More OCHS, MRHS girls medal, finish in top six and set personal records at meet
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
FRANKLINVILLE – The Mainland Mustang 4×800 relay team was first at the South Jersey Group III sectional track and field meet, which took place Friday and Saturday at Delsea Regional High School. Other Mustangs and Ocean City Red Raiders took home medals, finished in the top six or set personal records at the meet.
The Mainland relay team included Claudia Booth, Chloe Malone, Lily Malone and Gillian Lovett. Their winning time was 10:17.83. They finished nearly 12 seconds ahead of second-place Winslow Township. Ocean City’s 4×800 team of Olivia Palmieri, Alexa Palmieri, Mary Lisicki and Cheryl Connell was fourth in 10:48.72.
Silver in pole vault
Ocean City’s Birdie Stewart was second in the pole vault, clearing 10’. Mainland’s Eva Morrison was fourth with a height of 9’6”. Seneca’s Julia Greeley won with a height of 11’9”.
Ocean City’s Kamryn Chisholm (8’6”) was eighth and Mainland’s Emma Crozier-Carole (8’6”) and Erica Tran (8’) were 11th and 12th.
Silver in high jump
Crozier-Carole was second in the high jump, clearing 5’, and Ocean City’s Stephanie Carey was eighth, going over the bar at 4’10”. Elaine Styer of Ocean City and Mainland’s Morrison were 11th and 12th, both clearing 4’8”. Mustang Tatiana Waxman was 16th at 4’4”.
Bronze in hurdles
Ocean City senior Erin Hanlon finished third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.95 and earned another third-pace finish in the 800-meters with her time of 2:21.47.
Mainland’s Kendall Demorat was sixth in the 400 meter hurdles in 1:14.52. Absegami senior Diamond McLaughlin won in a time of 1:01.24. Ocean City’s Sara Burgos and Morgan Krier were eighth and 12th, respectively, in the 400 hurdles and Mustang Julia Moore was 13th.
Mainland’s Lovett was seventh in the 800-meters with a personal record time of 2:31.51. Lily Oliver of Toms River South won in a state top 50 time of 2:18.17. Olivia Palmieri was 13th, teammate Allie Sutter (PR) was 19th and Mainland’s Chloe Malone was 21st and teammate Mary Kate Merenich was 28th.
Mainland’s Ki’yanah Sims-Hackney set a state top 25 time (15.46 seconds) in the 100-meter high hurdles, good for third place, and Ocean City’s Krier set a personal record of 16.81 seconds to finish fifth. Ocean City’s Sarah Burgos was seventh in 17.32 seconds. Raisa Thunig of Toms River East topped the field with a state top 10 time of 14.89 seconds.
Bronze in javelin
Mustang Camryn Dirkes finished third in the javelin with a throw of 103’5”. Absegami’s Kylee Alvarez won with a distance of 126’11”.
Mainland’s Genevieve Morrison (83’9”) and Olivia Leap (77’) were 13th and 17th and Ocean City’s Marissa Sampson (77’), Julia Knopp (63’5”) and Sophia Whelan (53’8”) were 18th, 24th and 25th, respectively.
400 meters
Red Raiders Hanlon and Maggie Halbruner and Mainland’s Kassandra Bretones finished in the top 10 in the 400 meters.
Hanlon was fifth in a time of 59.1 seconds, Halbruner seventh in 1:02.09 and Bretones eighth in 1:02.14. Triton Regional senior Nevaeh Lorjuste won the event in 56.98 seconds, a state top 10 time.
Mainland’s Morgan O’Brien (1:05.01) was 14th and Sage Boyle (1:06.5) 18th and Ocean City’s Aimee Alteiri (1:08.66) was 22nd.
Triple jump
Three Red Raiders finished in the top seven in the triple jump and Mainland’s Morrison was eighth. Styer was fourth with a jump of 34’5”, Carey was fifth at 34’0.5” and Sarah Gleason seventh at 33’9.5”, a personal record. Morrison jumped 33’3” and teammate Waxman (32’) and Caitlyn Lin (31’8.5”, a PR), were 12th and 13th.
