Ocean County Notes
Even in a year that Monmouth County has the better times on the whole, the Ocean County Championships turned out to be the more compelling meet.
Monmouth's champions posted better times than their Ocean counterparts in 11 of the 16 contested events, with Vinnie Elardo (discus and the shot put) and Emanuel Mayers (both hurdles and the triple jump) accounting for the five Ocean County advantages.
But with the exception of the 100 and 200, the eye-popping times in Monmouth came at the expense of any kind of drama. Craig Forys won his races handily, but wasn't pushing for any state records like he has already done on several occasions this year. Charles Cox and Kerone Rhoden of RBR but on a great show in the 100, but despite a close rematch there was little doubt that Cox was going to get his revenge on Rhoden in the 200. Cox is too good to lose twice in the same day, and in defense of Rhoden, he's probably would have won the 200 if Cox beat him in the 100.
Meanwhile, in Ocean County, the meet's most oustanding athlete displayed a degree of showmanship to go with his athleticism. Granted, that showmanship was derived from a shoddy job of spotting the high hurdles, which led to Emanuel Mayers falling on his face halfway through the race, it still added some drama to the second running of the event.
As soon as he went down, visions of the Penn Relays had to be dashing through Mayers' mind. He won thanks in part to a stumble by the leader (Johnny Dutch) and when he nearly suffered the same fate as Dutch, it seemed karma had come back to bite Mayers.
"I guess it was kind of like Penn," Mayers said after the race. "I figured I lost so I just wanted to go ice my calf and get ready for the next race (the 400 hurdles). Johnny Dutch seemed like he was more affected by it (when it happened at Penn), but I was already over it. I'm still glad they let us do it again, but I was okay either way."
After breezing through the 400 hurldes, Mayers won the long jump in surprising fashion by passing Toms River North's Dave Stone on the final jump. Lakewood's senior will likely be the favorite in the two hurdles events and the triple jump at the Shore Conference Championships this week, and will have a good chance to win the long jump as well. If he can manage four wins next week, he would be the first person to win four individual events at the Shore Conference Meet in the last decade. (After some preliminary research, I haven't found anyone that's done it yet, but I'd imagine there has to be some precedent, I'll keep looking, but does anyone know the last time someone won four events?)
Rounding out the Ocean County Meet, Andrew Dunbar was king of the sprints and beat A.J. Gilman in the 200 after each had already had a victory under his belt. Dunbar comfortably won the 100 in 11.02 and Gilman ran a personal best 49.32 to edge out John Gray in the 400, setting up a showdown for sprint supremecy in th 200. Dunbar came through with a time of 22.37, slightly better than his prelim time of 22.44. Gilman on the other hand, ran a 22.43 finals time after a 21.82 prelim.
"I'd say fatigue was probably an issue,'' said Gilman, who ran the 100 and 400 earlier in the meet. "I really went all out to break 50 in the 400. I was pretty pumped about that, and I had some trouble turning back around and running another good 200."
For his part, Dunbar responded well to the challenge Saturday, but it would have been interesting to see if he could have knocked more off his time had Gilman run faster. Still, a two-event win and a successful defense of his 2006 100-meter dash championship is reason to be proud.
"I feel very satisfied right now," Dunbar said. "It's something I can go home to Manchester and tell my friends and family about. I'm happy to win and I'm looking forward to next week (Shore Conference)."
Andrew Brodeur avenged his loss to Kris Carle in the 1,600 by beating Jackson's distance specialist in the 3,200. Brodeur trailed by a significant margin after the first mile, but like any experienced distance runner in the area will tell you, Brodeur has an exceptional kick down the stretch and he showed it Saturday. He has had some injury problems since his freshman year, so winning at the county meet was a big accomplishment for Brodeur.
Monroe Kearns ran the same time in his county win that he did during his Penn Relays split (1:55.1). John Gray looked like he was going to pass him, but Kearns showed he could run with Gray by shifting to another gear to close the race. The win wasn't a surprise, but I found it to be one of the more impressive performances of the meet.
The Ocean shot and discus were much better than that of Monmouth County, and Vinnie Elardo was head and shoulders above the Ocean field. Elardo seems to be the only weightman who has found his groove, and even he'll tell you he hasn't hit his peak performance yet. If that's true, he should take home two more gold medals this weekend as well.
Brian Doran of Toms River South scratched from the javelin, opening the door for Greg Huneke to win with a personal best throw of 169-2.
Rick Villanova won the polevault at 13-0 without much of a challenge. I'm looking forward to catching some of the Shore Conference pole vault with Mike Goldwasser of Manalapan and Chris Favaloro of St. John Vianney all going at it. All three have cleared 14 feet, and if the conditions allow for it, they could all do it this weekend.
Keep an eye out for more coverage of the Shore Conference Meet this week, as well as the Late Mothers Day edition of Sunday Sports.
