ED GRANT'S WEEKLY ROUNDUP

With eight gold medal performances and a quartet of state records, New Jersey athletes put a crowning touch on the 1006-07
indoor season last weekend in the two national meets in New York and Landover, Md.

The only sour note on the weekend was the double defeat handed to Danielle Tauro and her Southern Ocean
teammates at the Nike Invitational in Landover. On Saturday, the Rams lost the distance medley to Eleanor Roosevelt of
Maryland and, on Sunday Tauro and teammate Jillian Smith finished 2-3 in the mile to Alex Kosinski of El Dorado, Cali.

Countering this, however, were the two-mile victories scored by Craig Forys and Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck.
Forys settled some old scores at Landover when he took the boys race from Matt Centrowitz Jr. in 9:01.57 while Ashley Higginson
broke Brittany Sedberry’s year-old girls’ state record as she ran away with the girls’ event in New York in 10:16.75.

This followed by just 24 hours another state mark as Higginson anchored a repeat in the four-mile relay with a
4:47 leg as the Cougars lowered their own year-old mark to 20:26.41. And Forys, two days before his Landover win, had run a 4:05.9
1600 leg to bring Colts Neck home fourth in the distance medley in 10:18.56 as New Jersey teams finished 2-3-4 with Old Bridge
leading the parade at 10:15.84 and Brandon Jarrett of St. Benedict’s running 4:14.0 to hold off Forys as the Gray Bees clocked 10:18.34.

A third state record came in a losing effort by Andrew Hanko of Trinity Christian who finished third in Friday’s 5K race
in New York in 15:04.42, erasing Jarrett’s mark set a year ago. Brandon passed this one up in favor of his relay chore, but the traveled
to Landover to placed 9th in the 2M there in 9:14.12, two spots behind soph Doug Smith of Gill-St. Bernard’s who ran 9:12.90.

The other victories in New York came from junior Hanif Kendrick of Franklin who took the boys’ long jump at 24-3 ľ; DeAnne
Hahn of Brick, who won the shot put at 46-8 Ľ; Ashley Newby of Columbia, who scored a big upset in the girls’ pentathlon with
3,521 points and Don Bosco Prep, which took the 3200R on Sunday morning in 7:52.92 after placing fifth the day before in the
four-mile relay with the second-fastest time in state history at 17:42.71. Devon Bond of Trenton added a second win at Landover
in the high jump at 6-10 ľ and was also second in the triple jump there at 48-7 Ľ with four jumps over 48 feet.

Pope John added the four state mark as part of a brilliant five-way relay effort in the New York meet. The Lions
lowered their two-week old mark in the 3200MR. placing third in 9:05.97. They also had season-leading marks in the spring medley,
placing second in 4:03.69 and the 1600-meter relay, where they finished seventh in 3:55.79, plus a sixth-place in the distance medley
in 12:00.53 and a fifth in the four-mile relay in 21:15.04. The SMR and DMR were run on Friday with completely different lineups.

Smith gave Southern Ocean a sizeable lead on the opening 1200-meter leg of the Landover DMR, but the Jordan
twins made up that deficit and opened an 11-second edge on the next two legs and Tauro was able to cut that only in half as the
Rams ran 11:55.02. In the mile the next day, Danielle ran her usual race, staying near the lead and county on her withering kick,
but Kosinski blazed the final lap in 31 seconds two win by a dozen yards as Tauro finished in 4:47.89, a second or so off her season’s
best. Smith lowered her state sopho-more mark to 4:51.66 in third.

Josefine Kvist of Ridge, who had finished second as a sophomore in the New York pentathlon last year, was
expected to be the state’s hope in the event this time, but confined her efforts to the anchor leg in the shuttle hurdles. Newby, a
newcomer to all-around competition, took the lead when she won the long jump at 18-1/4, a season’s best in the state, and
finished up with a 2:31.21 in the 800 to defeat Susan Smith of Massachusetts by 100 points. She also had a creditable 33 1 Ľ
in her “odd” event, the shot put, plus a 5-5 in the HJ and a 9.46 in the 60H, events she has shone in since her junior high days.

New Jersey had two other 2-3-4 finishes in New York, one in the boys’ 400-meter run where the Cox twins
shaded their season’s best, Charles finishing second in 48.26 and Chris third in 48.62 with Allan Lunkenheimer of Old Bridge
fourth in 48.85 and the other in the 220-meter shuttle hurdles relay where Ridgewood led Ocean Twp and Randolph over the
line in 34.14. Union County rivals Roselle and Rahway finished 2-4 in the boys’ race in 30.17 and 30.28.

Freshman Chelsea Ley of Kingsway had a national frosh record in the girls’ 5000-meter run in New York as
she finished second in 17:41.90 to join Jarrett, who holds the boys’ soph mark and Brad Hudson, who set the still-standing boys’
senior and national record who ran 14:29.8 after leaving the state to complete his high school education in Oregon.

Another season’s best effort came in the boys’ sprint medley in New York where Notre Dame finished third in 3:28.59.
Gigi Gibilisco anchored this one in 1:53 and Don Bosco was ninth in 3:34.83 to lead off its solid weekend baton performance.

