(Pub May 25)
Lady champs: Southern Regional won the South Jersey Group 4 Championship with 83 points, 3.5 points ahead of Lenape. Pitman won its first SJ Group 1 Championship with 78 points.
Four wins: Palmyra senior Rajeanna Marigna propelled her team into third place in Group 1 with 57 points thanks to four weekend wins, including victories in the 100 hurdles (16.11) and the 200 (25.44).
Unbroken English: Eastern sophomore Eastern Gardner bounced back from a nasty fall in Friday's 400 to win the 200 (24.27) and anchor her 4x400 relay team from last to fourth Satuday.
Quote: "We are a train together," Gardner said of her relay. "They're the front part of my train, the first leg is my conductor. They bring it to me and I'll pull in the caboose."
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – All the components to a storybook ending were there for Lenape Saturday.
Everything but the happy ending that is.
Ahead of rival Southern Regional by .5 point heading into the final event of the Group 4 Championship, Lenape got a season-best performance from its 4x400 relay team of Miya Johnson, Brianna Beddall, Moria Cunningham and Mikki Livingston.
But after the Indians' 3:56.4 finish, it was unclear whether the girls "ran their hearts out", as coach John Roberts said, or had them ripped out by All-American Southern's Jillian Smith.
Smith anchored her relay team to a 3:51.59 victory, her fourth of the two-day meet, giving Southern a 83-point total and the Group 4 title by a 3.5 point margin.
"She's a super athlete. You got to give her credit," Roberts said.
Millville's 4x400 team, led by junior twins Brooke and Britney Kott, took second in 3:55.53, helping Millville finish fourth overall with 40 points.
The Indians were 12 points behind Southern and 15 points behind early leader Toms River North heading into Saturday's action, and mounted a comeback off of some super performances.
Senior Lindsey Walsh racked up two more sectional titles to add to her bursting portfolio Saturday, winning the high jump (5-2) and the long jump (17-4).
Just like Friday's 1,600, Lenape sophomore Caitlin Orr (11:10.8) and Williamstown junior Maria Ruiz (11:15.55) finished on the same straightaway as Southern's Smith in the 3,200, who won in 11:09.
Lenape's Johnson competed in her first group meet since spraining her right hamstring a month ago and showed signs of improvement, running a great relay leg and coming second -- to Smith – in the 800 in a season-best 2:12.4.
She feels proudest of the team's accomplishment.
"We all work so hard. We can't be mad," Johnson said. "They're a good team, we're a good team and we did the best we could. We just came up a little short."
The two schools have created an interesting rivalry this year. Southern narrowly defeated Lenape in the Indoor South Jersey Group 4 Championships but lost to the Indians in the following week's state championship this past winter. The teams will meet again next week in the outdoor state meet.
"We knew we had the talent and we still do," Roberts said. "It was just a dogfight for both. We matched up pretty well."
Eastern sophomore Eastern Gardner showed she can bounce back from a fall, taking first in the 200 (24.27) and anchoring her relay team from last to fourth.
"Because I didn't get a chance to finish my 400, I guess the 4x400 is my chance to show that just because I didn't finish that one doesn't mean I'm not coming back," Gardner said.
Hot on the heels of Oakcrest junior Nijgia Snapp in the 400 Friday, Gardner tripped over herself and landed on her head. No biggie, though, she said.
"That wasn't the hardest I've ever fallen," the sophomore said. "From one to 10, from my shoulder to my neck down, it was about a three. But I hit my head pretty hard – about a five or seven."
Washington Township senior Jackie Dim took second to Gardner in the 200 (24.87) and earned another silver in the long jump (17-2.75).
Pitman won its first South Jersey Group 1 Championship in school history with 78 points thanks to strong performances across the board. Maple Shade was second with 58 points.
"Each of them is willing to assume different roles in different meets to achieve the victory," Pitman coach said. "They provide the heart and soul. That's the difference between a good team and a team. And that's what they are."
A Pitman wave of youth, in freshman Rachel Greenberg (2:22.97) and sophomore Shona Potruski (2:25.97), followed winner Woodbury sophomore Andrea DiCarlo (2:21.19) in the 800.
Greenberg also coupled Friday's 1,600 win with a 3,200 win Saturday (12:17.88). Credit her freshman jitters.
"It was exciting because there was a lot more people out here," Greenberg said. "And I wanted to do well, so that helped."
Palmyra senior Rajeanna Marigna propelled her team into third place with 57 points thanks to her four weekend wins. On Saturday Marigina won the 100 hurdles (16.11) and the 200 (25.44).
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