Monmouth's champions posted better times than their Ocean counterparts in 11 of the 16 contested events, with Vinnie Elardo (discus and the shot put) and Emanuel Mayers (both hurdles and the triple jump) accounting for the five Ocean County advantages.
But with the exception of the 100 and 200, the eye-popping times in Monmouth came at the expense of any kind of drama. Craig Forys won his races handily, but wasn't pushing for any state records like he has already done on several occasions this year. Charles Cox and Kerone Rhoden of RBR but on a great show in the 100, but despite a close rematch there was little doubt that Cox was going to get his revenge on Rhoden in the 200. Cox is too good to lose twice in the same day, and in defense of Rhoden, he's probably would have won the 200 if Cox beat him in the 100.
Meanwhile, in Ocean County, the meet's most oustanding athlete displayed a degree of showmanship to go with his athleticism. Granted, that showmanship was derived from a shoddy job of spotting the high hurdles, which led to Emanuel Mayers falling on his face halfway through the race, it still added some drama to the second running of the event.
As soon as he went down, visions of the Penn Relays had to be dashing through Mayers' mind. He won thanks in part to a stumble by the leader (Johnny Dutch) and when he nearly suffered the same fate as Dutch, it seemed karma had come back to bite Mayers.
"I guess it was kind of like Penn," Mayers said after the race. "I figured I lost so I just wanted to go ice my calf and get ready for the next race (the 400 hurdles). Johnny Dutch seemed like he was more affected by it (when it happened at Penn), but I was already over it. I'm still glad they let us do it again, but I was okay either way."
After breezing through the 400 hurldes, Mayers won the long jump in surprising fashion by passing Toms River North's Dave Stone on the final jump. Lakewood's senior will likely be the favorite in the two hurdles events and the triple jump at the Shore Conference Championships this week, and will have a good chance to win the long jump as well. If he can manage four wins next week, he would be the first person to win four individual events at the Shore Conference Meet in the last decade. (After some preliminary research, I haven't found anyone that's done it yet, but I'd imagine there has to be some precedent, I'll keep looking, but does anyone know the last time someone won four events?)
Rounding out the Ocean County Meet, Andrew Dunbar was king of the sprints and beat A.J. Gilman in the 200 after each had already had a victory under his belt. Dunbar comfortably won the 100 in 11.02 and Gilman ran a personal best 49.32 to edge out John Gray in the 400, setting up a showdown for sprint supremecy in th 200. Dunbar came through with a time of 22.37, slightly better than his prelim time of 22.44. Gilman on the other hand, ran a 22.43 finals time after a 21.82 prelim.
"I'd say fatigue was probably an issue,'' said Gilman, who ran the 100 and 400 earlier in the meet. "I really went all out to break 50 in the 400. I was pretty pumped about that, and I had some trouble turning back around and running another good 200."
For his part, Dunbar responded well to the challenge Saturday, but it would have been interesting to see if he could have knocked more off his time had Gilman run faster. Still, a two-event win and a successful defense of his 2006 100-meter dash championship is reason to be proud.
"I feel very satisfied right now," Dunbar said. "It's something I can go home to Manchester and tell my friends and family about. I'm happy to win and I'm looking forward to next week (Shore Conference)."
Andrew Brodeur avenged his loss to Kris Carle in the 1,600 by beating Jackson's distance specialist in the 3,200. Brodeur trailed by a significant margin after the first mile, but like any experienced distance runner in the area will tell you, Brodeur has an exceptional kick down the stretch and he showed it Saturday. He has had some injury problems since his freshman year, so winning at the county meet was a big accomplishment for Brodeur.
Monroe Kearns ran the same time in his county win that he did during his Penn Relays split (1:55.1). John Gray looked like he was going to pass him, but Kearns showed he could run with Gray by shifting to another gear to close the race. The win wasn't a surprise, but I found it to be one of the more impressive performances of the meet.
The Ocean shot and discus were much better than that of Monmouth County, and Vinnie Elardo was head and shoulders above the Ocean field. Elardo seems to be the only weightman who has found his groove, and even he'll tell you he hasn't hit his peak performance yet. If that's true, he should take home two more gold medals this weekend as well.
Brian Doran of Toms River South scratched from the javelin, opening the door for Greg Huneke to win with a personal best throw of 169-2.
Rick Villanova won the polevault at 13-0 without much of a challenge. I'm looking forward to catching some of the Shore Conference pole vault with Mike Goldwasser of Manalapan and Chris Favaloro of St. John Vianney all going at it. All three have cleared 14 feet, and if the conditions allow for it, they could all do it this weekend.
Keep an eye out for more coverage of the Shore Conference Meet this week, as well as the Late Mothers Day edition of Sunday Sports.
posted by Matt Manley at 1:05 PM
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