After a rousing all-group meet and a very satisfactory night at the Eastern championships two days later, New Jersey athletes
will conclude the 2006-07 indoor season in the usual fashion, splitting their forces this weekend between the National championships
at the New York Armory and the Nike Invitational in Landover, Md.

There will, however, be a few notable absentees from either meet, chiefly English Gardner of Eastern who finish up an
impressive freshman campaign with a double at the all-group meet and a 55-meter win at the Easterns, and Reggie Dixon of Plainfield
who repeated in the boys’ race in 6.46 and then was a close second in the Eastern race in 6.31, a shade off the state record. Gardner
won the 55 at the all-group meet in 7.08 and the 400 in 56.29, then took the Eastern 55 in 7.04, shading the state freshman record of
7.05 which she had set at the Gr. IV meet on Feb. 18.

Danielle Tauro of Southern Ocean, who missed the all-group meet for the second year in a row with a minor leg injury,
returned to action at the Easterns with a 4:51.2 anchor leg as her team won the distance medley by 40 yards from Colts Neck in a
meet record 11:49.62. She is listed for the mile in Landover, along with sophomore teammate Jillian Smith, who took the all-group
1600 in 4:53.98 and ran an opening 3:32 1200 leg in the Eastern relay win.

Also at Landover will be Eastern double winner Devon Bond of Trenton, who took the HJ there at 6-8 and the triple jump
at 47-10. Bond had also won the all-group high jump at 6-8 and, in each meet, had the bar then set at 7-1, barely missing it on his final
try on Feb. 25 at the John Bennett Center in Toms River. He has a 7-0 to his credit from the state relays in Jersey City back in January.

The big race for New Jersey in Landover will be Sunday’s two-mile run with three of the state’s top distance runners in
the field, led by Craig Forys of Colts Neck who won the all-group 3200 in a meet record in 9:03.58 and then ran a 4:10.2 anchor leg after
being touched off almost a lap behind in the boys’ distance medley at the Easterns.

The other two in the field will be Doug Smith of Gill-St. Bernard’s, who finished second to Forys at 9:11.39 in the all-group
3200, and Brandon Jarrett of St. Benedict’s, one of several athletes who will double between the two meets this weekend. Jarrett, who ran
a 4:13.8 anchor leg to bring the Gray Bees home fourth in the Eastern distance medley, will try to repeat that effort in New York on Friday
before tackling the 2M on Sunday.

Missing from this field will be Andrew Hanko of Trinity Christian, who will lead the New Jersey entry in the 5,000 meters on Friday in
New York. Hanko, who does not run on Sundays, had to pass up the all-group 3200, but came back two days later at the Easterns to run
second in the Eastern 2M in 9:09.80. His conqueror in that one, Steve Murdock of Shenendehowa, will also be in the 5K field on Friday.

While Forys is competing in Landover, his teammate, Ashley Higginson, will be tackling a double assignment in New York,
anchoring the Colts Neck in a state record attempt in the four-mile relay on Saturday and then going for Brittany Sedberry’s state two-mile
record on Sunday. Higginson took 10 seconds off her own all-group 3200-meter record as she won that race fore the third time in a row in
10:26.53.

Pope John, which set a state record of 9:06.94 in the 3200-meter relay at the Easterns, will try to better that mark Sunday
morning as part of a four-way relay effort in New York this weekend. The Lions will also be in a strong distance medley field on Friday with
Ramapo, will also run the sprint medley that day and the four-mile relay on Saturday. It already has the finest set of marks in the those
events ever posted by a New Jersey team in one season, as well as leading the 1600-meter relay in the state this winter with its fourth-place
finish at the Easterns in 3:58.59.

The top individual race for New Jersey in New York will be the boys’ 800-meter run with Jason Apwah of Roxbury, who
won the Eastern 800 from Alans Laws of Pleasantville in 1:52.76 leading an entry which includes two other state group champions, Maxwell
Bruno of Indian Hills and Niall Buckley of Ridgewood, as well as Gigi Gibilisco of Notre Dame, who finished behind Apwah in Gr. III. This
race may settle some issue left over from the all-group meet which, after John Gray of Southern Ocean had run 1:56.82 in the second-seeded
section, saw the top-seeded race loaf through a 59-second first 400 with Gibilisco slipping at the start and Bruno almost knocked off the track
on the first turn of the second lap.

Another race which had its trouble that weekend was the girls’ 400-meter run. Gardner stayed clear of the problems in the
lead, but defender Kristen Mahon of Notre Dame and outdoor National 400-meter hurdle champ Leslie Njoku of McNair Academic went down,
again on the first turn of the second lap, leaving Symone O’Connor of Franklin to take second easily in 46.74. Mahon is skipping this weekend’s
action, but Symone and Leslie are both in the New York 400 field.

