It was one apiece for the High School North and South winter track teams earlier this month — the North boys and the South girls each took their respective sectional championships at the Bennett Complex in Toms River on February 10.##M:[more]##
And the following week, on February 17, Trish Reilly, of the North girls tea, and Brian Leung, of the South boys team, both had strong victories to advance them, along with a few of their teammates, to the Meet of Champions on Saturday, February 23.
In the sectionals, for the boys, the Knights were led by Steve Au-Yeung, Tyler Corkdale, John LiPuma, Jim Rosa, Joe Rosa, Corey Abernathy, Jay Lee, and Barnett Wu, all who made it to the group meet the following week. Au-Yeung and Sleeper placed second and third in the 800, while Corkdale and LiPuma placed second and third in the mile race. Jim Rosa and Joe Rosa placed second and third in the two-mile race, and Barnett Wu placed second in the shot put. Abernathy was fourth in the shot put. Lee finished third in the pole vault and sixth in the 55 hurdles.
While South came in behind North on the boys’ side, record-breaking cross country champion Brian Leung didn’t disappoint. He won both the mile and the two-mile races. Also doing well for the South boys were Keith Griffith, who won the 800; Sam Macaluso, who placed fifth, both in the mile and two-mile races; Matt Foster, who tied third in the high jump; and Joe Brown who was fifth in the 400.
The South girls had some key victories of their own, especially on part of Katie Kellner and Sammy Howell, who helped lead their team to 6.5 points over North. Howell won the high jump and the 55-meter hurdles, and Kellner placed first in the mile race and second in the two-mile. But they also had help from a few other key South teammates. Shelby Miller placed fourth in the mile; Ting-Ting Zhou placed fourth in the two-mile; Diana Zhu tied for third place in the high jump; Becky Barclay placed sixth in the 800, and Ashleigh Delemos placed sixth in the 55-meter dash.
The North girls also had good performances, with Trish Reilly picking up the victory in the mile race, and three other key victories. Ryan Williams placed in three events, taking second in the 55-hurdles, fourth in the 400, and fifth in the 55-meter dash. Kelly Callahan placed third in the 800, and Arielle Niecestro tied for fifth in the high jump.
At the Group III state meet a week later, Reilly ran a time of 5:00.00 for a second place finish in the mile race, while Leung set a new personal record when he won the two-mile race. He ran for a time of 9:02.61. Both will head to the Meet of Champions on Saturday, February 23. Also advancing to the Meet of Champions are Griffith, Macaluso, Howell, Kellner, Corkdale, Jim and Joe Rosa, Sleeper, and Au-Yeung.
