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The Elizabeth sprinters blew up the track with a pair of sizzling wins, Vonya Gould turned in a great triple, the 800 lived up to the hype, and Rancocas Valley burned up the track in the girls competition at the 33rd Blue Devil Classic on Saturday at Gary Stadium in Westfield.
Elizabeth provided lots of fireworks as sophomore Raven Davis, senior Linya Gedeon, sophomore Reyana Trail and senior Cynthia Boakye combined to win the 4x100 in 48.57, and the 4x200 in 1:42.01, and take second in the 4x400 in 4:01.47.
The 48.57 is NJ No. 3 and was just off the meet record (48.48 by Union in 2012) and their school record (48.25). Their 4x200 time of 1:42.01 is NJ No. 3 this season, and the 4:01.47 is NJ No. 2 behind Rancocas Valley, who won the race in 3:59.67. More on RV's sizzling race later in this story.
After their 4x100 victory, the Elizabeth quartet said they feel they can get under 48 and make the Championship of America final at the Penn Relays next week at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Look out, Jamaicans!! Here comes Elizabeth!!!
Gould, a junior at Union Catholic, was one of the biggest stars of the meet as she opened her season in spectacular and record-setting fashion.
Gould, running over the high hurdles outdoors for the first time in her high school career, ran 15.8 on the second leg to help Union Catholic run a meet record and NJ No. 1 time of 61.00. The former meet record of 1:02.16 was set by Union Catholic in 2021.
Gould then soared a meet-best 17-4.50 to help UC break the meet record in the team long jump, and finished off her triple by running a big PR of 67.89 in the 400 hurdles, the fastest time of the day!
"I am very surprised with how I ran the shuttles,'' said Gould. "I've been working really hard and was just hoping to break 17. To run under 16 is way faster than I was expecting. And in the long jump I wa just five inches off my PR, and the 400 hurdles went well considering it was the third first time since my freshman year that I ran it.''
Also for UC, Taylor Cox and Alexandra Bonn had strong performances.
Cox, who won the 55 hurdles at the Indoor Meet of Champions last month and is the state leader in the 100 hurdles (13.87), won the 400 in a NJ No. 2 57.33 and led off the shuttles with a 13.8. Bonn anchored the shuttles in 15.0 and went 17-2.50 in the long jump. Freshman Ebony Turner ran a 15.8 leg in the shuttles for UC.
The most eagerly anticipated race of the meet was the 800, and it delivered as seven girls ran under 2:20, led by the winner Emma Zawatski of Freehold Township.
Zawatski, a three-time Meet of Champions winner, (1,600 indoors and outdoors and XC), ran a big PR of 2:11.41, No. 3 in Freehold Towsnhip history, to edge Jenai Berry of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, second with a school record 2:11.95. Those times are NJ No. 2 and NJ No. 3 this season.
Ava Biemuller, Zawatski's teammate, served as the rabbit and handled that role perfectly as she took the field through the first 400 in 64.5.
"I felt like I was ready to run a really good 800, and I felt strong during the race,'' said Zawatski. "There were a lot of great runners in there, and Ava did a great job with the pace. It was just the race I was hoping for before Penn.
It was a great final tune-up for Zawatski before she runs the mile at the Penn Relays this Friday.
Zawatski has added incentive to run fast at the Penn Relays when she attempts a very unusual double on Friday. No, she's not running two races at Penn, but she will probably be running pretty fast after her race to get into a car to get to her Junior Prom.
This is the first year that the girls mile is be running on Friday at the Penn Relays.
"When I saw the schedule was changed this year I was like, oh no. But then when I saw the entries I knew I had to go race against all those great girls. I'll just run as fast as I can, and then do what I can to get to the prom.''
Rancocas Valley, who along with Cherokee and Haddonfield made the trip North from South Jersey, came here for one reason- to go sub 4 in the 4x400. And they got in dramatic fashion when Kasey White dropped a 58.5 on the anchor leg to bring RV across first in 3:59.67!!! That's the fastest time in the state so far this season!!!
The first three legs for Rancocas Valley were handled by sophomore Aniya Wilkins (61.2), junior Leah Howe (59.2), and sophomore Cecilia King (59.9).
Enya Carthy, a sophomore at Haddonfield, dropped a huge 23 second PR to win the 3,200. What was the key to the big PR? Maybe it was the spikes!!!,
Carthy, who never wore spikes before, borrowed a pair from teammate Sarah Fetter and boom - she ran the best race of her life!
"I'm going to get my own spikes now,'' said Carthy. Maybe she should keep wearing Fetter's
In the DMR, sophomore Malissa Morabito came from way back on the anchor leg to give Scotch Plains-Fanwood the win in 13:44.23. Morabito ran 5:43.4. The first three legs were handled by sophomore Alissa Stumpf (4:20.5), junior Sophia Catalano (63.2), and sophomore Emily Laudman (2:37.0).