Curtis, Nnewihe triple individual winners in cool, messy conditions
OCEAN CITY — Senior Sophia Curtis and junior Naomi Nnewihe were triple individual winners Thursday, leading the Raider girls track team to victory at the 2024 Cape May County Track and Field Championships held at Ocean City High School.
Curtis also was part of the winning 4×400 relay team.
The OCHS girls were facing athletes from Wildwood, Wildwood Catholic, Middle Township and Lower Cape May Regional high schools.
Curtis started her team off on the cool, windy and rainy day by winning the 400 hurdles in 1:02.04. Teammate Callie Duff was fourth in 1:13.59.
Curtis won the long jump, leaping 17’8.5”. Duff was third at 14’6.75” and teammate AnnaMaria Marczyk fifth at 14’4.5”.
Curtis also won the triple jump with a distance of 39’1.75”.
Duff won the high jump, clearing 4’10”. Jaida Dooley was second at the same height.
Nnewihe won both short sprints and the shot put. She took the 100 meters in 12.84 seconds with Alana Clevenger second in 13.33 and Skylar Cohen fifth in 13.77.
The junior came back and won the 200 meters in 26.08 seconds with Ella Miller second in 27.13 and Kai Linthicum fifth in 28.37.
Nnewihe threw the shot 31’10.25 to win with teammate Sophia Whelan fourth at 27’1.25”.
Maeve Smith was a double winner, taking the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races. In the 1600, Smith won in 5:16.12 with Sadie Heyman fifth in 5:54.86. In the 3200 meters, Smith won with a time of 11:20.09.
Chloe Care and Frankie Ritzel finished first and third in the 800 meters. Care’s winning time was 2:25.95; Ritzel finished in 2:33.63.
Carly Godfrey won the 400 meter race with a time of 59.69 seconds. Grace Tedesco was second in 1:03.94 and Scarlett Fletcher third in 1:07.51.
The winning 4×400 relay included Godfrey, Tedesco, Linthicum and Curtis. Their time was 4:12.50.
Cohen placed second in the pole vault, clearing 7’6”, and Whelan (85’8”), Gianna Endicott (74’8”) and Corinne Williams (73’2”) took third, fourth and fifth in the discus.
Williams was second in the javelin with her throw of 84’7”. Teammates Evelynne Dreyer was fourth at 64’8” and Riley Grawl fifth at 61’5”.
The Raider girls won the meet with 167 points. Middle Township was second with 73, Lower Cape May Regional third with 58, Wildwood Catholic fourth with 25 and Wildwood fifth with 11.
Ocean City’s girls will compete today at the Cape-Atlantic League Track and Field Championships at Bridgeton High School.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff