In a tournament that was decided by just a few points among the top teams, the South Brunswick High School boys track team placed third at the Greater Middlesex Conference Championships.
East Brunswick won the event with 86 points, followed by Piscataway with 82 points and South Brunswick with 81 points.
"I was extremely pleased and encouraged by the effort that the boys team put forth in the GMC Championships," South Brunswick Coach Wilfredo Rivera said. "Though we came up five points short of the title, the majority of our guys had personal bests on the track and in the field and that's all you can really ask for. We had a well-balanced meet and scored in 11 events with 12 different place winners."
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Kotey Ashie came away with South Brunswick's lone individual win, taking the 400 in a time of 49.89. Ashie also combined with Juwan Tisdale, Kaseem Davis and Tyrin Fairman to run the 4x400.
"(Ashie) has had a breakout season and it was no surprise to see him run tough and win the event," Rivera said. "He also ran a 49.9 split on the second place 4x400 that ran 3:21.57 to break our school record from 1976."
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As usual, Dominick Padovano put together an outstanding meet. Padovano placed second in the shot (50' 4") and second in the discus (192' 6). Adam Dickert was sixth in the shot (46' 7 1/4) and sixth in the discus (123' 2").
"Dominick was his usual consistent self, placing second in the shot and discus," Rivera said.
Brian Luck was sxith in the javelin (154').
Jaleel Alston and Derek Forthun put together great meets in the jumping events. Alston was second in the pole vault (12' 6") and long jump (21' 8"). Forthun was third in the triple jump (44' 6 1/2), third in the pole vault (12') and fourth in the high jump (6'). Christian Larbie (6') added a third in the high jump.
"Jaleel had two personal bests in the pole vault and long jump," Rivera said. "Derek, once again, showed his versatility by placing in three events."
In the distance races, Matt Eder was fourth in the 1600 (4:29.61) and Tyler Blackburn fifth in the 3200 (9:55.53).
"Overall, I was thrilled with the way the guys competed and look forward to finishing our dual meet season undefeated and carrying this momentum into the state sectional championships," Rivera said.
