Jackson girls dominate at Ocean County Relays
Boys take overall title
as well, claiming two relay titles
By Mike White
Staff Writer

LITTLE SILVER — Jackson High School girls’ indoor track coach Alton Johnson wasn’t sure what to expect from his squad at the Ocean County Relays last Saturday. After all, with sporadic practice sessions caused by the Christmas break, the Lady Jaguars weren’t able to work out on a regular schedule.

If Jackson had any signs of rust, it certainly didn’t show as the Lady Jaguars won five events and finished runner-up in two others to easily outdistance the rest of the competition to capture the Ocean County Relay title with 73 points.

The Lakewood High School girls’ team placed fourth overall with a total of 22 points.

In the boys’ competition, Jackson won the title with a total of 58 points, while Lakewood was sixth with 22.

Johnson praised the work of his team.

"I think the girls looked pretty good for it being so early in the season," Johnson said. "We’re just trying to stay healthy and make sure the kids get the necessary work they need to perform well at the bigger meets that come later in the season. This was a good way for us to get in a quality workout after having a kind of long break with the holiday."

In fact, Jackson gets its first real test this Sunday when it competes at the State Group Relay Championship at Princeton University.

"This is going to be a real difficult test for us," Johnson said. "The county meet was sort of like a tune-up for this event. Hopefully, the success we had at the counties translates into a strong showing at this meet. We are all going to have to be on the same page if we are to do well there. I feel we have a good chance to put forth a good showing."

Jackson began the Ocean County Relay meet by winning the shuttle hurdle relay event. Jessica Fortune, Nicole Montegary, Katie Chin and Bryanna Johnson, the coach’s daughter, combined for a winning time of 29.57 seconds.

The Jags followed that by winning the next two events. Jenna Prendergast, Asha Arneth, Erin Kennedy and Meghan Faughnan teamed up to win the 4 x 800 in 10:14.

The quartet of Joanne Shia, Fortune, Chin and Montegary captured the 4 x 200 in a time of 1:52.63.

"It was nice to get off fast," Johnson said, "but we still have a lot of work left to do. We can’t consider this the best we can do. I know we’re capable of running better times."

Jackson’s 4 x 400 squad of Montegary, Ashley Mlotkiewicz, Arneth and Lauren Blake easily outdistanced a team from Toms River North to win the event in 4:17.09.

Vanessa Michel and Shaakira West combined to win the shot put relay with a toss of 68 feet, 3 inches.

Shia, Fortune, Chin and Montegary teamed up to finish runner-up in the sprint medley relay with a time of 4:40.46.

"That group did a fantastic job in that event," Johnson said. "We figured that we were going to finish fifth or sixth in that race. They did a great job to finish second."

The squad of Prendergast, Kennedy, Faughnan and freshman Jen Clausen were second in the distance medley relay (13:24.31).

Clausen put forth an outstanding effort in running the final leg to bring Jackson from way back to finish in second place, Johnson said.

"She (Clausen) had a great race," Johnson said. "She was seven or eight runners back when she started and just cut into the lead. We know our distance runners are ready to go."

For the boys, Jackson captured the title on the strength of winning two relay titles.

Mike Rufo, Steve Hoffman, Jason Staggers and Paul Bahamondes teamed up to win the 4 x 800 in a time of 8:43.21.

John Lauro, Vadim Menzerov, Brandon Howard and Rufo combined to win the sprint medley relay 3:52.83.

Meanwhile, the Howell High School girls’ team finished 14th at the Monmouth County Relays, also held at Red Bank Regional.

The best event for the Rebels was the 4 x 800 where Kellee Hand, Dana DiFore, Kate Hlava and Leslie Holleran ran an 11:03.03 to place fifth.