State supremacy in the boys’ high hurdles may also be settled this weekend at Landover with all-group champion Tykeen
Fulton of Trenton and Eastern winner Mike Cuppari of Hanover Park in the field, this time at the 60-meter distance. Both races were as close
as could be, Fulton and outdoor 400-meter hurdles champ Manny Mayers of Lakewood---who is taking this weekend off---both times at 7.45
and Cuppari edging Tykeen at the Easterns in 7.44. Also running at Landover will be Racquel Vassell of East Orange who ran away with the
all-group girls’ hurdle race in 8.11, then ran 7.99 to finish second at the Easterns. The extra distance this weekend will be no problem to Racquel
who is also entered in the 200 meters there, hoping to match her 2006 leadership in the state at 24.29 in that event.

The boys’ 400 in New York will provide a third meeting of the Cox twins of Monmouth Regional and Allan Lunkenheimer of Old
Bridge. Charles Cox matched his mother’s 1982 in the all-group meet---the then Vanessa Hughley, an Army brat, took the 55H for Monmouth as
a sophomore in 1982, then left the state when her father was transferred elsewhere---in 48.92 with Chris second in 48.92. Two days later, Charles
won again at the Easterns in 48.27, but there Lunkenheimer split the twins in 48.67. (Note: timing the Easterns, as usual, was Ed Scullion, who
had coached the twins’ father and mother at Monmouth.)

Two other New Jersey field event winners at the Easterns were all-group shot put champ Mike Alleman of Scotch Plains, who
followed up his all-group win in the shot put with a 59-11 ˝ victory and fellow Union County star Rahdel Savage of Roselle who took the long
jump with a season’s-best 23-5 ˝. Alleman will naturally be going for a 60-footer this weekend while Savage has a very busy agenda, also
competing individually in Saturday’s pentathlon and the triple jump and running in Friday’s opening track event, the shuttle hurdle relay. (He is
also has a six-foot PR in the high jump and runs regularly on the Rams; 1600-relay team.)

With Tauro and Smith in Landover, along with Eastern mile champ Amanda Marino of Jackson, Kesley Ramsey of Ramapo
will head the New Jersey mile entry in New York with Kim Standridge of Randolph. The boys’ all-group 1600 champ, Dennis Waite of Red Bank,
is among the absentees, but Eastern winner (and all-group runner-up) Brian Tetrault of Cinnaminson will be in the Landover field.

The boys’ distance medley in New York has a strong New Jersey entry. Colts Neck is listed, but Forys is unlikely to double
the two meets. This leaves Old Bridge, the state leader this winter at 10:20.1, Ridgewood and St. Benedict’s. Jackson, No. 2 in this event,
will concentrate on the four-mile relay, along with the state’s No. 2 cross-country team last fall, Don Bosco Prep, which will also challenge
season-leader Notre Dame and Old Bridge in the sprint medley

When Southern Ocean sophomore Jillian Smith was asked earlier this winter if she thought she might
catch up with teammate Danielle Tauro before the end of the season, she simply laughed at the idea of beating a
national champion. After her exploits at the New Jersey Gr. IV championships over the weekend, the idea does
not seem that preposterous.

With Tauro, the 2006 national outdoor mile champion and winner of three major races this winter,
on the shelf temporarily with a hamstring injury, Smith took over and guided the Rams to a 34-30 win over East
Orange, doubling the 800 and 1600 in 2:14.99 and 4:52.21, and anchoring a fourth-place finish in the 1600R with
a sub-59-second leg, thus producing the points which prevented a tie for the crown.

The 1600 led off the program on Saturday afternoon and produced a rather bizarre competition
between Smith and Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck, which had its own designs on the championships, eventually
finishing third with 26 points. Higginson ran in the second-seeded section, soloing a 4:53.70 victory. Smith then
had to beat that with no help from her rivals in the top-seeded section, using her devastating speed on the final
lap to win by a second and a half.

The incident exposed the fallacy of a seeding system which depends almost entirely on what
coaches place on their seeding card, ignoring the “hard” times posted by athletes during earlier meets. Tauro,
Higginson and Smith had all run under 5:00 in the Boston Indoor Games three weeks earlier. This would have
insured their being placed together in the final section at any other level of competition.

Smith came back from this one to win the 800 from Jahlisa Smith of Plainfield, again using
her great kick to outrun her namesake rival by a dozen yards in 2:14.99. Meanwhile, teammate Brittany Knowles
and Ashley Furlong had picked up 10 points in the hurdles and pole vault and Fulrong later joined Smith in the
relay effort.

East Orange might have made it a lot closer, even won the title, had Racquel Vassell run the
final of the 55-meter dash, where teammate Porshe Giddings finished third. But the hurdles immediately followed
that event and Vassell scratched the dash before taking a close barrier race from Lara Jane Que of Ridgewood in
8.15. She later joined Giddings in a 4:01.47 relay win which tied the meet for exactly three seconds before Smith
came over the line 20 yards back.

The Gr. III meet earlier in the day also saw the emergence of a sophomore as Erin McKenna of
Ramapo led senior teammate Kesley Ramsey over the line in 5:04.17, giving her team 18 points, more than half
of the total of 35 that topped Notre Dame’s 26. The two distance stars later added 14 with Ramsey second to
Ariann Neutts of Roxbury in the 800 and McKenna finishing third to Amanda Goetschius of Delsea in the 3200
in 11:15.29.

