South Brunswick Earns Three Medals at Group IV Relays

Thanks in part to the continuation of a school specialty, the South Brunswick High School winter track teams were able to come away with three medals at the Group IV Relays on Friday.

"We did pretty well," South Brunswick Coach Stefan Moorhead noted of the event held at the Bennett Center in Toms River. "Earning medals in Group IV is never easy, so we were pleased to have three relays that medaled."

The sprint medley team of Alicia Osley, Rochelle McDonald, Julia Lekht and Cayla Del Piano had the best finish for a South Brunswick team, placing second in a time of 4:14.34.

"(This) marks the fifth straight year a Viking foursome has medaled in the event," Moorhead noted. "With the sprint medley, Rochelle is a freshman and Julia is a sophomore, so our younger athletes also got a taste of success at a high level."

Osley and Del Piano were also part of a distance medley team that placed fourth in a time of 12:40.80. Nicolette Mateescu and Melanie Huen were also part of that relay.

"The two girls relays that medaled ran very well," Moorhead said. "We entered the meet with the thought that both of them could medal, but I would say they exceeded expectations with the second and fourth place finishes. It was especially nice to see the distance medley medal, because all four runners are seniors."

Two of those seniors -- Osley and Del Piano -- made their initial mark in track as freshmen and never stopped on the path to success.

"For both Alicia and Cayla, it was the fourth straight year they earned medals at this meet, which is a great accomplishment," Moorhead said. "Cayla's splits of 5:02 in the 1600 and 2:17 in the 800 would probably put this meet among her best ever during her indoor career."

Moorhead was also pleased with the way his 4x400 and 4x200 teams ran.

"Even though they didn't medal, all four athletes in those events set personal bests," Moorhead said.

South Brunswick's other medal came in the boys high jump. Christian Larbie cleared 6' 2" and Kaseem Davis 6' to allow the pair to combine for fourth place.

"For the boys, Christian and Kaseem were the highlight," Moorhead said. "They were the only relay to win last week (at the GMC Relays), and this week they were the only relay to medal. They were only two inches away from the first-place mark, so they were definitely in the mix."

The 4x800 team also ran well.

"Our 4x800 team had to run in an unseeded heat, and blew away the competition in that race," Moorhead said. "Unfortunately, their time fell less than .4 seconds from placing in the top-6 after the seeded heat ran. We're definitely expecting that team to lower their time in the next few weeks, with the hope that they can take a shot at the indoor school record (8:16).

"We also had many season bests throughout the meet, However, the near misses in multiple events where we could have won medals was a little disappointing, especially since we were not at our top peformances in those events. It was the first time competing at a state-level meet for a good number of our athletes, so I'm hoping that experience will help them down the road in big meets."

South Brunswick has a meet against Monroe on Tuesday. South Brunswick will compete in the Lavino Relays at Lawrenceville on Jan. 21. The GMC Championships will be held the following week in Toms River.