The first week of May is the time when teams around the state start to wrap up their divisional competition and begin thinking about championships and the NJSIAA sectionals in a couple of weeks. Individuals are trying to get marks for seed times and relay teams are trying to get marks as well, some in hopes of competing in the new MOC relay events.
In the Shore Conference this week we had the county relays for Ocean County as well as what will be the last or second to last divisional meets.
The 400H was a preview of the race we’ll probably see this Thursday at the Ocean County Championships between Central Regional junior Sam Jensen and Jackson Memorial senior Chanel Rogers. The finish looked even closer than the 1 second difference in their final times (Jensen got the edge this time with a 1:04.15 while Rogers was close on her heels with a 1:05.19). When you convert Rogers’ hand time from last week at the Lions Invitational it comes out to a 1:04.14, just .01 ahead of Jensen’s FAT time - a virtual dead heat that is appropriate since these two athletes are so well matched. The two also went head-to-head as anchors of their respective 4x100h relay teams with Jensen again just edging Rogers out at the line.
In the field for the girls at the OC Relays, Brianna Young of Barnegat put up a 38-2 inch toss in the shot put only to be bettered by Sophia Belaid of Brick and her 40-4.5 inch bomb. Dana Schweiger just did what she does and cleared 11-3 in the pole vault for the top mark in that event. The Shore Conference Championships are coming up in less than two weeks now and the dual between Schweiger and Stephanie Skove of Monmouth Regional will be one of the best in the state this year.
Senior Sam Osadacz of Jackson Memorial continues to improve her distances as the season develops with her 17-11 inch jump. Katharine Frye had a 18-5.25 leap for the best jump of the day and #2 in New Jersey this season.
The boys’ side saw some impressive 4x1600 times. Southern Regional put itself on the state rankings list at #6 with their 18:17.94 and Toms River South landed at #11 with its 18:24.16 time.
In the field Connor Saker of Jackson Memorial threw the discus 160-2 inches to lead all throwers. The Jaguars came in 3rd in that event behind Lacey and Toms River South and Zachary Torrell threw the javelin 177-3 to lead his team to first place in that relay.
In the end Jackson Memorial took both the girls and boys team titles with 104 points and 91 points respectively. The Central girls took second with 86 and Southern had 3rd with 69 points. For the boys 2nd place went to Southern Regional who barely edged out Manchester Twp by a score of 54.5 – 53.
The Ocean and Monmouth County individual championships are both this week and should produce some strong marks. For the first time in years the Ocean County Championships will actually be held in Ocean County; they’ve been held at the Neptune high school for the past several years, but this year they’ll be atJackson Liberty high school this time around. There should be ample parking and stands available and the teams in southern Ocean won’t have to travel quite so far.
In divisional meets this week Lakewood showed off its long and triple jumping prowess in the girls and boys meets against Jackson Liberty. Daquan Moore took first in the long and triple at Jackson Liberty with marks of 20-4 and 39-6 respectively while Essence Mayers was busy doing the same back at her own school with her second foray beyond the 19 foot mark this season in long jump (19-1.5) and then followed it up with a triple jump of 38-8.25. Both marks would put her in the top 2 in New Jersey this year if dual meets were included in the rankings. Moore also won the high jump with his 6-4 clearance and Mayers won the 100m in 12.2.