After COVID-19 shut down high school spring sports in 2020, some programs were able to recover more quickly than others.
The Lawrence girls track & field team was one of the “others” as it took time for Tim Collins to get things back to where they were in the mid 2010s. The Cardinals took a big step toward respectability this season thanks to a nice blend of seniors and underclassmen.
Lawrence won the Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division title. It finished second to the Lawrenceville School in the Mercer County Championships, and tied for third in the Central Jersey Group III meet. Eight individuals and two relays advanced to the Group III state meet, and junior Petra Doherty provided a Cardinal presence at the Meet of Champions.
“It was a great year, it was fun,” Collins said. “We had great kids, enthusiastic, they had a lot of fun. It was a great year overall, not just success wise but with having really good kids.”
It took a while to get to this point, as the Covid shutdown wiped out what little Collins had as a nucleus.
“We had a lot of young people that weren’t tethered to the program yet,” the veteran coach said. “The year before we had a lot of girls come out for the winter track season. Then the spring season got canceled.
“All those freshmen and sophomores the next year, between Covid and people’s concerns about it, they didn’t come back. Or they got jobs or couldn’t get rides to school. If we had a more veteran team we’d have had more people come back and say ‘I’m into this.’
Throw in the fact Lawrence was one of the last Mercer County schools to return from remote learning, and Collins couldn’t really recruit much the following year.
There were seven athletes for the 2021 winter team and 16 in the spring. Last year, the number grew to a workable amount in both winter and spring, and this year the Cardinals started with 50 in outdoor track and maintained a number at least in the high 30s.
“A lot more girls showed up for spring track this year and there’s a lot more young talent compared to last year,” Doherty said. “I’m very excited.”
Collins got a glimpse of some of his talent during indoor preseason workouts, and decided that this was a team that could do some nice things.
“I started talking to the girls, saying ‘We can’t just sit around and say Oh let’s just go and see what happens. We might be able to win some division titles or be in the fight for some team titles. So let’s be aware of that. Stay attentive to make sure we keep working hard.’
“When spring season started I said to them ‘We can do some special things. I have no idea who has what. But comparing ourselves and what we’ve got and comparing them to what other teams did last year, we’re in the mix for some stuff.’”
Doherty, a junior, was pleasantly surprised at how things turned out.
“I’m so proud of the team,” she said. “Coming into this year I didn’t think we would be as good as we turned out to be. Seeing them develop into this really good team from when I was younger, it’s made me really proud.”
Lawrence served notice of its capabilities at the county meet, at which Leticia Kitio amassed the most points (28) among field competitors by winning the javelin, taking second in the discus and fourth in the shot. Not bad for a girl who considers tennis her number one sport.
“She’s an interesting story,” Collins said. “Her freshman year she did it indoors a little bit and liked it, but her family and her figured tennis was her big direction. That’s where their focus was, she had a lot of Middle States tournaments.
“I suggested it would be great for the high school team if she came out. She didn’t do it at all her sophomore year, but came back junior year because she missed it. Said she had a lot of fun with the coaches and events. She and our other throwers were fantastic this year.”
Aside from Kitio, other strong MCT throws contributors were seniors Kailah Pyron (2nd, javelin, 5th, discus) and Salma Nasr (3rd, discus).
“Salma Nasr had ACL surgery and was out for a year. She came back, did a great job,” Collins said. “We also got a ton of points from Kailah Pyron. Those girls have been around for years in the program, you look at the counties, we swept up a lot of points. They’re all seniors, we’re gonna miss those points.”
But there are young point-producers returning.
Sophomores Sophie Trzaskus and Zuzanna Trzasko finished 3-4 in the pole vault at counties, and Doherty made her presence felt by finishing second in high jump, fourth in the 200 and sixth in the 100.
Lawrence finished second in the 4×100 (Doherty, Trzaskus, senior Isabelle Nicolas, sophomore Alicia Riggins) and fourth in the 4×400 (Trzaskus, Trzasko, Doherty, freshman Julia Zaluska).
The result was 71 points, which was not only the top public school total; but it also provided Lawrence with the Valley Division crown after the points were computed among divisions.
“Honestly, we didn’t think we were gonna come in first, we thought we were gonna do OK, but not first,” Doherty said. “We finished second to a prep school, that’s pretty good. And winning the Valley makes me really excited for the future of the team.”
Lawrence continued its success in the sectionals, where Kitio won the shot with a throw of 34-11.25 (and also took fourth in discus) and Doherty won the high jump with a PR of 5-2. Doherty also advanced to the Group III state meet with a fourth in the 200 meters.
Other Cardinals to get through to states featured Riggins (6th, 100 meters), Nicolas (6th, 100 hurdles), the 4×100 (second), the 4×400 (sixth), Trzaskus (3rd, pole vault), Trzasko (5th pole vault), Nasr (5th, discus) and Pyron (6th,discus).
At the Group III meet, equaled her PR, which put her in a tie for sixth. The top three finishers advance automatically, along with the 18 next best marks. When Petra got the word she made it, it’s safe to say she was excited.
“I was sitting in the library and I heard the announcement and I didn’t even believe it,” she said. Knowing that silence is the rule in a library, she added “That’s why I asked to go to the bathroom and I ran to my coach’s class.”
“She was running down the hall screaming ‘I made it!’” Collins said with a laugh. “We were excited for her, excited for the program. It’s nice. She represents the school well. It’s always nice to say we have someone to represent the school there. She’s appreciative of it, she put the work in for us. She’s done everything we’ve asked her to do.
Doherty could not get a PR at the MOC, finishing with a 5-0, but just the experience of being there will undoubtedly be a good lesson for next year.
“It wasn’t even in my plans for this season, I just really wanted to improve my high jump,” she said. “Coming into sectionals my coach was telling me he could see Meet of Champs in my future and I didn’t believe him. And I won sectionals and realized ‘Oh man, I could really do it.’”
It’s pretty impressive for someone who participated in the sport just to stay fit.
“My cousin Melinda Jacoppo was running it, she was the only person I knew on the team,” Doherty said. “I had done it in middle school. I thought why not come back and try it. It was really to get in shape for field hockey because I play that in the fall, but I ended up falling in love with track instead.”
Collins feels Doherty “really blossomed this year” and thinks she also has a future as a sprinter if she keeps working at it.
Petra can’t say enough about what the sport has done for her.
“It was a good leadership experience teaching the younger girls and being a mentor to them,” she said. “And coming this far has given me so many opportunities I never thought I would have. I’m just excited.”
With good reason, as it appears after its post-Covid dry spell, Lawrence girls track & field has returned as a force in Mercer County and beyond.
Members of the LHS track and field team are pictured. At rear are Kayla Cribb (left), Jen Azcona, Marline Manzano , Petra Doherty, Sophie Trzaskus, Vanessa Morales, Zuzanna Trzasko and Julia Zaluska. In front are Salma Nasr (left), Kailah Pyron, Alicia Riggins, Isabelle Nicolas, Aniya Chavis, Melinda Jacoppo, Grace Orashen and Haleemah Ogunniyi.,