The other two girls’ meets, on Thursday and Friday evening, were runaways for two of the state’s
best all-around teams. Pope John exceeded even advance notices as it won Gr. I by the widest margin in the history
of the meet, 76-19, over Haddonfield. Another soph, Emily Carrollo, was the big news for the Lions as she upset
national outdoor 400-meter hurdle champ Leslie Njoku of McNair Academic in the 400 in57.47, placed second to
defender Jamie Walker of Haddon Heights in the 55M in 7.34 and anchored a record 4:03.69 win in the 1660-meter
relay. Senior Lara Heigis doubled the distances in 5:05.69 and 11:03.19,

The next day, Hopewell Valley reclaimed its Gr. II title with a 60-33 margin over Hanover Park,
scoring in eight of the 10 events with still another soph, Julie Alexander, winning the 400 in 58.99., placing second
in the 55-meter hurdles and anchoring a fourth-place relay effort.

Trenton lived fully up to advance notices in the Gr. IV boys meet on Sunday, routing Don Bosco,
60-29, with Tykeen Fulton winning the 55H in 7.46 and placing second in the 400 in 49.66, indicating that he will be
quite a force in the intermediate hurdles outdoors. Devon Bond took the high jump at 6-8 and then had the bar placed
at 7-1, giving the crowd a thrill with two close misses.

The tightest meet of the weekend was in Gr. III boys where Camden won the 1600-meter relay by
two-hundredths of a second to edge Notre Dame, 30-29 1/6. Sherman Goree anchored that one, catching Gigi
Gibilisco of Notre Dame a yard from the finish. Goree also won the 400 by the same time margin on a comparison
with Akeem Thomas of Teaneck as they ran in separate heats. (Thomas had no 400 time in advance since Bergen
County runs the 300 and 600 in its meets and his estimated mark didn’t quite qualify for the final section.).

The Cox twins----whose sister Chelsea ran with Smith on the Southern Ocean relay---led Monmouth
to a 46-32 win over Hanover Park in Gr. II, running 1-2 in the 400 meters, Charlie setting a group and meet record of
49.11 and Chris hitting 49.98. They were also in an early section of the event since Monmouth did not send in
seeding times either for this or the 1600R where the Coxes sparked another meet record of 3:24.42. It was a case
of the old Scots’ saying: “where the MacDonald sits is the head of the table.”

Pope John finished up a Gr. I double on Sunday, edging relay co-winners Roselle and Union
Catholic, 28-25-22. An unexpected win by Chris Thomas in the high jump at 6-0 and a 4:28.89 1600 triumph for
Jon Juleus were the key to the victory, made possible, however, by the absence of Union Catholic distance star,
Brian Guterl, who had contributed to the relay co-victory and an initial Union County crown despite nursing a leg
injury all winter,

The Gr. I boys’ meet provided the race of the weekend, one that will, unfortunately not be repeated
at this weekend’s all-group meet. Sophomore Doug Smith of Gill-St. Bernard’s and Naval Academy-bound Andrew
Hanko of Trinity Christian went at it side-by-side for 16 laps with Smith just getting the call with a group and state
sophomore 3200-meter mark of 9:08.01. Hanko will not be at Sunday’s meet because his school does not compete
on the Sabbath.

Smith may still be involved in quite a race should Craig Forys of Colts Neck try for the distance
double he scored a year ago. Forys won the two Gr. IV races on Sunday with plenty to spare, exactly matching the
1600 mark of 4:21.43 set by John Coyle of CBA 18 years ago and running 9:28.40 in the 3200.

Another double could come from Eastern’s sensational freshman English Gardner, who won the Gr.
IV sprints last Saturday despite having a stomach ailment. With Vassell scratching, Gardner took the 55 by two yards
from Adaobi Unachukwu of Marlboro in 7.10 and then defeated Colgate champ Symone O’Connor of Franklin in the
400 in 56.44. She will be a heavy favorite in the dash this Saturday, but has a tough obstacle in the 400 in defender
Kristen Mahon of Notre Dame, who won the Gr. III race handily in 57.19 and then also anchored a relay victory over
favored Camden.

It is doubtful that Smith will double the 800 and 1600, her second effort likely to be in the closing
1600-meter relay with Tauro hoping to join her. Smith and Higginson could meet head-on in the 1600 on Saturday,
but the more likely scenario is for Jillian to run that race and Higginson to concentrate on a third straight 3200 title.
This would promote Jahlisa Smith to the favorite spot in the 800.

The boys’ 800 may be the most competitive event of the weekend. No less than 13 boys broke
2:00 last weekend and only Nick Miehe of DePaul may choose another event. The field is headed by Apwah, the
all-group outdoor champ last scoring, Maxwell Bruno of Indian Hills, the Gr. II winner, Niall Buckley of Ridgewood,
the Gr. IV champ, and Gibilisco, who will not be doubling the 800 and 1600 this weekend.

