NJSIAA Meet of Champions 2014 Recap

By Elliott Denman

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- The Christian Brothers Academy tradition of distance excellence is alive and well. So is the Union Catholic High School reputation for across-the-board excellence. Likewise for the talented young ladies of Columbia High School (Maplewood).  

The New Jersey high school indoor track and field season raced to a sizzling conclusion with athletes from these three schools - and a long array of others - playing starring roles in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's annual Meet of Champions Saturday at the Bennett Athletic Center complex. 

Next stop for many of the Garden State's finest is the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet at The New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory, March 14, 15, 16.

About an hour after CBA's Mike McClemens (a Columbia University-bound senior) and senior running mate Tom Rooney ran to a 1-2 (4:14.20/4:14.79) slam in the boys 1600 meter final, CBA sophomore Blaise Ferro blasted out to a 9:12.70 3200-meter win over Middletown North's Providence College-bound Tom O'Neill (9:17.92). 

While McClemens, Rooney and O'Neill are busy making their marks in the collegiate ranks in the years ahead, Ferro will have two more seasons to build his portfolio of scholastic honors.

How good can Ferro be by the spring of 2016?

"As good as he wants to be," said CBA coach Karl Torchia. "Just look at him now and he's only a sophomore. He can be as good as any runner we've had at CBA, maybe better.  It's up to him."

Meanwhile, Union Catholic athletes - arch-rivals of CBA throughout the season - were doing big things, too.

UC's Obafemi Animashaun (7.44) edged Timber Creek's Mkevin Hagamin (7.45) for the 60-meter hurdles gold; UC's Taylor McLaughlin sped to a 400 win in 49.36; UC's Jordan Jimerson (6.49) ran a close-close second to Haddon Heights' Kashif Miller (6.46) in the 60 dash final, and the UC 4x400 relay team of Animashaun, Jimerson, Kenny Evely and McLaughlin raced to a 3:19.70, meet-record win over Old Bridge (whose 3:20.54 was just 1/100th off the prior meet mark, Oakcrest's 2012 3:20.53).

Hours before all the boys took to the track in this "bubble" 200-meter flat track facility, the state's top girlsput on quite a show of their own. And once again, Coach Lisa Morgan's Columbia ladies were front and center.

Stanford-bound Olivia Baker continued proving why she'll have a role in the honors-filled Columbia archives (along with such predecessors as Joetta and Hazel Clark) with another brilliant day.

First, Baker raced to a 54.09 400-meter win, lowering her meet record (54.72 last year) by a big 0.63 in the process.  Her closest challenger: Columbia junior teammate Emily Cowan (55.75). And serving notice of future stardom was third-placer Sydney McLaughlin - a Union Catholic freshman - in 56.15.

The meet 800 record of 2:10.45 was set in 2009 by then-Neptune freshman Ajee' Wilson and was fortunate to survive.   Westwood High winner Corinne Myers (2:10.52) just missed with a runaway win over Freehold Township's Adrian Vitello (2:13.29.). 

Neptune alumna Wilson, of course, is now an international elite pro racer (and a two-time USA Indoor 800m champion) flying off to the IAAF World Indoor Championships, March 7-9 in Sopot, Poland.

A notable 2:15.94 sixth in the 800 was none other Columbia's Baker.

"She just needed maybe 15 minutes more (recovery time) after the 400," said Coach Morgan. "That little extra time might have meant the difference."

But, with full recovery time for the concluding 4x400 relay, Columbia and Baker were again at the top of their game. While they couldn't match Columbia's 3:48.30 2013 meet-record figures, the quartet of Aigner Bobbitt, Kayla Richardson, Baker and Cowan still breezed home in 3:52.76, by decisive margins over Mount Saint Dominic (3:55.45) and Union Catholic (3:56.10). 

"A lot of these times were really excellent for this (flat) track," said Morgan. "But, of course, we all know they'd be a whole lot faster at The Armory.  I'd estimate at least a one-second-per-lap differential, and maybe even a little more than that."

One more notable boys winner was DePaul High School senior Joe White, who sped to a 1:53.95 win in the 800 - out of the first of two unseeded sections. He surprised runner-up Morgan Murray of South Brunswick (1:54.61) as well as himself.

"This is only my second year of track," said the Georgetown-bound White. He'd been an average-hitting, ground-covering centerfielder for the DePaul baseball team when he realized his greater talents were on the track. 

"It was the best decision I've ever made," said White, who ran a 1:50.5 800 at Nationals last June. "Track is opening up so many doors to me. I wasn't that great in baseball. Track's my  future now."

Other boys champions crowned:

--  Delbarton pole vaulter Mike Benz at 15 feet (with four others also clearing 15-0); Howell high jumper IanKirk (6-7), and West Deptford shot putter Nick Pulli (61-3), with Rumson-Fair Haven's Jason Bryan also past 60at 60-2.

Other girls champions:

-- Winslow Township 60-meter sprinter Torie Robinson (6.95), West Windsor-Plainsboro 60-meter hurdler Patrycia Dziekonska (7.99) West Morris-Central 1600 runner Kylene Cochrane (4:53.17), Gill-St. Bernard's 3200 runner Dana Klein (10:37.70), North Brunswick high jumper Nnenna Ibe (5-6), Matawan Regional pole vaulter Nicole Macco (11-6) with West Milford's Haley Steele also over 11-6, and Emerson shot putter Cheyenne Bellerand (43-8.)