Ed Grant's Indoor State Review

[Nick]

ED GRANT'S INDOOR STATE REVIEW

There was plenty of both the expected and the unexpected at the New Jersey all-group championships
on Sunday at Princeton's Jadwin gym.

       While many favorites came through with flying colors---Janine Davis of Queen of Peace, Anthony
Abitante of Berkeley Heights, Danielle Tauro of Southern Ocean Regional, Shavon Greaves of Lakewood
---came through with flying colors, others either had a very difficult road to victory or had to settle for silver
or bronze medals, if that.

       The top winner of the day was Union's Chris Haley, who doubled the hurdles and the high jump and
did it in style with season's bests in both events. He won the 55 from surprising John McManus of Delbarton
in 7.49 in one of the day's first finals,  then took the high jump a couple of hours later at 6-10.

        Making it a perfect day for the Farmers, junior Latif Brewer took the 55M with a late surge in 6.56.
There was no real favorite in the event, but it was a shock when previously unbeaten Doug Cloninger of
Morristown failed to even qualify for the final.

        There was in the girls' 55M where Lakewood soph Shavon Greaves matched her winning time of
7.18 in last week's Coca Cola meet in the trials, this time minus spikes or starting blocks, then took the
final in 7.20 from Toneisha Friday of Franklin.

     Both 3200-meter runs provided major upsets. In the boys' race, sophomore Joe McKenney of Cranford,
who had run second in the Gr. II race six weeks earlier, improved his time by 20 seconds as he charged
past Chris Horel of Christian Brothers on the final lap to win by 10 yards in 9:20.77.

         The girls' race was even more of a surprise when heavy favorite Jen Clausen faded in the last 800M
and was passed by both Gr. III champ Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck and Karen Guthrie of Mendham,
Higginson winning by 35 yards in a personal best of 10:52.72.

         The girls' pole vault also saw an odds-on choice go down to defeat as Kristen Gafford of Warren Hills
became the first girl from Warren County to win an indoor all-group title, clearing 12-0, while season-long
leader Julianne Toto of Middletown South was a foot under her best at 11-6 in second..

         Only one athlete successfully defended her title, but two others reclaimed titles they had won two
years ago. Janine Davis of Queen of Peace, a double winner last year in the 400 and 800, was constricted
to one event this time by a new schedule and chose the 800, winning by 12 yards from Emily Sherrard of
Hopewell Valley in 2:13.72.

         With Davis out of the 400, Krystal Cantey of Winslow Twp for back the title she had won as a
freshman in 2003, finishing two yards ahead of Tiffany Grant of Ocean Twp. This made up for a very
close loss suffered earlier by Krystal to Symone O'Connor of Franklin who won the 200 in 25.22.

        Steve DiGiorgio of Bayonne made it seven wins in nine years for his family in the shot put when he
outthrew season-leade Sal Delhierro of Toms River North by almost two feet at 57-8 1/2. Steve had won
as a soph in 2003, but did not compete as a junior. Hudson County, once the dominant force in indoor
track in the state, also took the girls' event when Daria Zivanovic continued her undefeated season with a
personal best of 41-3 3/4.

      One of the most interesting stories of the day surrounded the 55H win by Trier Young of Neptune over
defending champ Sonya Sullivan of Manchester Twp in a season's-best of 8.04. Young is coached by
Neptune grad Dawn Bowles who set all the New Jersey hurdle records (7.81 indoors) before entering into
a successful career as an internationalist. She is now a volunteer coach at her alma mater.  

      The boys' 1600-meter run is always a focal point in a meet where, 33 years ago, Vince Cartier of Scotch
Plains of Scotch Plains ran what is still the fastest indoor mile in a purely high school race, 4:06.6. The
winner this time was Greg Leach of Christian Brothers in a repeat of last week's Gr. IV victory over Joe
Simpson of Southern Ocean Regional in 4:18.35.

      The girls' 1600 was also a Jersey Shore battle with Tauro outrunning constant rival Leah Brogan of Msgr.
Donovan in 4:57.90 . This gave Tauro a lock on the event as she had won the outdoor title last spring.

      While Davis sailed to victory in the girls' 800, Rob Novak of Bordentown had to do it the hard way in the
boys' event. A week ago, he had run the event shortly after winning the 1600 in a vain effort for the team title
and so wound up in an unseeded section on Sunday. Rob simply took off from the gun, finished 15 yards
ahead of Roxbury soph Jason Apwah in 1:56.52, then had to wait to see what happened in seeded section
where Mikey Pachella of Wallkill Valley typically led from start to finish, only to fall short at 1:56.52.

       The closest finish of the day came in the boys' 400. The race lost something when Gr. IV champ
Bryant McCombs of Old Bridge scratched after running away with the 200 in 22.17. This prevented a rematch
with national 600M record-holder Shaquan Brown, whom McCombs had beaten a week earlier.

         This still left a stellar field and it was Carl Smith of Camden, the Gr. III champ, who charged into the
lead on the second lap with Brown about five or six yards back in fourth place. It stayed that way until the
fina? turn when Brown let loose a kick which got him to the line inches ahead as both were timed in 49.53.

         The field events stayed pretty close to form, aside from the girls' PV. Haley's win in the boys' HJ was
matched by Alaina Alfano, who matched her indoor personal best with 5-6 in the girls' event. And, long after
almost everyone had gone home, Anthony Abitante of Berkeley Heights stayed undefeated in the PV with
a 14-6 clearance.

     Ironically, some of the event decisions made during the meet anticipated running in the Easterns a day
later, not knowing that Monday's snowstorm would provide two extra days of rest.