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Girls Meet Preview
Written and submitted April 13th by Pat DiGioacchino and Jeff Sundberg
3x400 Hurdles
Expect the meet to start with a very competitive race between East Brunswick, South Brunswick, Woodbridge, and North Hunterdon. South brunswick enters with two excellent returning hurdlers in Misha Duverger and Chloe Hypolite. East Brunswick will be led by star hurdler Mariah Shummette who will be competing at the Penn Relays in a few weeks, has a personal best of 102.68. North Hunterdon has some outstanding returners in this event including Gabrielle Beneducci and Carmen King. Woodbridge has freshmen sensation Trinity Eason who impressed everyone last weekend at the Husky Relays.
4x800
This race is expected to be one of the highlights of the meet. South Brunswick, Lenape, and North Hunterdon will display some of the best 800 runners in the state in this event. Essence Baker is South Brunswick's standout 800 runner. Baker placed 2nd in Group IV and 5th at the Meet of Champions indoors. Lenape is led by Megan Quinby who has place 3rd in Group Iv both last spring and this winter. The team to beat will be North Hunterdon led by Anna and Elena DiMarcello who both have incredible resumes in a variety of distance events. North Hunterdon currently owns the fastest time in the state this season.
Super-sprint Medley Relay
The contenders in this one are Sayreville, Elizabeth, Woodbridge, and East Brunswick. This race will likely be very close entering the anchor leg, which will feature Shanelle Colmon for East Brunswick(4th last spring in the 200 at MOC's), Dakota Gerges (5th in 400 at Eastern State Championship indoors and GMC Champion in 400 hurdles last spring), Trinity Eason of Woodbridge a superstar freshman, and Yah-sha-rah Brathwaite an up and coming sophomore for Elizabeth. Gerges will also be competing at the Penn Relays, qualifying in the 400 hurdles with a personal best of 101.90.
4x200
Four of the best sprint squads in the state will challenge for the victory here. East Brunswick is the top seed and features Deidre Otoo, Mariah Shummette, Leyna Abrahams, and Shanelle Colmon. East Brunswick ran 1:42.48 last season in this event. South Brunswick will have Latisha Witherspoon as their standout in this relay. Lenape has a plethora of top notch sprinters including Shelby Whetstone, Shannon Lambert, and Dana Duffield. Elizabeth is also loaded with Destinee Everett-Scott, Yha-raah-sha and Chaa-nah-yah Brathwaite. It will be no surprise if you see all four teams with top 10 times in the state at the end of the day.
Shuttle Hurdles
South Brunswick has consistently been one of the best in the state in this event year after year. This team is led by Misha Duverger and Nicole Notarianni, but can they defeat North Hunterdon? North Hunterdon has already run 1:03.62 in this event which is currently the best in the state this season by 3 seconds. With good weather and a fast track, watch for North Hunterdon to run in the low 1:02 range. Megan Stenberg is the standout 100 hurdler for North Hunterdon.
Distance Medley Relay
North Hunterdon looks like the clear favorite in this event. As one of the best distance programs in the state, this team will have plenty of options.
4x100
With all of the quality sprint programs at this meet, this is a tough one to predict. Handoffs are of such high importance in this event and the team with the cleanest exchanges will likely win. Elizabeth is the top seed, but Union, East Brunswick, South Brunswick, and Lenape will all have a shot to win. Union features two sensational sprinters. Nyamekye Opoku-Agyemang (12.24 in the 100 and 7.34 55 meters) and Chidumga Nkulume (7.17 indoor 55 meters, and 57.43 Indoor New Balance Nationals). Nkulume is the fastest freshman sprinter in the state so keep your eyes on her performance.
Sprint Medley Relay
This looks like a two horse race between Lenape and East Brunswick. Lenape will likely have Megan Quinby as their anchor who has been outstanding in both the 800 and 1600 over her career. Chelsea Stocki (10:59 3200, 5:09 1600) will anchor for East Brunswick.
4x400
South Brunswick will be the favorites in this event. South Brunswick has a lot of depth in the 400 and this will be beneficial to having fresher legs than many of the other teams in this event.
Novice 4x200
There are some very impressive times for the novice 4x200's entered in this race. Look for a close race between Elizabeth and Union.
Novice 4x800
North Hunterdon will be the heavy favorite in this one. Their depth in distance will be on display here.
Long Jump
Nyamekye Opoku-Agyemang and Nneka Moneme of Union are the two best jumpers in this deep field in long. The event features 8 girls who have jumped 16 feet or better. Watch for East Brunswick and North Hunterdon to compete for the win in this event.
Triple Jump
Isabella Pinnero of Holmdel is the top seed in this event with a personal best of 35-11. Emma Mikitiuk of North Hunterdon and Amaiah Giddings of Pemberton will also challenge to be the best in this event. South Brunswick and East Brunswick look to have the best chance to win this event from a team perspective.
High Jump
Courteney Campbell of South Brunswick has three Meet of Champion Titles and enters the meet as the top seed with a personal best of 5-8. Campbell will be competing at the Penn Relays in high jump in a couple of weeks. Leyna Abrahams from East Brunswick has a personal best of 5-6 will likely be Campbell's closest competitor. Campbell will team up with Raquel Ferrara and Chelsea Eltringham who are also been over 5-0. South Brunswick is the clear favorite to win this event.
Pole Vault
Cassie Hoxit of Lenape enters the meet as the top seed with an impressive 10-0 personal best in the pole vault. South Brunswick will have the best chance to win the event as a team with Sabrina Ray and Chelsea Eltringham.
Shot Put
The shot put has three entries over 37 feet so it has the making for an exciting competition. Armour, Tyasia Armour of North Brunswick will be the favorite to win. Jasmine Fuller of Lenape and Miranda Irizarry of South Brunswick will challenge Armour for the top throw of the day. Lenape and South Brunswick will battle this one out for the team victory in shot put.
Discus
Olivia Scattergood appears to be the standout in the discus with a personal record of 119-3. Tyasia Armour of North Brunswick, Jordan Beneducci of North Hunterdon, Paige Buchanan and Miranda Irizarry both of South Brunswick, have personal best of over 100 feet. South Brunswick will look to dominate this event.
Javelin
Miranda Irizarry of South Brunswick is one of the top javelin throwers in the state with a personal best of 122-9. Irizarry is clearly one of the most versatile throwers in the state having demonstrated and ability to compete at a high level at all three throws, which is rare. Paige Buchanan also of South Brunswick has a personal best of 111-6. South Brunswick once again seems to be a clear favorite in Javelin.