Lady Jags win a third
straight relays title
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

LITTLE SILVER — For the third consecutive year, the speed and endurance of the Jackson High School girls indoor track team proved superior at the Ocean County Relays.

The Lady Jaguars met little resistance in winning the title for the third straight year, capturing four of eight events to easily outdistance runner-up Toms River East.

Jackson compiled a total of 63 points to win the event held at Red Bank Regional High School. Toms River East placed second with 50 points, followed by Southern (47), Toms River North (40), Monsignor Donovan (21) and Brick (17).

While impressed with the entire team effort, Jackson coach Alton Johnson cited the mettle of the team’s underclassmen as key to the victory.

"Our younger athletes really showed us something during this meet," Johnson said. "They stepped up and made major contributions. Overall, I was extremely pleased. We set a number of meet records and placed in just about every event. We had a number of girls bring home medals."

Jackson’s distance medley relay team set a new meet record. The squad of Amanda Marino, Vanna Smith, Meghan Smith and Jen Clausen posted a winning time of 12:52.

"That team is filled with underclassmen," Johnson said. "They ran a great race together. They broke that old record by quite a bit."

The duo of Vanessa Michel and Asha Stokes set a new record in the shot put. The two combined for a toss of 78-feet, 6.5 inches.

"They were pretty happy with the tosses they came up with," Johnson said. "They had talked at the outset of the season of trying to set a new record at this event."

Jackson opened the meet by winning the 4x200. Lauren Blake, Bryanna Johnson, Ashley Mlotkiewicz and Joann Shia finished in a time of 1:51.37. The Jags’ quartet just edged out a team from Southern.

"It was an extremely close and exciting race," Johnson said. "We executed well and I think that was the difference."

Johnson praised the work of Shia.

"She is one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached," Johnson said. "She has a lot of talent, and her work ethic is outstanding."

The foursome of Johnson, Sirbu, Savannah Knox and Shia later won the shuttle hurdle relay in a time of 29.55.

In the high jump, the team of freshman Kelly Fortune and sophomore Kaitlin Raney finished in third place at 9-2.

"The sky is the limit for those two kids," Johnson said. "We have so much talent and depth on this team that sometimes it’s hard to get the younger kids a chance. But when they do get out there, they are making the most of the opportunity."

Both the 4x800 and the 4x400 relay squads finished second. However, Johnson was most impressed with the time of the 4x800 team that shaved nearly 27 seconds off their best time of the season. Marino, Knox, Erin Kennedy and Clausen finished with a time 9:59.

"They haven’t run the event in a competition in a couple of weeks," Johnson said. "For them to come here and turn in a time like that is amazing."