By Jeff Appelblatt
No matter where a team finishes in the standings, participating in the annual Penn Relays is something great to remember for any high school athlete.
With that in mind, Woodbridge High School’s track and field coach, Jesse Angatia, makes sure to get a number of student-athletes from his team down to Philadelphia’s Franklin Field for the renowned event. The most recent runs, which have been held for the last 121 years, were held Apr. 28-30 for high school students in attendance from throughout the world.
With a time of 45.48, Woodbridge’s runners — Brandon Laraque, Darin Tabon, James Modica-Crutchfield and Austin Taylor — finished fourth in their heat, which was won by New Jersey’s Union Catholic Regional High School (43.69).
Meanwhile, Woodbridge’s girls — Elisanett Marine, Najiyah Adams, Comfort Akinbo and Taiwo Ibironke — were ninth in their 4×100 heat (51.55), which was also won by Union Catholic (48.97).
Woodbridge went right back to competition May 1 at the Second Annual Mustang Invitational hosted by archrival John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Iselin.
Some of the girls showed immediately that they weren’t too worn out by the long-distance trip to Philadelphia or from the races there. Marine finished second in the 400-meter dash, while Ibironke finished fourth. Akinbo came in third in the 100 hurdles. Adams finished fifth in the 100-meter dash.
And they got a ton of help from Esther Daramola, who finished fourth in the long jump, fourth in the triple jump and seventh in the high jump.
The girls from Woodbridge finished finished fifth out of 17 female teams competing in Iselin.
The girls from Sayreville War Memorial High School that stole the show. They held a secure 107-90 lead over second-place Howell High School at the end of the day.
On the boys side for the Barrons, David McDevitt landed fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus throw. Tracy Fudge took fourth in the javelin throw, and James Jones finished sixth in the shot put.
The Barrons’ track and field athletes were slated to compete at the Middlesex County Relays May 4 at South Brunswick High School. They look forward to the Greater Middlesex Conference Championships May 13 and 14 at the Carl Sandburg Middle School in Old Bridge. Both Woodbridge teams hope to be peaking for the championship meets.
