Absegami takes Group 4 track crown

Absegami's crackerjack quartet wasn't happy after it's second-place finish in the boys' 4x400-meter relay yesterday at the conclusion of the NJSIAA state Groups 1, 2 and 4 track and field championships at Egg Harbor Township.

But before Santiago Galiano, Demetrius Rooks, Ford Palmer and Geoff Navarro fully caught their breath, they were congratulating each other with the news that the Braves had just won the Group 4 team title.

Absegami scored 48 points to win the team trophy, which will add luster to the one already in the case from last week's sectional championship.

Both crowns are a first for the program and coach Keith Landgraf.

"We are realistically five kids who competed and won two state titles," said Navarro, referring also to javelin thrower Paul Lonergan.

Next is the Meet of Champions on Wednesday at South Plainfield, where the top six finishers in each event in every group are scheduled to compete.

Absegami trailed Old Bridge, 41-40, on Saturday when bad weather caused a postponement.

Seven track and five field events had to be run.

The Braves had the top-seeded time of 3 minutes, 17.27 seconds, which earned them the sectional 4x400 and team titles. Old Bridge was seeded sixth with a 3:19.77.

However, Winslow Township, which placed second in the sectionals in 3:19.23 without Barry Cephas, won it yesterday in 3:16.0 as the sprinter anchored. Old Bridge was sixth.

Cephas said he missed last week's 4x400 because of a sprained back and was eager to run against Absegami, the first New Jersey team to beat the Eagles in the event all season.

"We were the top seed in the four-by-four all year," said Cephas, who followed Darin Washington, Gerald Stephens-Holland and Davis McNeil, respectively. "For them to take it away hurt."

Navarro said the Absegami team was uncharacteristically nervous before yesterday's race and attributed it to the fact that they had another day to think about it.

Britney Kott, who anchored the Millville girls' winning Group 4 4x400 relay, said the opposite.

"The more nervous we are, the faster we run," said Kott, who was clocked in 3:50.1 with Alyssa Barrow, twin sister Brooke Kott and Nyrae Newman, respectively.

"Going home [Saturday], we thought it would affect us in a bad way. It threw us off a little, but the time was our best."

Yesterday's Results

GROUP 4 BOYS

Team scoring: 1, Absegami, 48. Trenton Central, 42. 3, Old Bridge, 41.50. 4, Winslow Township, 38. 5, Egg Harbor, 32. 6, Washington Township, 28. 7, Westfield, 24. 8, Hillsborough, 22. 9, Plainfield, 18. 10, Southern Regional, 16.

4x400 meter relay:

1, Winslow Township (Darin Washington, Gerald Stephens-Holland, Davis McNeil, Barry Cephas), 3:16.0. 2, Absegami, 3:16.8. 3, Cherokee, 3:20.1. 4, Trenton Central, 3:21.1. 5, Egg Harbor, 3:21.6. 6, Old Bridge, 3:22.1.

GROUP 2 BOYS

Team scoring: 1, Abraham Clark, 49. 2, Bridgeton, 43. 3, Pleasantville, 27. 4, Haddonfield, 24. 5, Somerville, 22. 6, Ewing, 21. 7, Lodi, 20. 8, Cinnaminson, 20. 9, Delaware Valley, 18. 9, Indian Hills, 18.

4x400:

1, Abraham Clark (Gerkenz Senesca, Ibn Brister, Terrel Guy, Akeem Gauntlet), 3:20.5. 2, Pleasantville, 3:20.94. 3, Snyder, 3:21.5. 4, Sterling, 3:22.71. 5, Bridgeton, 3:24.6. 6, Ewing, 3:25.8.

Javelin:

1, Kevin Rheinheimer, Newton, 173-0. 2, Brian Owens, Woodstown, 172-4. 3, Peter Dunne, Delaware Valley, 169-1. 4, Nikos Sakellis, Johnson, 164-10. 5, Chris Monahan, Raritan, 164-6. 6, Dan Kinkler, Haddon Heights, 160-7.

Pole vault:

1, Greg Stripe, Mahwah, 14-6. 2, Sean kelly, Shore Regional, 13-0. 3, Patrick Barnes, Pascack Hills, 13-0. 4, Carl Smith, Governor Livingston, 13-0. 5, Kevin Sofia, Ramsey, 13-0. 6, Mike McGuinnis, Matawan, 13-0.

