Meet of Champions Preview
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Thursday, 3:30 p.m. at South Plainfield High School.
Boys' Athletes to Watch
The 1,600-meter race is loaded, with 11 guys who ran faster than 4 minutes, 13 seconds at the states, including Ocean City's Mike Schoedler (4:12.63). Haddonfield's Ben Potts (4:16.83) and Colin Baker (4:18.04), who set a school record with a second-place time of 4:09.30 last June, should be in the mix along with Cherokee's Steve Burkholder (4:15.49) and Shawnee's David Forward (4:17.61).
Washington Township's Devon Carter is the No. 1 seed in the 110 hurdles (13.96), with Camden's Syteek Farrington (13.97) right behind him. Carter is the third seed in the 400 hurdles (53.84), just behind Penns Grove's Stephon Bell (53.82).
Haddonfield's Jon Vitez (9:20.30) and Matt Nussbaum (9:21.73) could challenge in the 3,200, and Haddonfield's Michael Rivard (15 feet), Eastern's Don Banks (14-0) and Seneca's Sam Maira (14-0) are among the top seeds in the pole vault.
Washington Township's Steve Morrone is the No. 3 seed (1:53.61) in the 800.
Girls' Athletes to Watch
Seneca's Michelle Brown is the top seed (54.49) and defending champion in the 400. She is the sixth seed in the 200 (24.87).
Eastern's Genevieve Okoro is the top seed (39-3) in the triple jump, Willingboro's Vanessa Arientyl is the No. 2 seed in the high hurdles (14.38), and Clearview's Cassandra Lenkowski is the third seed in the 400 hurdles (1:01.86).
Highland's Megan Venables is the No. 2 seed in the 3,200 (10:33.25), and Kingsway's Chelsea Ley, who has been battling injuries, is the defending champion. Delsea's Brianna Hunt is the third seed in the high jump (5-6), and Kingsway's Taylor Johnson is the third seed in the discus (129-5).
Haddonfield's Marielle Hall is the third seed (4:48.73) in the 1,600.
- Phil Anastasia
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