South Brunswick Girls Track Becoming a Dynasty

The South Brunswick High School girls track team is good. It's even good enough to be the best when it isn't at its best.

Competing in the Central Jersey Group IV meet at Hillsborough on May 27-28, South Brunswick won the team title with 66 points.

"We won our third straight Central Jersey title, and fourth out of the last five years, but it was certainly the closest victory we have had in that stretch," South Brunswick Coach Stefan Moorhead said. "It definitely was not our best meet of the season, but we showed resolve by hanging around and chipping away at West Windsor South's lead during the second day."

South Brunswick clinched the team title when Janae Baker, Joy Spriggs, Cayla DelPiano and Alicia Osley won the 4x400 in a time of 3:53.

"The 4x400 was definitely the highlight of the meet," Moorhead said. "I told the girls that their teammates were depending on them, and they came through with the fastest 4x400 in school history. I couldn't have asked any more of them.  The effort and heart they showed was tremendous."

The 4x400 was the only event South Brunswick won. Fortunately, the top six finishers in each event score points and advance on to the Group IV finals, which will be held June 3-4 at Old Bridge.

In addition to advancing in the 4x400, Osley and DelPiano will be competing in the Group IV finals in individual events. Osley was second in the 400 (56.91) and sixth in the 100 (12.88). DelPiano was second in the 800 (2:15.52) and third in the 1600 (5:09.59).

"Alicia had a great weekend, running a PR of 56.91 to take a close second in the 400, finishing sixth in the 100, just missing a medal in the 200 (seventh), and then running a 56.8 split on the 4x400," Moorhead noted.

"We had a strong contribution from Cayla Del Piano."

South Brunswick advanced three girls in throwing events. Amber Brown was second in the discus (112' 4") and fifth in the shot put (35' 10"). Chloe Hall was fourth in the shot (36' 2") and fourth in the discus (16' 2"). Alyssa McFarlane was fifth in the javelin (105 feet).

South Brunswick also advanced three girls in the jumping events.  Julia Lekht was fifth in the triple jump (34' 10"). Mariah Browne was fourth in the long jump (17' 9"). Lindsay Carbone was sixth in the pole vault (9' 6").

Rachel Johnson placed fourth in the 100 (12.73), sixth in the 200 (26.29) and sixth in the 100 hurdles (15.55).

"It really was a total team effort," Moorhead said. "We didn't win any other events, but we had enough depth to score enough points to keep it close. We scored in 13 of the 16 events, which shows how well-rounded we are.

"Looking forward, we have 11 athletes who qualified for the Group IV State meet, which is a good number. We will be underdogs at that meet, but hopefully we can use some of the momentum from sectionals to go there and surprise some people."