OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City High School girls track team, 5-0 so far this season in Cape-Atlantic League dual meets, is led by talented seniors and fueled by a talented class of freshmen.
Last week, senior Sophia Curtis placed eighth in the triple jump with her distance of 39’11.5” at the Penn Relays and turned around with a blazing time – a 56-second split – to help her 4×400 relay team to a fourth-place finish in their heat. The time was 4.03.66 – the fastest relay time for a Raider team at the Penn Relays, according to its website, head coach Tim Cook said.
He noted the team was seeded with a 4:08 time and Curtis, Carly Godfrey, Grace Tedesco and Chloe Care were below that by almost 5 seconds.
“The girls ran great. There were two or three Jamaican teams in their heat so they were a little nervous about that, but they came out and ran their race,” Cook said. “When Sophia got the baton, I think we were in ninth place, but we finished in fourth so she did her job.”
Care is mostly a distance runner, the coach said, but she had a 62-second split. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen her legs move,” he added, laughing.
Freshmen Alana Clevenger and Ella Miller, sophomore Callie Duff and junior Naomi Nnewihe combined for a 51.2-second finish in the 4×100 at the Penn Relays.
“That is the first time those four ran together, which is really nice. The school record is 50.06. That was Naomi’s freshman year. They weren’t too far off. .. They’re a young team and everyone will be back. They’re excited to run it together.”
The coach said one goal this season is to win the division, which they narrowly lost after a defeat to Mainland last season. The Raider girls beat Mainland in a close meet early this season and also topped Egg Harbor Township, Oakcrest, Absegami and Bridgeton so far.
Team leaders this season include Curtis, an All-American who does multiple events for the Raiders, and distance runners Maeve Smith and Care, who Cook said “has really come into her own as an athlete and a leader. She took that next step this year and is really diving into the season.”
Tedesco is a senior “who does really well quietly. She is a kid who is a perfect example of working hard, putting your head down and doing what you need to do. Her freshman and sophomore years she was really a 100, 200 runner. She saw all these younger girls coming up and she asked if she could bump up to the 400, which most kids don’t ask to do,” Cook said. “Then she earned a spot on the Penn Relays and had a PR (personal record) by almost 2 seconds.”
Throwers are four-year competitors Sophia Whelan and Corinne Williams, “veterans who know what they’re doing and show the young girls what to do. They’re performing well.
“It’s nice. We have some senior leadership in each area of the track and field. We’re a pretty young team so it’s nice to have leadership at the front,” Cook said.
Nnewihe, who has been a top sprinter for the Raiders, is new to the shot put but is already the top athlete in the event.
“This is the first year we brought her over to the shot put. She ended up finishing seventh at the Woodbury Relays and is our top shot-putter. She threw 34’8” the other day,” Cook said. He noted she still has work to do on her technique, but “is so strong and athletic she throws farther than everybody without a glide or a spin. So we’re going to get her going with that by sectional time. She enjoys it a lot. She is that combination of power and speed, which is what you need for shot put. It’s why she’s so successful on the soccer field.”
He is also happy to have his junior duo of Smith and Care, which means he’ll get them running distance for another year.
As for Curtis, who earned a full athletic scholarship to Virginia Tech, “She does pretty much everything,” the coach said. “You name it. She does hurdles, sprints, jumps. Last year in the indoor season she was All American in triple jump and in outdoor season was All-American in the 400 hurdles.”
He said he even keeps her in reserve for the team’s 4×800 relay. “I said if you can run a 400 in 56 seconds, I’m pretty sure you can run a decent 800.”
A younger team leader is Callie Duff.
“She’s only a sophomore but she is the vocal girl out there, telling everybody when to warm up, calling out drills, making sure everyone is getting ice. She does all those little things that a senior usually does but she’s only a sophomore,” Cook said. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid who loves track as much as Callie Duff does.”
He said Duff and Jaida Dooley were out practicing high jumps Sunday because it was nice out. Dooley is a soccer player and 400 runner last year, but she surprised in another event.
“Against Mainland we thought we’d try it and threw her into high jump and she ended up winning it, jumping 5’2” in her first meet. She’s been rolling and we’re teaching her the other two jumps,” Cook said. “She asked me if she keeps jumping like that does she have to run? I told her if she keeps jumping like that you’ll never have to run again.”
The coach also has praise for his youngest athletes: “The freshman class is probably the best freshman class since I’ve been here.”
Godfrey, he said, “is a quiet little freshman. In the indoor season she ran 2:23 in the 800 and outdoor she has broken 60 (seconds) multiple times in the 400. The remarkable part about the 800 is she really trains with the sprint group. We haven’t given her a ton of mileage at all. She’s pretty much our best or second best 800 runner. She qualified for Indoor Nationals for multiple events in the freshman divisions. We’re going to slowly roll her out into the distance world. I joke with her that she’s on track to be our next Maeve Smith.”
And Clevenger and Miller “are two of the fastest sprinters we’ve had in years and they’re only freshman. Ella beat Naomi in the 100 against Mainland. …. You forget they’re freshmen.
“Between those two, Carly and a few other freshmen we really have a big future ahead of us.”
Along with trying to win the division, Cook said another goal is to have the girls peak at the end of the season, saving the best performances for May and June in sectionals to advance as many to states, the Meet of Champions and nationals as possible.
The coach added praise for his assistant coaches including Mike Romano, Trish Henry, Kelsey Burke, Haley Harper, Liza Barrick and Mike Williscroft.
“The kids love having them all around. They’re really invested. That’s part of our success,” Cook said.
– PHOTOS and STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
