Throwing Recap 2013 Ocean and Monmouth Co Relays

Shore Throwers Making Waves at County Relays

Pictures: Ocean County / Monmouth County

Full Meet Coverage

Toms River, NJ – The John Bennett Indoor Sports Complex was the place to be on Saturday for some good, old shot put relays.      

            Schools from across Ocean and Monmouth counties ascended upon the newly repaired “bubble”, on the chilly day of January 5, 2013 for County Relays. Ocean county schools were up first, starting at 9:00 AM, while Monmouth county schools started approximately 3:00 PM.

            The John Bennett Indoor Sports Complex, which was recently destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in late October, was repaired efficiently and appeared to not affect any of the events. The usual aspects of a great meet were present with a loud and energetic audience and army of teammates cheering on their fellow athletes. The excitement in the place hindered any noticeable fixes or repairs that had to be done to the building. The shot put circle and sector was in prime condition for throwing, and some of the relay teams proved that perfectly.

            Relays are almost always more of an enjoyable experience because it forces schools to show their depth. These types of meets nullify the single competitor and focuses upon the combined effort of teammates. This in turn creates for interesting variables to not only races, but also to how a team of throwers can come together and possibly overcome an individual all-star on another team.

            Ocean County’s men were the first competitors to kick the day off. Individually, the top two throws of the day were separated by less than three inches. Senior Sean Conway of Toms River South nailed a 46-8 3/4 on his final toss, while Central’s Jesse Brown, a junior, final throw reached 46-6 ½. Brown’s teammate, John Febus, supplemented the relay score with a respectable 42-6 ½ for a team relay total of 89-1. The duo took first place on the day, barely beating out the Toms River South team of Conway with his 46-8 3/4 and teammate James Allen’s 41-6 ½ toss. Toms River South’s team relay effort was good enough to solidify a silver medal. Rounding out the top three teams were Toms River East's Gilligan Greenlow and Dan Gilligan, combining for a total of 84-9.

            Ocean County’s females followed the men as soon as the men’s division finished up. Manchester’s relay team of senior Chandler Copeland and junior Kiana Guthridge handily took first with a total of 75-8 ½ with each throwing 38-10 and 36-9 ½ respectively with their individual throws each taking first and second as well. Ocean county’s silver medal relay team was Southern Regional’s Breanna Wood throwing 32-1 ½ and Isabel Barsch reaching 31-9 for a relay total of 63-10 ½. Rounding out the top three teams of the meet was Toms River South which tallied at 63-4 ½. Armani Brown and Brittany Saez threw 31-11 ½ and 31-5 respectively.

            On to the Monmouth County meet and back over to the boys side, Christian Brothers Academy managed to take first with a total of 91-1 1/4. CBA’s relay was comprised of senior Alex Berger’s 46’ toss and Ryan Tier’s 45’1 ¼ throw. CBA squeaked out the close victory over a gold hungry St. John Vianney (SJV) team by about 9 inches. SJV was led by Chris Green who set the standard for the day with an explosive bomb of a toss that sailed to 50’3 ½. Green’s teammate Logan Pasquale threw a respectable 39-10 ½ to bring the SJV total to 90-4 ½. Rounding out the top 3 duos was Matawan’s Christian Eschert along with his toss of 44’3 ½, and Samad Thomas and his throw of 40-2, bring the team total to 85-2.         

            Monmouth County’s female division proved to also be a nail biter between the top 2 teams. Monmouth Regional took gold in the shot put with Chloe Yelle’s 34-11 ¼ toss, combined with Danielle Seymour’s 27-4 ¾ throw to bring the team total to 62-4. The difference between gold and silver was only seven inches and unfortunately for Ocean Township, its competitors found themselves on the losing end of that small difference. Ocean Township’s Michelle Mazza nailed a 31-11 while Sydney Beck landed a 29-10 to give them a total of 61-9. Closing out the top three for the Monmouth county women was Saint John Vianney’s team. SJV was made of Jordyn Stycznski who threw 30-5 ¼ and Katie McAlick who reached 26-1 for a commendable total of 56-6 ¾.

            Each of these relay teams played a great part in ensuring their whole team’s overall performance for the two meets. Central Regional men not only lead the shot put event, but its entire team won the overall Ocean County meet with a total of 43 points, beating all three of the Toms River Schools with TRN, TRE and TRS finishing 2nd through 4th respectively. While Southern Regional’s 2nd place shot put girls helped propelled their overall team to a commanding 1st place overall meet total of 79 points in the Ocean County segment.

            While The Monmouth County men’s division overall score was also heavily influenced by the shot put event, the female’s division wasn’t to affected. CBA which took 1st in the shot put, also dominated the overall team standings with 74 points and Matawan’s shot put duo helped its overall team to reach a respectable overall 2nd place with 56 points. While the female’s division really made a splash with Saint John Vianney’s 3rd place shot put team propelling its overall team score 19 points, good enough for 4th overall.

            Most of these teams will certainly go back to practice this week and use these relays as a focus point to prepare for the Group meets later on in the week into early next week. Group IV’s meets will be first, with the female section this Thursday, January 10, 2013 and the males section this Friday, January 11, 2013. Both meets start at 4:00 PM and are back in the famed “bubble”, better known as the John Bennett Indoor Sports Complex.