State Success

Last Saturday, Feb. 19, the qualifiers from the North 1, Group 3 State Sectional Championships competed in the Group 3 State Championships at the Bennet Center in Toms River.

Three individuals from the Marauder squads medaled and thus advanced to the Meet of Champions on Saturday, Feb. 26. The best 6 medalists from each of the 6 groups, plus 6 wildcards, move on to contest to see who's the best in NJ.

The highest place was junior Ashley Tomasula, who equaled her own school indoor record, taking 2nd at 11'. It was her second consecutive clearance of that height in as many weekends. Next highest was the bronze medal won by soph Marissa Karl in the 800 m. She zoomed to 3rd on a 2:21.85 p.r. improvement; she may have turned some heads because of her 2:25.25 from the week before and her 9th place seeding prior to the race. Finally, senior Matt Herb jumped 6'2" in the high jump along with 3 others, but was awarded 5th, his 5th time over that height this season. The winner went 6'4".

Both 4 x 400 teams ran their season bests. The girls team, pictured above, ran an automatic 4:15.09 for 12th place. Fr. Alicia Warren, jr. Sam Tavalare, jr. Ingrid Nimoh, and soph Marissa Karl ran .05 off their 4:14.8 at the Varsity Classic at the Armory, but will be given credit for the record because of the official auto timing. The flat nature of the Toms River oval makes times run there up to 4 sec. slower for 1600m than the banked track of the Armory. The all junior boys team of Mike Gonzalez, Dan Baules, Cory Colligan, and Scott Rennalls posted a 3:38.54. Speaking for the group, Scott said, "We're happy to run our fastest time of the season. We can still do better." Rennalls placed 11th in the 800 in 2:03.58, slightly off his 2:02.61 the week before. He did, however, post his best 400 split in 52.7.

Sam Tavalare placed 10th in the 800 in 2:28.51, her second time under 2:30. Fr. Keturah Orji and jr. Armani Blair were 18th and 19th in the 55 semis at 7.69 and 7.70 respectively. The 7.70 was Armani's best time of the season and a scant .01 off her p.r. of 7.69.

The girls were 9th overall with 14 pts.

North 1 Group 3 State Sectionals

The Marauders advanced a total of 11 athletes to the Group 3 State Championships this past Saturday, 2/13. Sr. Matt Herb successfully defended his h.j. title, winning that event at 6'. The next highest placing team members were jr. Ashley Tomasula, who cleared 11', breaking her own school record and soph Marissa Karl, who also took a silver in the 800 with a p.r. of 2:25.25. Karl also handled the second leg of the 4 x 400 team, which placed 3rd. Sam Tavalare joined her on that team, following her 4th place finish in her first non-relay 800, which she ran in 2:27.06. Ingrid Nimoh anchored that team and took the baton from her freshman sister Suzie. The team ran 4:15.45, not far off the school record set earlier in the week.
The biggest event of the night for the girls was the 55 dash. After going 3-4-5 in the semis, the same girls--Keturah Orji, Armani Blair, and Camille Inglese--went 3-4-5 in the finals, running 7.62-7.77-7.78. Keturah tied the 9th gr. record in the semis with her 7.58.
Jr. Danielle Halikias had the dreaded 7th place, but had stepped up to the 3200 for the first time and ran a respectable 12:34.8. She led fr. Mariah Christian to a 12:36 and jr. Alex Schneeberg to12:39. Fr. Alicia Warren had a p.r. in the 400, taking 10th in 1:04.33, and classmate Lindsay Schafer a 9th in the 1600 at 5:48.89. The girls finished tied for 3rd with 38 pts., their best team finish ever.
Jr. Scott Rennalls was the next highest boy finisher, finishing in 2:02.61 for 800m and getting 4th. He returned to run a 52.9 anchor for the 4 x 400 team, which ran their best of the season at 3:41.35. Jrs. Mike Gonzalez, Dan Baules, and Cory Colligan took the first three legs for the squad. The boys placed 6th overall with 18 pts.
The Group 3 Championships are Sat, 2/20, at 4 PM.

