Knights still the class of the GMC
BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff Above, SouthRiver’s A.J. Parillo soars through the air en route to defending his county long jump title at Saturday’s GMCChampionships in South Plainfield. At left, East Brunswick freshman Maggie Wenz competes in the javelin.

The Old Bridge track team entered Saturday’s GMC Track and Field Championships on a mission.

After placing second behind South Brunswick at the recent GMC Relays, the Knights felt they had something to prove on Saturday in South Plainfield — namely that they remain the conference’s top team.

With Bryant McCombs leading the way, the Knights did just that, capturing the team title with 91 points, just ahead of the surging Vikings, who finished with 82.

McCombs, whose legend grows with each meet, competed in just two events on Saturday, but won each of them in impressive fashion.

In the 200, McCombs bursted out of the blocks en route to a meet and county record time of 21.25. It also marked the fourth fastest 100 in state history.

He came back to win the 400 in 47.27, breaking his own meet record of 48.4, and nearly eclipsing the county record of 47.19.

McCombs seems to be gathering steam with the state meets still to come. His assault on the record books continues.

The Knights also got a win from Umar Saeed in the 3,200, as he beat the field in a time of 9:44.99. Saeed broke away from the field at the mile mark, then held off a pair of charging runners late to earn the county crown.

The third Old Bridge athlete to earn county gold was Ken Cardullo, who won the javelin by tossing a personal best 183-2, nearly 10 feet over his previous best. Cardullo also took fourth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-10.

The Knights depth was the difference on Saturday, as they recorded a number of top finishes in several events.

Matt Ciambriello took third in the 3,200 (9:49.58), while Dawan Riddick was fourth in the 100 (11.31) and Allen Lunkenheimer was fourth in the 400 (49.96).

Chris Bezeg added another fourth-place finish for Old Bridge, posting a time of 4:29.14 in the 1,600 — an event dominated by East Brunswick, whose trio of Justin Granit (4:23.79), Greg Bull (4:24.53) and Dan Gilbert (4:26.37) went 1-2-3.

Old Bridge’s Josh Chatterjee was sixth in 4:33.02.

Paul Racioppi added a fifth-place in the 400 hurdles (57.85), while Jamaar Figueroa added valuable points with a second-place finish in the discus (163-0) one of two events won by South Brunswick phenom Yemi Ayeni. Old Bridge’s John Miller added a fifth-place in the discus with a throw of 146-10.

Phil Payne also scored points for the Knights with a third-place in the javelin (165-10), while teammate John Miller was sixth (153-7).

The Knights’ final points came from the 4x400 relay, where they took fifth (3:30.63).

The 1-2-3 finish in the 1,600 propelled the East Brunswick boys to a tie for third place with Piscataway, as each team scored 53 points.

The Bears got another first-place finish from Steve Schreyer, who finished 1 foot above the competition in the pole vault at 13-0. His teammate, John Grimando, was sixth at 11-0.

Among the other top finishers for the Bears were Jeremiah Lachaud, third in the 100 (11.27); Kyle Grady, third in the 110 hurdles (14.87) and fourth in the long jump (20-2); and Eric Sorkin, fifth in the 3,200 (9:58.85).

The Sayreville boys took seventh overall (21 points), led by the second-place finish by Jason Krainski in the long jump (20-11 1/2) and a third-place finish from Don McCoid in the shot put (51-10).McCoid also took fourth in the discus (152-5).

The other top finisher for the Bombers was Steve Logan, who took fifth in the 1,600 (4:32.40).

South River’s A.J. Parillo defended his long jump title, leaping 21-6 1/2, and also took fifth in the 400 (50.11) to lead the Rams to an 11th-place finish (16).

Teammate Horace Hill took fourth in the triple jump (41-2).

Monroe got a solid second-place finish from Scott Roman in the 3,200 (9:45.76), while teammate Rob McGowan took third in the 400 (49.62).

Spotswood got top finishes from Chad Vidal, fourth in the 800 (2:00.79); Kevin Garcia, fifth in the pole vault (11-6); and Peter Duffy, fifth in the shot put (48 1/2).

Pair of sophs lead

Old Bridge girls

The Old Bridge girls made a run at the team title as well, but couldn’t quite keep up with the team speed of Piscataway, who won the title with 90 points, just seven more than the Knights.

Old Bridge was led by a pair of sophomores — Sarah Root and Nailah Pile — who won the 3,200 and the 400 hurdles, respectively.

Root is working her way back into form after losing three months to an injury, and looked strong in winning the 3,200 in a time of 11:36.50, over seven seconds ahead of second-place Megan Donovan of East Brunswick (11:43.85) and teammate Mara McInerney (11:45.90). Root should be a force in the upcoming state meets, where she is expected to compete in the 1,600 as well.As for Pile, her win in the 400 hurdles (1:06.58) was impressive as she caught J.P. Stevens’ Lataya Dixon in the turn and held on for the win. She also took sixth in the 400, crossing the line in 1:00.16.

Old Bridge also got a second-place finish from Ashley Gonzalez in the 100 (12.56), who finished just behind East Brunswick’s Brittany Hohn (12.52). Gonzalez also took fifth in the 200 (25.92), and event won by Piscataway’s Asia Washington in 25.10.

Sylvia Pilawa took third in the 400 (58.92), another event won by Washington in a meet record 55.83.

Kaitlyn Regan took second in the 1,600, running in 5:23.04, behind South Plainfield’s Nicole Miglis (5:17.6), who also won the 800 in 2:21.40.

The Knights other second-place finish came in the 4x400 relay, where they combined to run 3:57.00, but were no match for a Piscataway quartet that set a new meet record in 3:54.79.

The Knights also had success in the field events, where Brittany Gibbs took third in the long jump (16-8) and triple jump (35-8), Karina Crcile took second in the shot put (37-4), and Shante Wells took fourth in the discus (94-6).

East Brunswick’s girls put on a strong performance, led by Hohn and Donovan, finishing third in the team standings with 51 points.

Along with her win in the 100, Hohn also placed third in the 200 (25.70).

Among the other top finishers for the Bears were Vickie Krupnik, third in the 800 (2:23.17); Sarah Smith, fourth in the 1,600 (5:33.58) and sixth in the 3,200 (11:56.85); Erin Comerford, fourth in the 3,200 (11:51.36); and the 4x400 relay team, which took fifth (4:12.79).

Sayreville’s girls finished ninth overall (18 points), led by the second-place finish of Lynn Mayer in the high jump (5-2), and the third-place finish of Priscilla Senyah in the 100 hurdles (15.97).

Rios Suannette added a fifth-place finish (106-2) in the javelin for the Bombers, while Holy Miara was sixth in the pole vault (7-6) and Simon Saxon was sixth the 100 (12.92).

Spotswood was next in 10th (17 points), led by Carolyn Bowers’ win in the pole vault, where she set a new personal best at 8-6. The Chargers also got points from Valerie Bonczek, who took third in the 1,600 (5:30.81) and sixth in the 800 (2:23.78).

Monroe was led by Nicole Ragucci, who took fifth in the 100 (12.83) and sixth in the 200 (26.68). Rua Zhang also scored for the Falcons, taking fourth in the pole vault (8-0).