this season.
Ninety-nine of the Vikings 153 total team points were scored in the javelin, discus, shot put, long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault.
South Brunswick won gold in only two events, with Sahil Sheth taking the 3200 in 9:09.02 and Nick Wisbeski setting a new PR in the javelin at 178-4.
Nevertheless, they would place in 16 of the 18 events while outdistancing runner-up East Brunswick by 46 points.
Wisbeski along with teammates Christian Farhat and Jean Carlos Martinez Peralta finished 2-3-4 in the shot put while they traded places in the discus as Peralta was second, Farhat third and Wisbeski sixth. Braden Paulmenn joined Wisbeski by tossing a personal best in the javelin at 155-6 which earned him a silver medal.
The high jump trio of Damarion Potts, Yathin Vermula and Brian Rawls finished 2-3-4 with Rawls setting a new PR with his leap of 6-2. Whereas Potts and Vemula may have been disappointed individually, the 18 team points were more important.
Potts would, however, score an impressive personal best on day two in the long jump. With the final three jumpers taking their final attempt, South Plainfield’s Joseph Oduro would wow the onlookers and competition by soaring 23-feet 1/2 inches, the first in Middlesex County to do so.
Not to be outdone, Damarion was raring to go as he went through his pre-jump routine blasting down the runway and lifting off as the crowd roared realizing the Viking surely hit 23 feet, but was it enough?
As the tape measure was extended and the official barked out the distance, 23 feet and a half inch, Oduro sighed with relief as Potts earned a silver and new PR while he claimed the gold with the county’s top mark.
Jacob Brokaw would place fifth in the long jump and win bronze in the triple jump while Potts and Ryan Nartey finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Amit Vankadhara earned a silver medal in the pole vault adding eight more team points.
Mathew Nurse would earn a silver medal in the 400m at 49.79, a bronze in the 200m in 22.29. He also scored a silver medal in the 4x100 relay along with Rawls, Brokaw, and Darren Rodman.
Hurdlers Wan Ye and Jason Keiser finished with a silver medal and fourth place in the 400m hurdles, respectively, with Karol Porbeni a sixth in the 110m high hurdles rounding out the scoring.
As head coach Wilfredo Rivera said in his post-meet interview, “the win was nice but it’s on to the sectionals.” Yes indeed, as that will be happening the first weekend in June at Howell High School.
Find COMPLETE RESULTS here, PHOTOS here and VIDEO here
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Girls Top 3 Individual performers for each event:
100m Dash
Tamara Rawls, Piscataway, 12.38
Ziasia Glasco, Perth Amboy, 12.58
Enobong George, Piscataway, 12.68
200m Dash
Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 25.33
Tamara Rawls, Piscataway, 25.72
Enobong George, Piscataway, 26.07
400m Dash
Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 56.91
Tamara Rawls, Piscataway, 58.14
Chloe Smith, East Brunswick, 59.48
800m Run
Caroline Schleif, Metuchen, 2:16.26
Molly Malague, Metuchen, 2:20.02
Victoria Lobrow, Old Bridge, 2:20.11
1600m Run
Molly Malague, Metuchen, 4:57.53
Caroline Schleif, Metuchen, 5:04.37
Kaitlyn Connors, Meruchen, 5:22.56
3200m Run
Molly Malague, Metuchen, 10:37.65
Caroline Schleif, Metuchen, 11:19.46
Amelia Artz, Monroe, 11:22.53
100m Hurdles
Leah Williams-White, Sayreville, 14.98
Gabrielle Maye, Colonia, 15.85
Akylah Hawkins, North Brunswick, 15.91
400m Hurdles
Brooke’Lyn Drakeford, Piscataway, 1:02.92
