South Brunswick Girls 4x400 Second in Group IV

Alicia Osley passed two girls on her anchor leg, allowing South Brunswick to place second in the 4x400 at the Group IV championships.

"That was the highlight for us," South Brunswick girls track coach Stefan Moorhead  noted of the race, held at the Bennett Center in Toms River on Feb. 18. "It was the last race of the day. There were four or five teams close to each other. Alicia passed two teams in the anchor leg to allow us to place second."

South Brunswick finished with a time of 4:00.45.

"Anytime a 4x400 team is around four minutes indoors, that's the standard for excellence," Moorhead said. "We're very happy with that performance."

The 4x400 team of Janae Baker, Joy Spriggs, Cayla DelPiano and Osley now advance on to run in The Meet of Champions, which will be held on Feb. 26 in Toms River.

Osley and DelPiano also qualified for The Meet of Champions in individual events. Osley was sixth in the 400 with a time of 59.05. DelPiano placed fourth in the 1600 in a time of 5:06.14 (a personal best).

"It's the first time that either one of them has won a medal at an individual state meet," Moorhead said. "That was a nice accomplishment for them."

Amber Brown also earned a spot in The Meet of Champions. Brown was fourth in the shot put with a distance of 37 feet.

"That's the first time she has earned a medal indoors," Moorhead said. "It was close to her personal best (37' 5", set in the Central Jersey Group IV meet). She's been very consistent. Hopefully, she can break out a big one in The Meet of Champions."

While advancing five girls to The Meet of Champions is a very nice accomplishment, Osley, Spriggs, Brown, DelPiano and Baker could  be having company.

Because not all of the talent is distrbuted equally among the different groups in the state, there are wild card entries for The Meet of Champions. The top six non-medal winners in each event also advance. This pool of talent will be selected from all of the groups combined.

Chloe Hall was eighth in the shot put with a distance of 35' 10 1/2. Lindsay Carbone was eighth in the pole vault with a height of 9' 6".

In addition to running in the 4x400, Baker also competed in the 400 and ran a time of 60.54. Other South Brunswick girls that earned the right to compete in the Group IV finals were Joe O'Laughlin (55 hurdles in 9.19), Mariah Browne (55 in 7.47) , Rachel Johnson (a season best of 7.53 in the 55) and Savannah Barton (pole vault).

South Brunswick placed sixth as a team. Washington Township was first.

"That's the best finish in the school's history," Moorhead said. "Even so, the team standings are a little misleading. Montgomery placed ahead of us and only had one girl score any points. We definitely have five girls -- possibly as many as seven -- advancing to The Meet of Champions . That's much more of a team."