Area track and field athletes warmed up for this week’s Monmouth County Championships with some impressive results at the county relays.
Long Branch High School hosted the Monmouth County Relays May 5.
Howell High School’s Stephanie Bock led the Rebels to a second-place finish behind Red Bank Catholic (RBC) High School, 85-71.
Bock, who has been one of the state’s best and consistent throwers over the first month of the outdoor season, had the best throws in both the shot put (39-10½) and discus (120-5) relays. When her throw in the shot put was combined with teammate Christianah Akinsanmi (34-0), it gave the Rebels the win. She and Akinsanmi (93-0) were second in the discus relay.
Rachel Kern led Howell to a second win in the field with her big throw of 130-5 in the javelin relay. Her best mark combined with Caroline Osborne (85-3) was enough to win the relay for the Rebels.
On the track, Howell’s distance medley team of Erin Cannon, Niamh Hayes, Deanna Lucas and Lindsey Marzo had the Rebels’ best finish — second (13:10.39), behind RBC (12:57.87).
Marlboro High School’s 4×100-meter relay team has had good results, including a win at the Georgian Court University High School Challenge this spring. Now the team of Alica Zhou, Labeequ Khizir, Lauren Newman and Danielle Spano can call themselves county champions. They held off a St. John Vianney High School team anchored by its standout, Boston College-bound Monica Heil, winning, 50.63-50.80.
The Mustangs picked up a second win in the long jump relay with Gianna Gomez (15-5¼) and Alicia Gomex (15-3¼) beating Holmdel High School by one-and-a-half inches.
Those wins helped the Mustangs finish sixth (30).
Heil, a senior and last year’s county and conference 400-meter champion, anchored St. John Vianney’s 4×200 team to victory in 1:47.90. Katie DiFrancesco, Ashley Omoregie and Sarah Van Duzar ran the first three legs for the Lancers.
In the boys competition, Howell and Freehold Township High School captured relay wins.
Howell’s 4×400 team, much like Marlboro’s 4×100 girls, has been running consistently well all season. They came up with their biggest race thus far by winning what is one of the marquee races of any track meet. Bill Bajohr, Simas Glebavicius, Alex Behan and David Galarza clocked 3:30.42 in winning the county relay championship.
Freehold Township won two relays — one on the track and the other in the field.
On the track, the team of Sean O’Donnell, Mike Maltese, Nicholas Ackerman and Chris Cardace won the 4×400 relay in 8:15.95. They best the field by almost 15 seconds.
In the high jump relay, Colts Neck High School’s state champion, Ryan Tompkins, had the best jump (6-2), but it was Adrian Barajas (6-0) and Stephen Staklinski (6-0) who won the relay gold for the Patriots with combined jumps of 12-0. The Cougars were second at 11-10, with Pat Bohen (5-8) teaming with Tompkins.
Freehold Township was fourth in the team competition with 45 points. Christian Brothers Academy took the win with 95.33 points.
The Monmouth County Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which signal the start of the individual championship campaign, are being held over two days at Holmdel High School’s Bob Roggy Stadium May 11 and 13.