Bond’s likely attempt at 7-0 will head the field event action, but both shot puts look promising with
Taryn O’Connor of Hillsboro and DeAnne Hahn of Brick likely repeating their close battle of last weekend and junior
Mike Alleman of Scotch Plains, the Gr. III winner at 59-6 Ľ, trying to join the 60-foot club.

The track at the Bennett Center in Toms River lived up to advance notices with more than a dozen
records being broken. Most who attended enjoyed the intimate setting, far different from that which was part of the
Jadwin Gym setting for the past two decades or so when spectators were confined to the rather remote balcony.
Seating, however, is limited and it was mostly a case of relatives and friends of the athletes attending, particularly
as this was the weekend of the highly popular district wrestling meets

The girls’ meet begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and the boys. Meet at noon on Sunday.

After its runaway victory in the Gr. IV relay championships on Jan. 13, Southern Ocean Regional High School and its
star runner, Danielle Tauro, seem in a position to sweep the board individually and collectively for the 2006-07 indoor and outdoor track
and field campaigns.

Tauro and her sophomore sidekick, Jillian Smith, completed a stunning week of competition when they finished first
and third in the invitation mile last Saturday at the New Balance Games at the New York Armory Center. Taruto, in control of the race
from start to finish, won by 20 yards from Chantell Price in 4:46.13, second best in New Jersey history, while Smith ran 4:55.27 in third.
Both will be running in the Millrose Games mile on Feb. 2 at Madison Square Garden; Tauro will also be in the field this weekend at
Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

It was a typical Tauro race as she sailed through three 73-second 440s, then took off in the final 200 meters to complete
a final quarter-mile in a little over 66 seconds. This came after she had anchored three winning teams in the state relay victory, the last
two within 30 minutes of each other. Her anchor leg in an 11:59.20 DMR victory over Colts Neck was 4:53. Smith ran a 3:38 leadoff 1200
in this one and contributed two sub-60 second 400 legs in the sprint medley and 1600R, allowing Tauro to coast on her anchor legs.

With these two likely to produce close to or over 50 individual points, Southern Ocean will be a prohibitive favorite in the
state Gr. IV championships three weeks hence. And it will not be much different outdoors with Ashley Furlong ready to weigh in with
solid points in the 400H and PV and a crack 1600R team that ran under 4:00 last spring.

New Jersey’s other national leader, Devon Bond of Trenton, also had quite a week, starting with his 7-0 HJ that ended
the state relay marathon on Jan. 14 at the Jersey City Armory. He followed this with a 6-8 clearance as Trenton and West Orange
repeated their 13-0 totals at the New Balance Games and a 48-4 to spark a triple jump victory.

The state relays went off with only a few hitches in their return to the Jersey City drillshed after a 33-year absence.
There were several very close team races with three of the four boys; events decided in the closing 1600R, Roselle taking Gr. I, Rahway
defeating neighbor Union Catholic in Gr. II, Notre Dame edging Willingboro in Gr. III and Trenton coasting in Gr. IV despite a fall in the
opening shuttle hurdles.

Southern was joined as any easy winner in the girls’ meet by Pope John which, as expected, totally dominated the
Gr. I division, and by Hopewell Valley which won its sixth in a row in Gr. II. But Gr. III had another close one, this one left undecided
as Ridge and Kingsway tied at 32. (It is likely to be different in the open meet in three weeks with all-arounder Josfine Kvist and
distance runner Nicol Traynor lead Ridge to a decisive win.

The Gr. IV distance medley duel between Southern Ocean and Colts Neck was easily the feature of the three-day
meet. Smith’s sterling opening leg gave Southern Ocean a big lead, but Colts Neck pecked away at it in the intermediate legs and
Ashley Higginson quickly moved up to Tauro on the anchor. She actually went by her close friend at the halfway point, but the
result was inevitable as Danielle sailed way on the final lap, winning by a dozen yards as Colts Neck clocked 12:01.76.

This is a banner year for New Jersey in the girls’ DMR, as was evident when Ramapo took the Gr. III race from
Roxbury in 12:21.61, a time it improved to 12:09.58, finishing fourth the following week in a stacked field at the Yale Invitational.

The sprint medley also had quite a weekend with Colts Neck running 4:12.9 in the girls’ race at the Lavino relays
on Lawrenceville’s banked 200-meter track and Pope John topping that with a 4:10.70 at the New Balance meet. Notre Dame’s
boys, who had laid off the event in the state relays in favor of the immediately following 1600R, put it all together at the Lavino
Relays, running 3:31.8, while Pleasantville was winning in the New Balance meet at 3:33.99. The Colts Neck girls also won the
3200R in 9:35.9 and the DMR in 12:42.7.

The New Balance meet was a good one all around for the New Jersey entry. Kyle Soloff of Morris Hills earned a
berth in the Millrose boys’ mile, finishing third in 4:19.41. (Craig Forys of Colts Neck, expected to anchor a DMR at the Lawrenceville
meet, is still on the shelf with a minor leg problem and has also withdrawn from the Millrose field.).

