Sports
Ahmed Makes it to Girls Track Meet of Champions
The Hightstown High School junior advances in discus.
While six girls in each event knew right away that they had qualified for The Meet of Champions by placing in the Central Jersey Group III track event, a lot of other people were put in a holding pattern.
That included junior Aziza Ahmed.
In addition to the top six finishers in each event, held June 3 and 4 at South Plainfield, the next six best finishers from all of the groups also qualified for The Meet of Champions, which will take place Thursday at Old Bridge.
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Aziza Ahmed placed eighth in the discus with a distance of 112' 7".
"You go on the [New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association] website and it tells you who made it," Hightstown Coach Don Hess said. "We got finished at about 1:30 p.m. and found out she made it as a wild card at about 7 p.m."
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The reason for the delay was that all results had to be gathered and checked from the different sites.
Ahmed had a chance to avoid the nerves associated with sitting around and waiting to see if you've advanced via a wild card slot.
"She had a really good throw, but it went out of the throwing vector (the area where the discus is supposed to land)," Hess noted. "It probably would have put her in fourth.
"Of the eight girls in the finals (for a total of 24 attempts), there were nine fouls. That shows you the pressure. Everyone is just trying a little harder to get more on their throws."
Nonetheless, Ahmed is in The Meet of Champions. Her inclusion continues Hightstown's . In the 24 years Hess has coached, Hightstown has had someone at The Meet of Champions 23 times (missing only last year). Hess gives a lot of credit to Jay Hackworth, who works with the throwers.
Dana Obst also competed for Hightstown in the Group III meet. She placed 16th in the shot put with a distance of 33' 6".
"This meet is a great experience for the kids," Hess noted. "They are both only juniors, so they will get a chance to be back here again.
"We're really pleased to see Aziza make The Meet of Champions. It's a great accomplishment. She really deserves it."