Second Trip to Big Apple Fruitful for Tracksters

The indoor track & field squads made a hop across the Hudson for the second time this winter to whiz around the banked oval at the Armory.
The girls' 4 x 400 team achieved one of their season's goals by taking down the school record. The previous record, set in 1997, of 4:16, fell to the 4:14.8 run by Sam Tavalare (1:03), Marissa Karl (1:03), Alicia Warren (1:05), and Ingrid Nimoh (1:03). Tavalare and Karl had run the 1st and 2nd legs on the 4 x 800 earlier that gave took a final shot at that record; teaming with them were Laura Goodfriend and Bridget Phillip, who together ran a season best 10:06.9. Karl had the best leg of 2:25.
Sr. Matt Herb grabbed a 5th place medal in the h.j. at 6'2". Scott Rennalls had a season best at the 800 in 2:04.1. In the girls 800 jr. Erin Miller had a best in 2:38.3 and fr. Lyndsay Schafer a 2:35.6. Fr. Mariah Christian dropped 7 seconds off her time in running 5:48 for the 1600; jr. Danielle Halikias ran a first-ever 5:54.
Ashley Tomasula vaulted to a place in the p.v. at 10'6", equaling her own school record.
Ingrid Nimoh ran a hand-timed 8.7 in the 55h, while sr. Alex Reyes got a p.r. at 8.9
The sprinters did well on the infield in the 55. Jr. Armani Blair and fr. Keturah Orji ran 7.3 hand times. Camille Inglese recorded a 7.7. Onto the track, personal bests in the 200 were scored by Armani Blair, 26.8; sr. Camille Inglese, 27.5; jr. Cory Colligan, 23.6; Juan Rios, 24.4; and, in the best showing, Keturah Orji broke the freshman girl school record with a 26.6 (26.84).

Shot Putters Have Field Day

The throwing portion of the indoor team took their talents to nearby Randolph for the Randolph Shot Put Invitaional on Jan. 26. The group came away with no fewer than 10 p.r.'s under the direction of Coach Ondilla. Frosh Andrew Kraemer and Andrew DeVenezia and soph Jay Shah had the biggest improvements. Kraemer, the county frosh champ, improved on his best of 41' 6.5" with the 4k ball to 43'5" and medaled. DeVenezia went from 32'9" to 34'6". Shah threw the 12 pounder 37' 2.5", up from his previous 35'4". On the boys' side, other p.r.'s were scored by sr. Luke Bippus, 33'7"; soph Andrea DeCarlo, 26'5.25"; sr. Matt Deptula, 38'1"; and fr. Kevin Harrington, 30'4.25". For the girls, new bests were achieved by jr. Nicole Dei, 26'; sr. Alissa Hoffman, 31' 1.75"; and jr. Jessica Scairpone, 26'4". Two other girls, jr. Laura Kubicki and jr. Kerry Quinn, were within 6" of their p.r.'s. All in all, a great night out of shot putting.

Frosh/Novice Meet at Armory

The younger runners took a trip to the Big Apple on 1/31 to experience the banked turns of the famous 168th Street mondo surface oval. Freshman Katurah Orji came away with two medals and one class record. First, she placed third in the 55 dash in 7.7 and led teammate Suzie Nimoh in the same event to a 4th place finish in 7.8. Next, she won the seeded heat in 27.2 to break the freshman school record held by Armani Blair.
Also among the 9th graders, the girls 4 x 800 team had an exciting 3rd place finish. Mariah Christian, Erin Schafer, Sara Christian, and Lindsay Schafer raced to a 10:49 clocking to take bronze medals.
Danielle Halikias placed 2nd in the Novice girls 800 in 2:37.3. The varsity girls distance medley took 12th with their best time of the season in 13:27.8. The team was composed of soph Marissa Karl (3:58 1200), frosh Alicia Warren (400), and juniors Sam Tavalare (800) and Steph Smith (1600).