Camden, the national leader in the 800R, skipped the New Balance meet, but Willingboro had a second-place finish
in 1:30.63. Christian Brothers finished just ahead of Jackson in third place in the 3200R at 8:04.68 and had a B team run 8:14.29,
while the Jaguars lowered their season’s best to 8:06.27. Trenton was second to Archbishop Molloy in the SHR in 30.67. Hillsboro
topped the Trenton mark with a 30.3 at the Lavino Relays and also won the SHR at 34.7.

The Camden girls were present and ran second in the 800R in 1:42.64 and fourth in the 1600R in 3:59.54. Hunterdon
central won the SHR in 35.72 in a 1-2-3-4 NJ finish. Columbia’s pair of Bianca Stewart and Ashley Newby repeated their state relay
win at 10-8, each clearing 5-4 and West Orange won the shot put relay with Althea Charles hitting 41-4 ˝.

Charles’ mark, her second excursion into the 40-plus ranks, was, however, dwarfed by the 47-2 from Brick junior
Deanna Hahn at the state relays. Hahn, who transferred from Lakewood last fall, is now eyeing the somewhat controversial marks
set by Nicole Sims of Plainfield back in 1992.

Some New Jersey athletes skipped the state relays to run at the Stanner Games in new York Jan. 13. There was
a 2-3-4 finish in the boys; 600M with Pat Blackie of Seton Hall leading home Alan Laws of Pleasantville and Jason Apwah of Rahway
in 1:21.38. Pleasantville showed how easily it might have won the Gr. II title as it ran 1:32.34 in the 800R and 31.93 in the SHR to
go along with earlier marks of 3:27.81 in the 1600R and 8:04.31 in the 3200R

In girls’ action at this one, Racquell Vassell of East Orange won the 55H in 8.34 and finished third in the 300 in
39.44. Natalie Parkes of Hunterdon Central took the PV at 11-3.

National outdoor 400H champ Leslie Njoku of McNair Academic, had a 5-4 in the HJ at the state relays and another
in the Jersey City Public School meet on Jan. 23 where she also won the 55H in 8.7 and the 400 in an eased-up 1:01.2, but skipped
the 600 at the Stanner Games when her leg tightened up after the state relay effort.

Solo runner Andrew Hanko of Trinity Christian was also absent at the relays, but won the 3K at Yale in 8:40.27,
roughly equivalent to what his Parochial 3200 rival ran recently for 2M )9”15/2) at a New York Armory open meet.

New Jersey indoor track and field, on the state level, goes back to its beginnings this weekend with the three-day
relay championships at the Jersey City Armory where the modern program began in 1960.

The 70-year-old drillshed has a much different look than when the last state meet was held there in 1974. A 200-meter
Mondo track was installed last year, lighting has been improved and a Madison Square Garden-style “scoreboard” hangs over the
center of the basketball court which occupies the center of the infield.

Still, there remain a lot of questions as to how suitable a replacement the armory will be for Princeton’s Jadwin Gym,
where the state program had been held in its entirely since 1975 (the all-group meet moved there four years earlier and, in 1972, was
the site of what is still the fastest mile ever run in a purely high school indoor race, 4:06.6, by Vince Cartier of Scotch Plains). There
has been more talk about this than about the outcome of the eight-division meet (four boys, four girls) which gets under way with Gr. I
competition on Friday.

The armory does not have the seating capacity of Jadwin, so the rest of the weekend has been divided into six
sessions, three on Saturday, three on Sunday, each day starting at 8 a.m. The new bubble in Toms River, still under construction,
has even less seating capacity with double sessions for Gr. I and II on Feb. 15 and 16 and two single sessions for Gr. III and IV the
following two days. Even the all-group meet has been divided into separate sessions with the girls going on Feb. 24 and the boys
on Feb. 25.

The relay meet has always been a tough one to figure with many teams having it as the first meet of the season.
The only clear favorite going into this weekend is Pope John in the Gr. I girls meet after a stunning effort last Sunday in the New
Jersey Catholic Track Conference Relays at the New York Armory Center. The Lions should win all five of the flat races this weekend,
probably setting several group records in the process; they have undoubtedly the best all-around running team in the state this winter.

Most of the top action for New Jersey schools to date this winter has taken place at the New York Armory. Last
weekend, for example, Garden State boys won eight events at the Hispanic Games with such choice items as a 9:14.64 two-mile for
Brandon Jarrett of St. Benedict’s, a 48-6 triple jump for Devon Bond of Trenton (who also won the high jump at 6-6) and a nation-leading
1:28.48 for the Camden 800-meter relay team.

The marks by Jarrett and the Camden team were hardly a surprise. Brandon---who will not be in the state relays where
his team could easily take the Gr. I title if it were a full NJSIAA member---ran 12th at the Footlocker Finals in December and is the likely
successor to Craig Forys of Colts Neck as the state’s No. 1 distance runner next year. Camden had taken the national lead in the 800R
a month ago at the Bishop Loughlin meet.

