Even competing without one of its most talented athletes, the South Brunswick High School girls track team repeated as the Greater Middlesex Conference Relays champion.
South Brunswick won the GMC, which it hosted, with 112 points. That easily outdistanced the 61 points scored by Piscataway, the team that placed second.
"We had a lot of great performances and it was a nice way to start the month of May, which is championship season for high school track and field," South Brunswick Coach Stefan Moorhead said.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What was amazing was South Brunswick did all this without the services of Mariah Browne.
"She didn't compete in the long jump and triple jump because of a sprained ankle," Moorhead said. "Her teammates really stepped up in her absence, placing second in both events. Jen O'Laughlin had season bests in both events. Freshman Julia Lekht had a big breakthrough in the triple jump with her mark of 32' 9", almost two feet further than her previous best. Lindsay Carbone was also on both relays."
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
South Brunswick ended up winning six of the events, including a sweep of the three throwing events.
Amber Brown, Chloe Hall and Danielle Padovano won the discus with a combined distance of 334' 11". That same trio of girls won the shot put with a combined distance of 97' 10".
Kiya Strickland, Hall and Alyssa McFarlane won the javelin with a distance of 281' 8".
"The discus throwers were especially outstanding," Moorhead said. "They broke the meet record by eight feet, and also had the top three throws of all the competitors."
Lindsay Carbone, Lindsay Del Piano and Savannah Barton combined to win the pole vault with a height of 23 feet.
Rachel Johnson was involved in South Brunswick's other two wins. She joined Jen O'Laughlin, Laura Calderone and Janae Baker to win the shuttle hurdles in a time of 1:06.76. Johnson, Alicia Osley, Jenna Thompson and Cayla Del Piano won the sprint medley in a time of 4:15.16.
South Brunswick ended up placing in 16 of the 17 events contested.
The distance medley (13:13.85), 4x100 (49.36), 4x200 (1:45.57), sprint medley novice (4:49.13) and high jump (14' 2 3/4") were all second. The 4x400 (4:13.16) was third. The 4x800 (10:21.91) and 4x1600 (22:59.43) were both fourth.
"We had great contributions from many girls, with 29 athletes contributing to the scoring," Moorhead said. "Having such a large number of athletes contributing shows that we have good depth and a lot of people who are working hard each day in practice.
"Overall, I was happy with how we competed and hopefully we will carry this momentum into the rest of the season."