BIG PERFORMANCES IN BIG MEETS

At the Morris County Championships on 1/19, the girls squad placed 5th overall with 24 points, their best finish since 2001. The highest placing medalist was junor Ashley Tomasula, who took silver in the pole vault at 10' 6", the 12th best vault in N.J. Classmate Ingrid Nimoh had a breakthrough evening in the hurdles, first smashing her p.r. of 9.28 by running 8.81 to qualify for the finals. She then took 3rd in the finals in 8.75, currently the 21st fastest time in the state. The 4 x 400 team also took 3rd in 4:17.36 with Nimoh anchoring; the opening 3 legs were handled by Sam Tavalare, Marissa Karl, and Alicia Warren. Karl also had a huge p.r. in the 1000m where she took 4th. She improved 6 seconds to 3:09.09, 9th best time in N.J. and one of the fastest M.O. times ever run.
The boys team finished 12th overall with 10.75 pts. The big event for the men was the h.j.: Matt Herb took 3rd with a 6' leap. First-year man Kifton Vanemon tied for 5th at 5'4". Scott Rennalls took 4th in the 1000 in 2:42.68, a season best.
Earlier in the week at the Freshmen/Sophomore County Championships the frosh girls took 5th with 21 pts. while the soph boys took 5th with 19. There were several gold medal achievements. First, Matt Kraemer won the 9th grade shot, throwing the 4k ball 41' 6.5". The frosh 4 x 400 were victorious in 4:40.23 with a team of Suzie Nimoh, Katurah Orji, Lindsay Schafer, and Alicia Warren. The soph boys were also winners with the team of Mike Eppel, Justin Bakelmun, Gennaro Ruggiero, and Anthony Talanca in 3:52.07. Bronze medals were won by Talanca in the soph boys 600m (1:33.92) and Orji in the fr. girls 55 (7.90). Nimoh picked up two more medals in the fr. 55 (5th--8.12) and fr. 300 (5th--46.99). Eppel took a 5th in the soph 300 in 39.86, and Warren a 6th in the fr. 300 (47.04) and Phil Demeo a 6th in the soph soph shot (37' 1.5").

Championships Under Way

The Championship schedule opened up on Jan. 3 for the Marauders with the County Relays and continued with the State Relays on Jan. 15.
On 1/3 the girls placed 6th as a team, their best showing since 2004 when they also placed 6th. Three outstanding bronze medal efforts highlighted the lady varsity effort. First up was the 4 x 200 team of Armani Blair, Camille Inglese, Katurah Orji, and Ingrid Nimoh (1:53.74). The sprint med showed its quality again when Blair and Nimoh ran their second 200's of the evening and joined Sam Tavalare (400) and Marissa Karl (800) to record a 4:27.48, slightly better than their earlier season time. Icing it off were Nimoh, Tavalare, and Karl joined by Alicia Warren in the 4 x 400 for the last medals of the night.
The younger girls wanted to show their older sisters some stuff, so they ran and threw to medals in the JV 4 x 400--1st! (S. Nimoh, Warren, Courtney Hart & Gentrix Shanga); the JV 4 x 800--3rd--with Meisel, Ashley Torres, Erin Schafer & Mariah Christian; and 4th in the JV Shot with Manjarres and Kerry Quinn.
In the boys varsity the top team was the high jump. Matt Herb had the best jump of the evening and teamed with Kifton Vanemon to take 2nd. The sprint med kept pace with the girls by taking third--jr. Dan Baules & Cory Colligan handled the first two legs before handing off to Eppel and Rennals to bring it home. In the distance med, sr. Steve Wagner, sophs Mike Gonzalez and Anthony Talanca handed off to sr. anchor Zach Miller to take 6th.
In J.V. action, the putters of Matt Kraemer and Jay Shah took 3rd place.
At the Group 3 State Relays, the exciting MO girls sprint medley team showed their mettle by taking 3rd place medals. Sam Tavalare (1:03), Armani Blair (27.), Katurah Orji (27.) and Marissa Karl (2:26.) recorded a new school mark in the event: 4:25.11. Next best was the 4 x 200 team who scored 10th with a 1:53.41 (Blair, Inglese, Orji, I. Nimoh). The 4 x 400 team of Tavalare, Karl, Warren, and Nimoh was 11th.
For the boys, Matt Herb and Kifton Vanemon teamed up again to nab 6th place in the high jump. The most exciting action of the track for the Marauders was the sprint medley. Scott Rennalls reeled in every team in front of him and outleaned West Milford and Shawnee for the win in the 3rd section, one in front of the seeded heat. The first three legs were handled by Anthony Talanca, Cory Colligan, and Mike Eppel. Their time of 3:54.1 placed 8th overall.
Finally, the 4 x 200 squad of Cory Colligan, Justin Bakelmun, Dan Baules, and Juan Rios ran their best time of the season at 1:41.29.