Nor was there anything new in Bond taking the HJ---he won at Loughlin at 6-11---but his emergence in the triple jump has
been a major story this winter. He first tried the event at the Seton Hall Invitational during Christmas week, winning at 46-3 ˝ and his latest
effort is the fourth-best in state history.

Pleasantville had three of the other winners at the Hispanic Games. Alan Laws took the 800 in 1:56.94, Duke Mack won the
secondary 400 from outdoor intermediate hurdles champ Duke Mack of Pleasantville in 49.24 and both ran on a 3200-meter relay team which
scored in a season’s best 8:04.31. The other Jersey winner was Willingboro in the 1600-meter relay in 3:24.80.

Outdoor state long jump champ Hanif Kendrick of Franklin was second in that event at 6.59 and Tykeen Fulton also took
silver in the HH in 7.48.

New Jersey girls did not fare as well with only one winner, Natalie Parkes in the pole vault at 11-0. National 400-meter hurdle
champ Leslie Njoku of McNair Academic was third in the 400 at 56.71 and Symone O’Connor of Franklin, fifth in that race, took third in the
200 in 25.55.

The top girls action last week took place at Friday’s Ridgewood I meet at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Rothman Center in Hackensack.
National outdoor mile champion Danielle Tauro of Sourthern Ocean whose abbreviated cross-country season had ended with a big question
mark after her collapse at the Footlocker Trials (she got up in time to qualify, but withdrew from the Nationals) answered all doubts as she
won the 600M from sophomore teammate Jillian Smith in 1:40.4, ran a 2:17.7 anchor in a 9:44.2 3200-meter relay win and also anchored a
4:08.0 victory in the 1600-meter relay.

The championship season, which had opened with the Somerset County meet at Lehigh during Christmas week, got into
full swing this past weekend, led by the annual tripleheader at Drew University: the Iron Hills meet on Friday night, the Mountain Valley
and Northern Hills on Saturday, all completed within 24 hours.

The major individual news out of this marathon was the first appearance of outdoor 800-meter champ Jason Apwah, who
broke two of his own records in the Iron Division of the Iron Hills meet, running 1:23.44 in the 600M and 2:35.11 in the 1K. The double had
little effect on the team race with Randolph solidly defeating Seton Hall, 105-53. Morris Hills took its fourth straight in Hills, 78 ˝-72, over
Chatham with Kyle Soloff doubling the 1K and 1600 in 2:36.78 and 4:36.07. The girls’ titles went to Columbia in Iron and Hanover Park in
Hills with Racquel Vassell of East Orange the big winner as she tripled the Iron 55 in 7.33, 200 in 41.98 and 55H in 8.46. Columbia pulled
out its 75-73 victory over Roxbury with a 1-2-3 finish in the high jump. Another key in this was Tori Berard of Morris Knolls upsetting Lauren
Penney of Roxbury in the 3200 in 11:26.54.

The Mountain Valley meet went to a divisional format for the first time. Union Catholic was the big winner, taking the
Mountain boys title outright and getting a tie with Cranford in the girls’ meet with a win in the closing 1600R. New Providence outclassed
the Valley girls field, almost matching the points of its six rivals, while Roselle Catholic took the boys’ crown with a sprint double by
Mark Givens and 62 points from its distance crew.

The Middlesex County Conference Relays on Saturday at the Jersey City Armory saw the Old Bridge boys defeat South
Brunswick in the closing 1600-meter relay for a 57-56 win over the Vikings, who took the girls’ crown from North Edison, 60-40.

St. Benedict’s, Notre Dame and Pope John were the big winners at the NJCTC Relays Sunday night at the New York Armory.
Jarrett had a 4:18 anchor 1600 as the Gray Bees won the distance medley in 10:28.9 while Brian Bucknor---who had run a 49.61 400 the day
before in the Hispanic Games---led off a 1:31.9 victory in the 800R. Gigi Gibilisco, who had run a 1:54.59 800 against Lionel Williams in the
Marine Corps Holiday Festival, anchored Irish victories at 3:27.5 in the 1600R and 8:07.8 in the 3200R.

Pope John had three wins in the girls’ action, taking the 800R out of an unseeded section in 1:47.7, the sprint
medley relay in a record 4:29.2 with essentially a second-string lineup, and the distance medley in 12:34.1. A fourth win escaped
it when indoor all-group 200-meter champion Kristen Mahon of Notre Dame came from behind with a sub-57 anchor leg in a 4:04.8
victory.

Getting back to this weekend, two of the state’s top boy distance runners will join Jarrett on the sidelines. Doug
Smith of Gill-St. Bernard’s is still serving his 30-day sentence for transferring from Roxbury, while Andrew Hanko of Trinity Christian
is pretty much soloing it this winter his most recent outing being a record 9:32.3 3200 win at Monday’s North Jersey Invitational at
Rothman center.