3200 meters
Mainland’s Claudia Booth (12:19.3), Savannah Hodgens (12:25.09) and Giselle Obergfell (12:31.37) were top-10 finishers in the 3200 meters, with Booth taking fourth, Hodgens fifth and Obergfell eighth in the race. All three finished with personal records. Kate Inglis of Moorestown won in 12:03.95.
Ocean City’s Mary Lisicki (13:35.29), Emma Weber (13:43.89) and Ashley Banner (14:27.85) were 11th, 13th and 17th.
Long jump
Mustangs Crozier-Carole and Dirkes were seventh and eighth in the long jump finals. Crozier-Carole leaped 16’5” and Dirkes went 15’6”. Ocean City’s Elaina Styer was 10th with a jump of 15’.
Mustang Paige Bonczek (14’6”) was 18th and Ocean City’s Sarah Gleason (13’8.5”) and Aila Troxel (13’2”) were 25th and 28th.
4×100
Ocean City’s 4×100 relay team finished sixth and Mainland’s team finished seventh in the event.
Red Raiders Nya Gilchrist, Mallory Gould, Tricia Nicoletti and Aila Troxel had a combined time of 52.06 seconds and Mustangs Bonczek, Crozier-Carole, Sims-Hackney and Erica Tran ran a time of 52.51 seconds. Toms River East won the event in 50.48 seconds.
100 meters
In the 100 meters, Mainland’s Emma Smith was 12th in 13.14 seconds and Ocean City’s Troxel was 15th in 13.21. Jaia James of Winslow Township won in 12.3 seconds.
Ocean City’s Gilchrist was 24th and teammate Gould was 29th. Mainland’s Gianna Lucca was 28th and teammate Sienna Bodkin, who fell near the finish but got up and finished the race, was 43rd.
1600 meters
In the 1600 meters, Mustangs Booth, Lily Malone and Hodgens finished seventh, eighth and ninth. Booth’s time was 5:33.40, Malone’s was 5:37.17 and Hodgens’ 5:44.3. Highland Regional’s Grace Wassell won in a time of 5:15.44.
Ocean City’s Lisicki (5:52.42) was 13th, Isabelle Smith (6:00.48) 18th and Frankie Ritzel (6:12.86) 21st.
Shot put, discus
Mustangs Cadence Fitzgerald and Kaitlyn Boggs, teammates on the Mainland basketball team, finished 10th and 11th in the shot put, separated by an inch. Fitzgerald threw for 32’2” and Boggs for 32’1”.
Toms River South senior Vanessa Wood won the event with a throw of 38’11”.
Ocean City’s Mia Vazquez was 15th (30’10”) and teammate Madison Majors 16th (30’7”).
Fitzgerald was ninth in the discus, throwing 95’8” (PR) and Ocean City’s Joni Dice was 14th at 90’2”. Red Raiders Gwen Gray was 17th (82’3”, PR) and Julia Knopp was 20th (80’4”). Mainland’s Boggs was 22nd (78’8’, PR) and Sydney Booth was 29th (56’10”).
Wood won the discus with her throw of 115’7”.
200 meters
Three Red Raiders and two Mustangs set personal records in the 200-meters. Troxel was 11th in the event in 26.93 seconds (a PR) and Mainland’s Bonczek was 12th in 27.25 seconds. Setting PRs were Ocean City’s Maggie Halbruner (16th, 27.62 seconds) and Tricia Nicolette (22nd, 28.2 seconds) and Mainland’s Lucca (20th, 28 seconds) and Lin (34th, 28.71 seconds).
4×400
Ocean City’s 4×400 team of Stewart, Krier, Halbruner and Hanlon was fifth in 4:16.15 and Mainland’s relay team of Bretones, Booth, O’Brien and Chloe Malone was seventh in 4:21.04. Winslow Township won in 4:06.89.
Mustangs 4th, O.C. 6th
Mainland finished fourth overall as a team with 46 points and Ocean City was sixth with 37 points.
Winslow Township won the South Jersey meet with 110.5 points, Timber Creek was second with 66 and Toms River South was third with 52.5 points.