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By Bob Badders - Senior Writer
SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- Just a few weeks ago, Toms River North senior Maureen Laffan had completed a double-event victory at the South Jersey Group IV meet and noted the importance of starting to throw her best as the state meets began. Her plan was to peak as the season concluded, eventually throwing her best at the Meet of Champions. It was the perfect plan.
At Thursday's NJSIAA Track and Field Meet of Champions at Frank Jost Field, Laffan tossed a personal-best throw of 46-6 1/4 to win the girls shot put title over favorites Deanna Hahn of Brick and Sarah Bella of West Morris-Mendham.
"It's just a great feeling," Laffan said. "I wanted to come in and throw far. I wasn't thinking about being conservative and just making sure I made it to the finals. I wanted to throw as far as I could."
She didn't waste any time posting the best throw of the meet, either. Her first throw of the day established the high-water mark and put pressure on the rest of the field right away.
"I was feeling very confident," Laffan said. "I knew it was a good throw and I was happy but I tried to put it behind me and continue throwing well."
Laffan could not eclipse her mark of 46-6 1/4, but neither could any other competitor as Hahn, the defending champion, threw 45-10 1/2 to finish second and Bella, who previously had the top mark so far this season at 45-6, placed third with a throw of 44 1/2. Brick's Lisa Stuto was fourth with a throw of 43-8 and Jackson Memorial's Shannon Watt took fifth with a mark of 43-3 3/4.
While the University of Minnesota-bound Hahn was not able to defend her shot put title, she did win the discus title with a throw of 139-6, which came during the seeded flight portion of the event. Laffan was third at 134-4, Watt sixth at 127-8 and Brick's Kaitlyn Brunner placed eighth with a throw of 119-5.
One of the more surprising victories of the meet came from Lacey junior Lauren Calorel, who won the high jump with a personal-best mark of 5-feet, 6-inches. She had a seed mark of 5-2, but was able to pull ahead of a group of five other girls who also jumped 5-6 because of fewest misses.
"I never thought I would do this well at the Meet of Champions, when I found out I won my jaw dropped to the floor," Calorel said. "I thought I would make it here but to jump my personal best to win the Meet of Champions is so much more than I thought would happen. To come in first is really an honor, it's amazing."
Ocean junior Hannah Boyce also jumped 5-6 but placed sixth based on misses. Howell's Maggie Gilbertson medaled with a jump of 5-4 to finish eighth.
The track events saw Shore Conference athletes have just as much success. First there was Colts Neck senior Allison Linnell, who won the 1,600 in 4:54.87, which was nearly 10 full seconds better than her seed time of 5:04.67. She made her move near the end of the third lap and cruised to the finish line almost two seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
The star of the distance races was once again Southern Regional junior Jill Smith. She successfully defended her Meet of Champions title in the 800 and did so in record time, running a 2:05.26 to break her own Shore Conference record of 2:07.26 set at this year's South Jersey Group IV meet while also establishing a new junior class record for New Jersey. Like Linnell, she made her move on the final 400 from a pack that went out fast, and pulled away from the rest of the field to win by over four seconds.
"I hoped it would go out fast because when it does you know it's going to be a good race," Smith said.
Smith, who ran just the 800 and the anchor leg on the Rams' 4x400 relay team, set a record despite having no one to run against over the latter half of the race.
"I was excited I didn't have to race before," Smith said. "It made me more mentally strong knowing I had it all in my legs. Can I go faster? I don't know but I really hope I can."
Smith was equally as excited for teammate Chelsea Cox and her second-place finish as she was for her own win. Cox closed hard and finished in 2:09.85.
In the final event of the night, the Rams broke their own Shore Conference record in the 4x400 by running a 3:49.57 to win the MOC title. The foursome of senior Julia Beekman, freshman Taylor Jennings, Cox and Smith pulled off yet another come-from-behind win just as they did the previous two weeks. Beekman and Jennings each turned in splits around 59 seconds to give Cox the baton in fifth place but also in striking distance. Cox then did what she does best, running a 55.1 split to give Smith the lead to start the anchor leg. Smith took over from there by also running a 55.1 as the Rams wowed the remainder of the meet's crowd with a superbly run race.
"I just really wanted to get Jill into a good position," Cox said. "I wanted to leave it all on the track."
"We were trying to run fast but fun, to have a good time doing it and see what happened," Smith said. "There were so many other good teams in with us so we knew it was going to be really fast. We held our hand in the fire as long as we could."
The Shore Conference had numerous top-eight finishers as well, starting with Rumson-Fair Haven junior Melissa Bellin and her 1:00.72 in the 400 hurdles to place second. Neptune's Jade Wilson also medaled in the 400 hurdles with a 1:03.32 for eighth place. Brick senior Ryisha Boyd was second in the long jump with a mark of 17-9 1/2 and also placed fourth in the 400 with a time of 55.66. In the 100 hurdles, Neptune junior Ashley Porterfield ran 14.72 for a sixth-place finish.
Barneget senior Jen Holly finished second in the pole vault with a height of 12-6, which tied her for the meet record with champion Nicole Pompei from Hanover Park, who won on fewest misses, and also established a new Shore Conference record. Manasquan senior Ashley Aquilante placed fourth with a jump of 11-6.
Marlboro junior Ada Unachukwu placed fifth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.24 and also placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 40 feet even. Raritan's Val Carney was third in the javelin after a throw of 132-7.
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