GROUP 1 BOYS

Team scoring: 1, Metuchen, 65. 2, Penns Grove, 43. 3, Verona, 40. 4, Cresskill, 36. 4, Park Ridge, 36. 6, Wood-Ridge, 30. 7, Midland Park, 27. 8, Bound Brook, 19. 9, Florence, 18. 10, Robbinsville, 16.

4x400:

1, Park Ridge (Brian Desmond, Ross Koehler, Nick Bravo, Matt Lingam), 3:24.4. 2, Metuchen, 3:25.6. 3, Palmyra, 3:26.9. 4, Penns Grove, 3:29.4. 5, Pompton Lakes, 3:29.9. 6, New Providence, 3:30.1.

Triple jump:

1, Sean Jimoh, Riverside, 45-51/4. 2, Chris Pisano, Metuchen, 45-2. 3, Perry Asare, Lindenwold, 44-10. 4, Steven Brown, Penns Grove, 44-1. 5, Matt Kates, Schalick, 43-73/4. 6, Chris Georges, Penns Grove, 43-71/2.

GROUP 4 GIRLS

Team scoring: 1, Southern Regional, 46. 2, Jackson Memorial, 39. 3, Brick Township, 32. 4, Millville, 27. 5, Eastern, 22. 5, Oakcrest, 22. 5, Hillsborough, 22. 8, Union, 19. 9, Ridge, 18. 10, Washington Township, 17.

4x400:

1, Millville (Alyssa Barrow, Brooke Kott, Nyrae Newman, Britney Kott), 3:50.1. 2, Southern Regional, 3:50.8. 3, Ridge, 3:54.3. 4, Jackson, 3:55. 5. Eastern, 3:56.1. 6, Union, 3:57.6.

Long jump:

1, DeAnne Hahn, Brick Township 44-71/2. 2, Shannon Watt, Jackson, 42-10. 3, Maureen Laffan, Toms River North, 42-8. 4, Lisa Stuto, Brick Township, 42-11/2. 5, Dana Keister, Absegami, 40-41/2. 6, Janet Adekola, West Orange, 39-83/4.

GROUP 2 GIRLS

Team scoring: 1, Rumson-Fair Haven, 40. 1, Ewing, 40. 3, Haddonfield, 38. 4, Glassboro, 34. 5, Delaware Valley, 25. 5, Hanover Park, 25. 7, Pleasantville, 22. 8, Hawthorne, 20. 8, Madison, 20. 10, Ramsey, 18.

4x400:

1, Rumson-Fair Haven (Gabriella Kelly, Christina Roque, Jamie Carroll Melissa Bellin), 3:55.3. 2, Haddonfield, 3:56.7. 3, Ewing, 3:59.2. 4, Haddon Heights, 4:01.9. 5, Parsippany, 4:03.7. 6, Burlington Twp., 4:04.0.

High jump:

1, Alex Rosenberger, Ramsey, 5-6. 2, Brigita Roemer, Ewing, 5-4. 3, Tayona Brown, Ewing, 5-4. 4, Emily Vargas, Johnson, 5-02. 5, Emily Babiss, Indian Hills, 5-0. 5, Heather Gearity, Rutherford, 5-0.

GROUP 1 GIRLS

Team scoring: 1, Robbinsville, 43. 2, Verona, 42. 3, Palmyra, 36. 4, New Providence, 34. 5, Pennsville, 32. 6, Waldwick, 29. 7, Maple Shade, 22. 8, Woodbury, 21. 8, Butler, 21. 10, Cresskill, 20

3,200:

1, Megan Flynn, Robbinsville, 11:28.0. 2, Kelly Cattano, New Providence, 11:39.5. 3, Brittany DeBord, Waldwick, 11:49.0. 4, Laura Zaccagnino, Verona, 11:57.7. 5, Betsy Eickelberg, Leonia, 12:20.1. 6, Fiona Weeks, Metuchen, 12:21.92.

4x400:

1, Verona (Stephanie Fego, Ashlee Petroski, Corinne Tucci, Claire Lawrence), 4:06.0. 2, Hasbrouck Heights, 4:06.8. 3, Salem, 4:08.4. 4, New Providence, 4:09.2. 5, Lindenwold, 4:11.2. 6, Science, 4:11.3.