South Brunswick High School Track Set for National Meet

The South Brunswick High School track teams are getting ready for a very busy weekend in New York. From today to Sunday, South Brunswick will take part in the New Balance Indoor Nationals, held at the New York Armory.

On the boys side, Derek Forthun will open action by taking part in the pentathlon today. This event includes the hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 1000.

Dominick Padovano will take part in the shot put on Saturday.

"Derek and Dominick both ended the season well by earning spots at the Meet of Champs and Easterns," South Brunswick Coach Stefan Moorhead noted. "Derek is a very versatile athlete so the pentathlon is a perfect fit for him. Dominick ended the season close to 56 feet (distance in the shot put), so it would be nice to see him get over that barrier for the first time."

On the girls side, Cayla Del Piano will run in the Emerging Elite mile on Friday. Alicia Osley will run in the Emerging Elite 400 on Friday.

"Emerging Elite is sort of the second tier division of the National meet, for up-and-coming athletes who were just below the regular National qualifying standard," Moorhead said.

"Both Alicia and Cayla had outstanding seasons, so running at Nationals is a nice reward for all their hard work during the year. Their personal bests are both within a second of breaking the school record in their respective events, so it would be great if both of them could get those records on such a big stage."

Mariah Browne will compete in the long jump and triple jump on Saturday.

"Mariah has the top long jump in New Jersey this winter and one of the best triple jumps, so now she gets a chance to test herself against the best jumpers in the country," Moorhead noted. "She is excited to do that and I think she will do well."

The 4x200 team of Alicia Osley, Mariah Browne, Janae Baker and Rachel Johnson will run Saturday. The 4x400 team of Baker, Joy Spriggs, Del Piano and Osley will run Sunday. The sprint medley team of Johnson (200), Baker (200), Osley (400) and Del Piano (800) will run on Saturday.

"All three relays were ranked in the top-5 in New Jersey this winter and have a chance to break school and/or Middlesex county records at this meet," Moorhead said. "All six runners had great seasons and it will be exciting to see how fast they can run against the great competition they will face."

It should be a very busy -- and, hopefully, productive -- weekend for South Brunswick.