States Group 2: Camden girls wins State Championship ... So does Holy Cross!

(Pub June 1)
Champs: In Group 3, Camden won its first outdoor state championship since 1979. Holy Cross won its first since 1991.

Holy cow: The Holy Cross senior tandem of Rose Johnson and Ayana Davis combined for five wins, enough to stave off the throwers from second-place Our Lady of Mercy.

A plus: In Non-Public A this weekend, Camden Catholic sophomore Seifat Juniad won three events – the 200, the high jump and the long jump – and scored all her team's points.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- Locked at 34 points apiece, Camden and Seneca wheeled out their top 4x400 relay teams to the line.

With fourteen events completed, and the last one irrelevant Saturday, the lead-off girls only needed to turn their heads to know the Group 3 Championship was also on the line.

A team of Jamie Jones, Assante Johnson, Miriam Boyd and Kamice Smalls ran the time of their lives, circling the track in a season-best 3:52.42 to beat third-place Seneca (3:54.05) and win its first outdoor state championship since 1979. Camden ended with 44 points and Seneca wore a tough silver with 40.

"We all knew what we had to do and we put our heads together and ran our race," said Smalls, a senior who also took second in the Friday's 400 hurdles. "We all split pretty good too."

Camden coach Avis Satterfield has been counting the years since the Panthers last outdoor title. The six-year coach was a member of the 1978 championship squad and its winning 4x400 team, both of Group 4 then.

"They know that's the race I like out of all of them so they I expect them to do pretty good," said an emotional Satterfield, whose tears were the only things at South Plainfield to run faster than her athletes. "All week at practice they knew what they had to do. And they did it."

The 2008 championship began and, by the way she ran it, ended with Jones' lead-off lap, a team-best.

"I knew I had to get my team the lead to get us on track and give us a chance to win," the junior said.

Seneca was led by sophomore Michelle Brown, who, after running a 53.91 in the 400 Friday to break the 1986 Group 3 meet record of 53.97, took second to Deptford junior Audrey Wilson (24.67) in the 200 in 24.73 and anchored her relay team to a bronze medal.

Wilson had won the 100 on Friday, helping Deptford place fifth with 28 points.
Holy Cross, matching the boys' team championship for championship this year, won the Non-Public B Championship, its first since 1991.

Ayana Davis had been promising coach Mike Gouth an outdoor championship ever since her freshman year. Now a senior, Davis knew she had to step up to make hope a reality.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we knew we had a good shot at it," Davis said.

Davis made it look easy, winning the triple jump Friday and the 100 hurdles Saturday (15.31). Senior teammate and fellow double champion Rose Johnson – who won the high jump (5-2) and the 400 hurdles (1:04.35) – took second in the hurdles in 15.86, the Lancers' bread and butter event and an advantage over others.

"Today Rose and I got 18 points in the hurdles," Davis said. "Hurdles are a big deal here and that's usually weird because a lot of other teams don't have hurdles as their big spot. But it's ours."

Holy Cross finished with 84 points and Our Lady of Mercy was second with 68, nearly all from the weights department.

Nearly matching its discus sweep on Friday, OLMA took the top two spots and the fourth in the shot put thanks to juniors thanks to juniors Genevieve Rybicki (39-11.75), Victoria Imbesi (36-3) and Taylor Thompson (34-7.25).

In the Non-Public A Championships, team scoring was never a factor for any South Jersey team, but it did have its stars.

Camden Catholic sophomore Seifat Juniad won the 200 (25.71) and the high jump (5-2) Saturday and the long jump (17-11) Saturday, scoring all of her team's points, good for sixth.

Holy Spirit junior Francesca D'Angelo was South Jersey's other Non-Public A champion this weekend, earning gold in the 100 hurdles (15.13).

Back in Group 3, Woodrow Wilson senior Samantha Sharper stirred the crowd en route to her first state title, winning the 100 hurdles in a near personal-best 14.17.

"I came into the race with a level head," said Sharper. "I just focused on my lane. I pictured myself by myself and I just saw myself winning."

During the most humid portion of the day, Kingsway sophomore Chelsea Ley placed third in the 3,200 in 10:48.12. Ley had finished seventh in the 1,600 Friday, just missing the cutoff for Wednesday's Meet of Champions.