ATLANTIC CITY — Winter track may not be the marquee season for runners, but performance there is already translating into success in the spring outdoor season for the Red Raider girls.
“We always look at spring as really the big season, so winter seasons get us ready,” said head track coach Tim Cook, who noted the building blocks were being put into place for the season that kicked off in April.
“We really had a great end of season in wintertime. I couldn’t tell you the last time we scored 75 points in sectionals. That was a big deal,” he said, even though they still lost the team title by 30 points to Winslow Township. “Now everyone is really doing great.”
The Ocean City High School girls winter track team ran off with a host of South Jersey medals and solid finishes at the state meet and Meet of Champions.
In the South Jersey sectional in February, senior Maeve Smith, sophomore Carly Godfrey and senior Chloe Care swept the top three spots in the 1600 meter finals. Smith topped Godfrey by a tenth of a second with her 5:05.10 finish. Care was close behind in 5:09.32.
Smith led another 1-2-3 sweep in the 3200 meters, this time with freshman Riley Tolson second and Care third. Smith won in 11:16.16, Tolson finished in 11:16.52 and Care in 11:26.47.
Godfrey won the 800 meter finals in 2:18.69 with teammate Lillian Flora, a sophomore, sixth in 2:21.90.
Junior Callie Duff was second in the high jump, clearing 5’0.
The Raider girls 4×400 finished second to Winslow Township in 4:13.68. Winslow won in 4:04.05.
Senior AnnaMaria Marczyk was eighth in the 55-meter hurdles, finishing in 9.58 seconds. Winslow freshman Jasmine Jackson won in 8.25 seconds.
Sophomore Alana Clevenger and freshman Julianna Goodman were 10th and 11th, respectively, in the 400 meters. Clevenger finished in 1:02.17 and Goodman in 1:02.96.
In the Group III state championship meet, Godfrey was fourth in the 800 meter finals, finishing in 2:18.95, less than three seconds off the winner’s time of 2:16.11 — Moorestown freshman Hope Edwards. Flora was 13th in 2:23.22.
Smith was third in the 1600 meters final in a time of 5:06.13 with teammate Care sixth in 5:11.05. Godfrey was seventh a half-second behind Care in 5:11.43.
Smith finished fifth in the 3200 meters final in 11:05.60 with Tolson eighth in 11:14.62. Northern Burlington’s Lilliah Gordon won in 10:37.86.
Duff was seventh in the high jump, clearing 4’10”.
At the Meet of Champions in March, Godfrey finished eighth overall in the 800 meters final with a time of 2:15.05. Oak Knoll School sophomore Reagan Moore won in a time of 2:04.80.
Care was 18th in the 1600 meters with her time of 5:12.61. Union Catholic sophomore Paige Sheppard won in 4:45.38.
Tolson was 21st in the 3200 meters. Her time was 11:09.53. Northern Burlington senior Gordon won in 10:13.41.
“So coming off from that, they were able to carry that momentum and we’ve been having a great spring so far,” Cook said. “It’s really fun to watch the kids enjoy themselves and work hard.”
The girls are undefeated in dual meets with a 5-0 record and have only one more meet left April 28 before the championship season begins with the Cape May County Championship at home Monday, May 5, followed quickly by the Cape-Atlantic League Track and Field Championship on Saturday, May 10, at Buena Regional High School.
Ocean City’s girls won the distance medley relay over the weekend at the Woodbury Relays with Smith, Care, Peighton Clemens and Clevenger in a time of 12:25.22. It was the fastest time posted in any group.
Godfrey usually runs as part of the DMR team but was not available for that race. She will be when the team runs at the end of the week at the prestigious Penn Relays.
“It was cool to see the girls perform so well and for Peighton to step in and step up and fill in the shoes of Carly to keep the team going,” Cook said. “Carly will be back for the big show on Friday.”
He added that it’s nice having the pair of seniors on both ends of the DMR with Smith, a Villanova commit, and Care, who will run for St. Joseph’s next year.
The girls 4×200 team set a school record at the relays with its time of 1:45.52. That relay featured Goodman, Clevenger, Kai Linthicum and Ella Miller. Cook pointed out the team features one freshman and three sophomores, which bodes well for the sprinting future of the track team.
“They did great; they were very excited,” the coach said. He noted Miller has tied the 100-meter school sprint record and broke the 200-meter record and now has helped break the 4×200 record.
He also noted her full name is Ella Corvette Miller.
The 4×100 relay team took third place with a time of 50.97 seconds. That team consisted of Clevenger, Goodman, Miller and Lily Tedesco.
The 4×800 team of Clemens, Sadie Heyman, Jules Berich and Gabby Henry were fifth and the hurdle relay team of Marczyk, Emily Swan, Mackenzie Caprioni and Ally Mensch took third.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
