South Brunswick Girls Advance 7 to Meet of Champions

The best girl track athletes in the state will finish up the season on Thursday in The Meet of Champions at the Carl Sandburg Middle School in Old Bridge.

It just so happens seven of those girls will be from South Brunswick High School.

"Overall, I was happy with how we did this weekend," South Brunswick Coach Stefan Moorhead said. "Nine girls competed and seven will move on to The Meet of Champions, so that's a pretty good ratio. For us to medal in six events at this level shows that we have a lot of talented athletes who performed well when it mattered most."

While competing in the Group IV championship in Old Bridge this past weekend, Danielle Padovano and Cayla Del Piano both earned the right to advance to The Meet of Champions in two individual events.

Padovano had a career best of 36' 10" to place third in the shot put. Padovano also threw the discus 118' 9" to place sixth in that event.

"Danielle Padovano followed up her great showing at sectionals with another strong meet in the shot put and discus," Moorhead said. "She will compete at the Meet of Champions for the first time, in both events."

Del Piano had a personal best of 5:02.79 to place fourth in the 1600. Del Piano was fifth in the 800 in a time of 2:15.72.

"Cayla bounced back from an off meet at Sectionals and ran three strong races, earning medals in each," Moorhead noted.

Del Piano's third medal came when she joined teammates Aspen McMillan, Rochelle McDonald and Alicia Osley in placing fifth (3:54.14) in the 4x400.

"I was very happy with our 4x400, which ran the second fastest time in school history," Moorhead said. "They competed well against some very fast teams, and I think the added excitement of running at the Meet of Champs will push them close to the school record the 4x400."

Lindsay Carbone placed third in the pole vault with a height of 11 feet.

"Lindsay Carbone tied her personal record of 11 feet in the pole vault, and had good attempts at 11 feet, 6 inches, so she is poised to do very well at the Meet of Champs in her first time competing there," Moorhead noted.

The top six finishers in each event this past weekend earned automatic spots in The Meet of Champions. Of course, there were two other ways to get to The Meet of Champions, routes that South Brunswick used.

In addition to the top six finishers in each group, wild cards from all the groups advanced to The Meet of Champions. Osley did this by placing seventh in the 400 (57.93). Osley's time missed sixth place by a hundredth of a second.

While Osley had to wait to see if her time was good enough to advance as a wild card, she knew well in advance that her season would continue in The Meet of Champions. Osley, McMillan, McDonald and Julia Lekht had already qualified for The Meet of Champions in the 4x100 based on a qualifying time from earlier in the season.