The top track race could be the Gr. IV girls’ distance medley on Saturday if Colts Neck and Southern Ocean both
run their top lineups. Colts Neck ran 12:06.39 at the Marine Corps meet, with Briana Jackucewicz leading off and Ashley Higginson
anchoring. Southern Ocean has yet to run the event, but with Smith on the 1200 leg and Tauro on the anchor, is easily capable of
matching that. Craig Forys of Coilts Neck, who doubled the 1600 and 3200 at last year’s indoor all-group meet, will anchor the Cougars’
boys team on Saturday in his first outings of the season.

There will be two interesting field event duels at the Gr. IV meets. In the girls’ shot put on Saturday, the state’s
top shot-putters go at it, Deanne Hahn of Brick and Sherri O’Connor of Hillsboro, both of whom have been over 45-0 this winter.
(Hahn transferred from Lakewood over the summer, but a corresponding change of residence saves her from Smith’s fate.) In
Sunday’s boys’ high jump, Bond is matched up with Qaadir Tutor of West Orange, who has cleared 6-10 this winter. Both have
able assistant who have topped 6-6, Farad Thompson for Trenton and Jon Arnold for West Orange, who actually defeated his teammate at the Northern Hills meet.

With four victories at the massive Bishop Loughlin meet last Saturday at the
New York Armory Center, the New Jersey 2006-07 indoor season got off to a booking start.

Devon Bond of Trenton, who skirted with the 7-0 mark all through the outdoor
season last spring, did it again this time as he earned “athlete of the week” honors at the
armory, taking the high jump at 6-11 with teammate Frank Thompson second at 6-6. Alan
Laws of Pleasantville took the 600M in 1:20.76, Rhodeni Spence of Camden Wilson the
triple jump at 47-3 and Camden the 800R with a national-leading mark of 1:30.15.

Pleasantville showed 7:50 potential in the 3200R as Alex Best finished second
in the 1K in 2:34.02 and Duke Mack finished 7th in the 600 in 1:23.79. The three also ran
on a 3:27.81 1600-meter relay team which placed fourth, not bad for a team which was up
at 6 a.m. or earlier to make the two and a half hour jaunt from the Atlantic City suburb to
New York.

Spence headed a 1-2 finish for New Jersey in the TJ with Aaron King of Morris
Hills behind him at 46-4 ľ. King was fifth in the event at the all-group meet last spring
with a season’s best of 47-7 ˝. Spence had just one mark of note outdoors, taking his
county title at 45-2 ľ.

Camden’s victory was a first for its new coach, Greg Foster (no, not that one),
who succeeded the Purple Knights’ longtime mentor Martin Booker just before the indoor
campaign got under way. This Greg Foster is a former NCAA Div. III long jump and triple
jump all-American who prepped at Pennsauken High School and then attended Stockton
State College.

Other high finishes in boys’ event was a second for Tom Poland of Delbarton
in the 2M at 9:37.73, a second for Willingboro in the 800R in 1:32.24 and a third for
Brendon Pierson of Christian Brothers in the 1K in 2:34.92 (he also anchored a third-place
8:11.05 in the 3200R.

There were no New Jersey winners in the girls’ program, but outdoor National
400-meter hurdles champ Leslie Njoku of McNair Academic was second in the 300M in
40.87, outdoor all-group champ Stephanie McIntyre of South Brunswick second in the
triple jump at 39-5 and Samantha Brady of Jackson second in the pole vault at 11-0. Thirds
went to Racquel Vassell of East Orange in the 55H in 8.18, Rachel Villa of Hunterdon
Central in the 300 in 41.28 and Natalie Parkes of Hunterdon Central in the PV at 10-6.

The weekend opened on Friday with the Leon Bailey Invitational Relays at the
Jersey City Armory. Njoku topped 5-2 in the high jump there at 5-2, but the day’s top
individual mark was a 45-1 in the shot put by Taryn O’Connor of Hillsboro at 45-1. Sophia
Coleburn of Haddon Heights hit 41-5 ˝ in that event.

The running highlights came in the two shuttle hurdle races with North Edison,
sparked by high jump stars Latoya Dixon and Yasmin Parks, taking the girls event in 33.2
and Hillsboro, anchored by Taylor Szwarc winning the boys in 31.2.

Closing out the action was the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Passarelli
Relays on Sunday at West Point. St. Benedict’s was the big winner here, taking three boys’
races, the 800R in a spikeless 1:34.4, the 1600R in 3:36.1 (both anchored by Marc Robinson)
and the distance medley in 10:52.1, anchored in 4:31 by Footlocker finalist Brandon Jarrett.

The girls’ shot put relay provided the weekend’s third 40-footer as Monique Riddick
led Bishop Ahr to victory at 40-11. A strong 800 anchor leg by Elizabeth Campbell gave Mt.
St. Mary’s a 4:36.4 win in the sprint medley and Kim Hudock did the honors for St. Dominic
Academy which took the 3200R in 10:43.0.

Perhaps the most important event of the week, however, was the decision to
complete the new “bubble” in Toms River which is to be the site of the state group and
all-group meets in February. An adverse vote in a general capital fund school vote early
in the fall had threatened its future, but a second vote on the bubble alone this Saturday
is expected to reverse this and bring in the necessary state funds.

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