Chloe Smith, East Brunswick, 1:05.75
Yarelis Reed, North Brunswick, 1:08.75
4x100m Relay
Piscataway, 50.41
South Plainfield, 50.71
Middlesex, 51.29
4x400m Relay
Woodbridge, 4:09.86
South Brunswick, 4:10.93
Colonia, 4:11.52
High Jump
Adanna Obuba, Montgomery, 5-02
Maura Medenilla, Ridge, 5-02
Julia McKenna, Somerville, 5-00
4x800m Relay
Metuchen, 9:33.98
Old Bridge, 9:36.72
South Brunswick 10:12.43
High Jump
Melanie LaCorte, South Brunswick, 5-00
Tonna Ogina, Highland Park, 5-00
Leah Williams-White, Sayreville, 4-10
Long Jump
Leah Williams-White, Sayreville, 17-08.50
Renee Nartey, South Brunswick, 17-03.50
Ariana D’Onofrio, East Brunswick, 16-10.00
Triple Jump
Leah Williams-White, Sayreville, 37-04.50
Renee Nartey, South Brunswick, 36-06.50
Kiajah Smith, New Brunswick, 34-07.50
Pole Vault
Arianna McSweeney, East Brunswick, 10-00
Hanna Puritz, North Brunswick, 9-06
Kathryn McSweeney, East Brunswick, 9-00
Discus
Madelynn Pfeiffer, South Plainfield, 104-05
Victoria Ur, Dunellen, 103-11
Sydney Loiacono, South Plainfield, 102-09
Javelin
Olivia Willemsen, Piscataway, 111-06
Alessaadra Colon, North Brunswick, 111-06
Brianna Harris, South Plainfield, 102-11
Shot Put
Sydney Loiacono, South Plainfield, 36-11
Madelynn Pfeiffer, South Plainfield, 34-10
Zi’yanah Baker, South Brunswick, 34-08.50
Boys Top 3 Individual performers for each event:
100m Dash
Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 10.62
Christopher Serrao, East Brunswick, 10.70
Dallas Jones, Piscataway, 10.80
200m Dash
Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 21.65
Christopher Serrao, East Brunswick, 21.86
Matthew Nurse, South Brunswick, 22.29
400m Dash
Jayden Phillip, East Brunswick, 49.57
Matthew Nurse, South Brunswick, 49.79
Nikolai James, Old Bridge, 50.16
800m Run
Thomas Blach, Old Bridge, 1:54.37
James Parmalee, St Joseph, 1:54.38
Brandon Sinclair, Metuchen, 1:55.26
1600m Run
Akshay Vadul, Edison, 4:16.96
Sahil Sheth, South Brunswick, 4:17.58
Liam Tilton, Highland Park, 4:18.58
3200m Run
Sahil Sheth, South Brunswick, 9:09.02
Akshay Vadul, Edison, 9:12.49
Kieran Donnelly, Old Bridge, 9:22.55
100m Hurdles
Christopher Serrao, East Brunswick, 13.81
Marquis Perry, North Brunswick, 14.77
Chiemelie Anosike, East Brunswick, 14.86
400m Hurdles
Chiemelie Anosike, East Brunswick, 56.60
Wan Ye, South Brunswick, 58.16
Andre Pearson, North Brunswick, 58.79
4x100 Relay
North Brunswick, 43.00
South Brunswick, 43.06
Piscataway, 43.20
4x400m Relay
Old Bridge, 3:22.25
East Brunswick, 3:22.32
St. Joseph, 3:23.39
4x800m Relay
Old Bridge, 8:17.26
Metuchen, 8:19.14
South Plainfield, 8:24.52
High Jump
Zack Muyingo, East Brunswick, 6-04
Damarion Potts, South Brunswick, 6-04
Yathin Vemula, South Brunswick, 6-02
Long Jump
Joseph Oduro, South Plainfield, 23-01.50
Damarion Potts, South Brunswick, 23-00.50
Heru Dwyer, Piscawatay, 22-05.50
Triple Jump
Joseph Oduro, South Plainfield, 47-04.50
Michael Green, South Plainfield 44-07.00
Jacob Brokaw, South Brunswick, 44-02.75
Pole Vault
Jayvee Dumas, East Brunswick, 12-06
Amit Vankadhara, South Brunswick, 11-06
Sean Donnamaria, Sayreville, 11-00
Discus
Anthony Voto, Sayreville, 159-04
Jean Carlos Peralta Martinez, South Brunswick,137-06
Christian Farhat, South Brunswick, 135-02
Javelin
Nicholas Wisbeski, South Brunswick, 178-04
Braden Paulmenn, South Brunswick, 155-06
Reda Elaroussi, New Brunswick, 153-03
Shot Put
Anthony Voto, Sayreville, 54-09.75
Nicholas Wisbeski, South Brunswick, 49-00.50
Christian Farhat, South Brunswick, 46-00.25
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Week 9 Race To The Finish: Greater Middlesex Conference Championships
