Boys:
Senior Andrew Goelz of Brick Memorial put on a show in the 3200m at the Ocean Co. Indoor Championships at the Toms River ‘bubble’ last night. His 9:33.67 not only garnered the win for Goelz, but also flung him into 1st place in the state rankings. His time also puts him at #20 in the country right now. With about 5 laps to go he was running along with sophomore standout Matt Nelson of Barnegat he then decided to kick things up a bit. Nelson went with him for a while, but couldn’t keep up with Goelz’s blistering pace. In the end when he crossed the line, everyone in the place knew they’d seem something special. What a great race. Nelson, who had already won the county title in the 1600mwith a 4:22.18 came across to take 2nd 10 seconds later.
The much anticipated next installment of the sprint dual between Ahmeer Dupree of Lakewood and Jihaad Howard of Brick Memorial didn’t materialize because of an unfortunate false start by Howard in the prelims. Dupree won the final pulling away from the pack in 6.56 seconds.
In the Hurdles, the final looked like a tri-meet between Manchester (2 hurdlers), Jackson Liberty (3) and Jackson Memorial (3). Junior Geordan Ferguson took the win in 7.92 (what a great time to PR).
Marc D’Esposito looked like he could pole vault out of the arena if you gave him a few more tries last night, clearing the bar by over a foot on many of his attempts. In the end he only needed his 13’ 6” mark to seal the deal and make himself Ocean County Champion. This was also his PR according to the NJRunners stat lists.
In the shot put senior Fred Tucker of Toms River North won with a throw of 49’ 7.5” and
In the end, Jackson Liberty won the 4x400 in 3:30.66 but it wasn’t enough to edge out Manchester, who only needed to finish 4th in that event to win the team title, which is exactly what they did. The final was Manchester 48, Jackson Liberty 46, TRN 35.
Girls:
Jenna Dubrow just did what Dubrow does. The senior from Jackson Memorial doubled in the 1600/3200 and won both going away. First she took on the fastest girls in Ocean County in the 1600, winning it by over 5 seconds at 5:15.01. Then she came back in the 3200 in a race that started out with a tight pack and relatively slow pace through the first 800 before stretching things out a bit for the win in 11:28.46.
Speaking of 800m, senior Elissa Knight of Southern Regional let everyone know that Southern still has some serious middle distance runners in the stable. She won the 800m with a late kick in the last 120 meters or so, just blowing by teammate Ashley Miller (who finished 3rd with 2:23.41) and Lisa potter of TRN (2:23.16 for 2nd). Knight came flying off the last turn and finished 3 seconds out in front in 2:20.14, looking very strong. That performance gives her the #4 ranking in the state.
There was another double at the meet, almost a triple as senior Kate Frye of Point Pleasant Boro won the 400m for the second time in 3 years in 58.39, then came back to narrowly out lean out a surging Samantha Rodriguez (junior) of Southern Regional in the 55h final for the win 8.68-8.70.
Frye then came back with a 2nd in the 55m dash in an extremely tight final that was too close to call without FAT timing. Without senior Essence Mayers of Lakewood in the building, and now that Tylia Gillon of Jackson Memorial is running for Rutgers, the final was all in the 7.60-7.80 range which left the door open for Frye to take 2nd in 7.63. Junior Danae O’Halloran of Toms River North won it in 7.60. Frye ended up with 28 points on the night, walking away with 3 new PRs.
Point Boro freshman Dakota Karras was in the hurdle final as well and took 6th place. Not a bad time to pick up your first varsity points. Her time was also good enough to qualify her for Eastern States. Welcome to the bigs, kid!
The team title? Who do you think?
The Southern Regional TrackStar factory is still cranking out new models every year. While they don’t have the individual name recognition they’ve had in recent years, their depth, team concept and great coaching can be seen in every event at every meet they attend. Their 84 points on the day were enough to put them well out in front of TRN (57) and Jackson Memorial (47). Congratulations Southern (again).