(pub June 1)
#1 Champs: Leaders after Day 1, Timber Creek and Holy Cross each went on to handily win their first-ever state championships.
Timber on fire: Timber Creek had four state champions, three of whom are underclassmen.
Ocean 1:53: As a follow-up to his 4:14.55 mile victory on Friday, Ocean City junior Brett Johnson kept people's expectations of him high by winning the Group 3 800 in 1:53.49 Saturday.
Quote: "It's almost as if you're playing basketball against a girl," Johnson said. "You're supposed to win the game, so I'm supposed to win. And if I lose, it's 'Oh, you lost. Why?' There's a lot of added pressure."
SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- Looking to score points – or even a point – Timber Creek's go-to long jumper Dorian Evans ventured out of his comfort area to throw the javelin.
The first traveled a wimpy 129, the second didn't count.
After all, much was never expected from an eighth seed, but Evans defied seeding and logic on a single throw, a single blow, launching one that went farther than Evans ever remembered walking to fetch.
"This is pretty far out there," he said. "I wonder what it is."
It landed 188-2 feet later – a personal best by nearly 10 feet -- and possibly through the hearts of every Group 3 contender.
The State Group 3 Championship may've been won during the first day, when the Chargers scored 33 points, but Evans clinched it, giving the Chargers a two-day total of 55 points, 18 points more than runner-up Camden.
"I wasn't try to do anything superhero, just throw the thing and get some points," Evans said.
Like Holy Cross in Non-Public B Championship, Timber Creek brought home from South Plainfield its first championship in school history, capping a season that included its first divisional title and its first sectional championship.
"Last week we were good, but we know we had to be better," coach Chris Grottini said. "We had four kids win a state champion. I feel like I had nothing to do with it because the kids and my assistant coaches have been great."
Grottini was referring to Evans and his three champion underclassmen: Saturday's other winner Eric Smith in the triple jump and Friday's champions junior Montez Blair in the high jump (6-8) and sophomore Saliym Starkey in the 400 hurdles (55.02).
Smith followed up his third-place showing at sectionals last week by leaping a personal-best 45-10.5, seven inches better than South Jersey Group 3 champ Camden's Wayne Walls.
"I knew we really needed the triple jump. That was big," said Smith, a 41-foot jumper in 2007. "But even being here is a big deal."
Seeing the Chargers' dominance in the jumping events, it should come to no surprise that many of the athletes starred on the football team that made the playoffs or the basketball team that advanced to the state finals.
"Why can't we do something like that?" Grottini asked his team before the season.
His team responded with its first-ever state championship.
Holy Cross made history as well Saturday, pairing its indoor state championship with a gutsy outdoor championship, scoring 103 points thanks to scoring across the board. Pingry was third with 66 points and Bishop Eustace with third with 49.
Holy Cross senior thrower Frank Allen left the meet as a double state champion, winning the shot put Friday and the discus Saturday with a personal-best hurl of 158-01.
The 4x400 relay of Dan Gasper, Matt Cusack, Justin Ramsey and Terrence Osborne capped the meet finishing in second, running 3:29.83.
Cusack , a senior, also was huge this weekend, taking second in Saturday's 3,200 (9:46.95) and third in Friday's 1,600 (4:22).
Following up a win in the 400 Friday, senior Rich Fisher placed second to Bishop Eustace senior Brian Laskowski (1:56.92)in his second-ever ran 800 (1:56.98).
"I had enough left to not completely die and keep off the third guy," Fisher said.
"I heard all the Holy Cross people yelling for Fisher, so I just thought he was behind me so I just made sure I held him off," Laskowski said of his first state-championship performance. "I swung into lane two to try to take up some space."
In Non-Public A, it's safe to say Camden Catholic senior Kevin McDonnell had the Non-Public A Championship's 3,200 circled on his calendar long ago.
"I've been thinking about this race since cross country ever since I broke my foot 284 days ago," he said.
It was worth the wait. McDonnell earned his first state title, beating the crowd in 9:19 and just beating an 85-minute rain delay.
Shawnee sophomore David Forward broke a school record after the delay en route to his 9:14 performance in the Group 3 meet's 3,200, good for second.
"With Brett [Johnson] not running I knew I had a chance, but I also knew if I didn't win, I could be happy with the time," Forward said.
Johnson, an Ocean City junior, earned the luxury of relaxing on his laurels after winning a crowded 800 in a meet-best 1:53.55. The finish was smooth with Morris Hills' Liam Tansey finishing in tow in 1:54.71, but the start was frustrating for Johnson -- a heavy favorite that got even heavier after winning Friday's 1,600 in 4:14 – who was forced to run in the outer lanes to pass the frontrunners.
"I didn't expect there to be a thousand people right there so that was another 20,25 meters around the curve," Johnson said. "I was a little annoyed at that, but thought I might as well go with it."
Highland junior Ed Zubryzcki won the Group 3 pole vault by fewer misses, beating defending champion West Deptford senior Dan Batdorf with vault of 14-6.
"I thought I was going to have to wait til next year to get this," Zubryzcki said. "I'm pretty lucky."
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