Del Piano sets County Record as Girls Track Hopes for Another Great Season

While Coach Stefan Moorhead noted there certainly was "some rust" showing in his girls track team in the season opener, Cayla Del Piano was certainly polished up nicely and ready to run.

Del Piano, a senior, placed second in the 1000 (3:03.92) in the Winter Opener, held this past weekend in Toms River. Del Piano's time was a new school and county record.

"Cayla started her season off very well," Moorhead noted. "Setting a county record in her first race of the season bodes well for her senior year."

Del Piano was one of two girls to place in an event for South Brunswick and earn a medal. Alicia Osley, also a senior, placed fifth in the 300 in a time of 44.3.

"In general we were rusty, so we are looking forward to our next few meets to get us in better position to perform well in January's championship meets," Moorhead said.

South Brunswick will participate in the Holiday Relay Carnival at Jersey City on Dec. 27. The team will also participate in the Track Universe Invitational at the New York City Armory on Dec. 30.

South Brunswick will need to be at its best early in 2012 as the Middlesex County Relays will be held on Jan. 6. The Group IV State Relays will follow on Jan 13. The Greater Middlesex Conference Championships (Jan. 28), Central Jersey Sectionals (Feb. 11) and Group IV State Championships (Feb. 18) are still far off.

"Last winter the girls team won their fifth straight indoor GMC and fourth straight Middlesex County Relay titles," Moorhead noted. "We also won our third straight Central Jersey Sectional Group IV championship. We set several school and Middlesex County records along the way."

South Brunswick graduated a lot of top performers, but they do have a nice core of athletes back.

Del Piano is the returning GMC Champion in the 1600 and 3200. She is also the defending Sectional champion in the 1600.

Osley is the defending Sectional champion in the 1600.

Lindsay Carbone, a senior, is the returning champion in the GMC pole vault.

Other returning standouts are Alyssa McFarlane (a senior shot putter), Savannah Barton (a senior that does the pole vault and hurdles) and Marissa Cavett (a junior that does the hurdles and high jump).

Other seniors on the team are Monet Hall, Kristen Huang, Melanie Huen, Emily Lane, Niky Mateescu, Sravani Makkapati, Danielle Resnick, Tatyanna Rogers, Harshini Sahani and Kristin Tran.

The other juniors on the team are Jenna Thompson, Charlotte Thomas, Mia Tanpiengco, Carly Trill, Christen Biondolillo, Archana Bottu, Nicole Deinzer, Lindsay Del Piano, Kelly Rose Harkness, Nateya Harris, Emily Giarratano, Manassa Gowda, Taiyana Madden, Gina Martinez, Victoria Monteiro, Karen Reyes and Stephanie Zheng.

The sophomores on the team are Thamara Thayalan, Lisa Botros, Dhanashree Bahulekar, Mia Busch, Noelle Cordova, Isha Markale, Ashna Manhas, Julia Lekht, Kelly Hillen, Zhara Dhanerawala, Monica Feldman, Shruthi Shankar, Danielle Oakes, Christina Zhang, Chandley Fisher, Luisa Hill, Naeemah Jones, Rebecca Kilcoyne, Nina Paranjpe and Khadija McDonald.

The freshmen are Nicole Cavett, Aliya Forcer, Emily Kaiser, Zenzali Lael,  Nicole Sendner, Zyira Thomas, Denise Porter, Jada Rae Poku, Rochelle McDonald, Aspen McMillan and Elisa Meranchik 

"We graduated several of our best athletes, but we have a number of good returners and some new athletes who we think can contribute right away," Moorhead said. "We hope to contend for both of the county titles this
winter. I am cautiously optimistic that those returners, plus some talented newcomers, can help us retain those titles. It will certainly be a challenge,
however."