(Pub May 31)
SJ Leaders: Timber Creek boys and Camden girls each lead Group 3 with 33 points. Our Lady of Mercy is ahead in Non-Public B with 44 points and after five events scored, Holy Cross leads with 35 points.
King him: Kingsway senior RJ Page defended his 100 state title in 10.64 and won the 400 in a personal-best 48.67, the only Group 3 athlete who doubled wins on the guys' side.
Broken record: Seneca sophomore Michelle Brown held off Depford's Audrey Wilson to win the 400 in 53.91, breaking the 1981 meet record.
Quote: "She tried to fight me coming out of the last curve," Brown said, "but I wanted it so bad I wasn't going to let her get me."
SOUTH PLAINFIELD – In a season of firsts – first division title and sectional championship to name a couple – Timber Creek is eyeing another.
After seven events on the first of the two-day Group 3 Championship at South Plainfield, the Chargers lead with 33 points.
The Chargers got a big boost from sophomore Saliym Starkey, who was seeded ninth, just missing the cutoff for racing in the fastest heat, and yet won anyway in 55.02.
"I was in my lane 5 and coach told me if I had the lead after 150, I was going to win it," said Starkey, who won by .07 seconds over Sparta's Victor Boonham. "I was actually racing to beat people in another heat."
Coach Chris Grottini said Starkey has had his troubles as of late, but tried a different, if not, bizzaro strategy Friday.
"He did the opposite [from what he's accustomed to doing] and got out in front," Grottini said. "He runs good from the front.
Camden sophomore Syteek Farrington and Moorestown senior Bryan Burnham each fared worse in the long jump from their previous showing at sectionals, but the results were the same. Farrington won with a jump of 22-0 and Burnham notched another silver with a 21-8.
Timber Creek junior Montez Blair earned a team point and the last spot with a jump of 21-0, but found another way to punch his Meet of Champions ticket.
A proven seven footer in the high jump (and he has the Woodbury watch to prove it), Blair, the top seed, skied 6-8 for the win.
"I just wanted to do my part, there's nothing more to it," Blair said. "I just go out and perform my best. And coach [Chris Grottini] says if we score 40, we can win the state title and get those rings."
Kingsway senior Robert Page was South Jersey's lone Group 3 double winner, taking the 100 in 10.64 and then the 400 in 48.67 and scoring 20 of the Dragons' 20.5 total points, good for second.
Page, the 2007 state champion in the 100, didn't have to worry about looking ahead to today's 200, having been disqualified from it last week once he false started.
"Basically, today was it," Page said. "I wanted to defend my 100 state title and after I did my thing in that, I wanted to focus on the 400. I was saying to myself after the 100 that I had nothing to lose so I'm just going to go out there and run my race."
Delsea senior Udochi Okoro finished second (48.67) and Timber Creek senior Geoff Mock took third (49.28) in the 400.
Page's teammate, Ryan Culbreath led the first lap of the Group 3 1,600. The pace was anything but relaxed, but Ocean City junior Brett Johnson was, momentarily forgetting the weight of the race en route to his 4:14.55 win.
"It didn't really set in that this was the state championship until the first 200 meters," Johnson said. "People were screaming, the place was going wild and I was like 'Oh, this is really the state championship. I better go.'"
Johnson didn't want to end in a 58-second split, but, after doing some faulty mid-race math, thought he needed to just to get under 4:25. Johnson said he'll run the 800 today, and if he has anything left, the 3,200 too.
"Hopefully I can go sub 9:21 just to beat Richardson," said Johnson, referring to John Richardson, the 2003 alum who holds – you guessed it – a 9:21 school record.
Shawnee sophomore David Forward was second with 200 to go until Liam Tansey of Morris Hills strode by him. Forward still managed third and a personal-best 4:18.46.
Having taken third in the 100 to Deptford winner Audrey Wilson (11.95) and Camden junior Assante Johnson (12.18), Seneca sophomore Michelle Brown wrapped herself around the last bend of the 400, staving off Wilson to the meet-record time of 53.94. The time breaks the 1981 mark of 54.0 held by Montclair's Donithy Jones.
Brown knew she was going fast -- just not that fast.
"She tried to fight me coming out of the last curve," Brown said, "but I wanted it so bad so I wasn't going to let her get me."
After eight events, Camden girls lead Group 3 with 33 points. Seneca sit in second with 20 points and Deptford third with 18.
Holy Cross seniors Rose Johnson and Ayana Davis opened the Group 3 Championship in historic fashion, both setting meet records, Johnson's in the 400 hurdles (1:04.35) and Davis' in the triple jump (34-8), helping the Crusaders to an early 24-point output.
But it took one event for Our Lady of Mercy to pull even, sweeping the discus thanks to junior Genevieve Rybicki, Victoria Imbesi (109-07) and Nicole Radish (105-10).
With the discus win, Rybicki paired her shot put title from last year.
"It feels good because all the work has paid off in the shot and discus," Rybicki said. "It's nice knowing I'm one of the best in the state in both events."
An event later Imbesi (119-2) teamed with sophomore Taylor Thompson in the javelin to blow pass the Crusaders, going 1, 2 to take help OLMA finish the day ahead with 44 points. Holy Cross sits in second with 34.
After five events scored, Holy Cross boys led Non-Public B with 35 points followed by Pingry (28) and Bishop Eustace (24).
Senior Rich Fisher held off Bishop Eustace senior Brian Laskowski in the 400, winning in 49.48.
In the girls' Group 3 1,600, Kingsway sophomore Chelsea Ley led the stacked race after about two laps but fell off the pace, giving way to Shawnee freshman Casey Doyle , Seneca sophomore Nicole McGrainer and five others before settling in seventh.
Doyle edged McGrainer (5:01.74) for fourth overall, finishing in an incredible 5:01.48. Ley finished in 5:04.81, a wildcard-worthy time.
In Group A, Gloucester Catholic's Paige Maloney didn't leave it up to getting into the Meet of Champions as a wildcard in the 1,600, holding onto the sixth and final spot in 5:10.90. Gloucester Catholic leads South Jersey in the girls' Non-Public A in eighth with 9 points.
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