Sports

Nine Raiders Headed to State Group Track and Field Meet

The girls placed second in last weekend's North 2, Group 3 champs.

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School girls track team would have needed an especially strong weekend to beat powerful Voorhees and win the two-day North 2 Group III championship.

The Union County champions performed admirably, placing second, but simply didn’t have enough depth to catch Voorhees. Voorhees won the sectional title 118-81 ¼. The Raiders led after Friday’s first day of events.

“They were a little too deep for us and I think we didn’t compete as well Saturday as we did Friday,’’ said Scotch Plains-Fanwood coach Jeff Koegel. “Voorhees has an exceptional program."

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Scotch Plains-Fanwood senior Kim Wenson continued her outstanding season. She and Raider junior Danielle Schewizer went 1-2 in the discus with throws of 103-9 and 103-8 ½ respectively. Wenson also won the shot put at 35-11. Wenson, who has been accepted to Penn State, also placed second in the javelin with a 117-10 toss.

“It would have been a huge upset for Kim to have won the javelin," Koegel said. “But she has continued her exceptional season."

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Junior Camille Handy set a school record in the triple jump at 37-3 ¾ and senior Sara Canfield was second at 35 ¼. Canfield was also third in the long jump.

“I think Camille has a chance of going 39 to 40 feet if she gets the right jump," Koegel said.

The top six finishers in each event move on to next week’s state Group Meet in Egg Harbor. Nine Raiders will make the trip.

“Most of the people that qualified we expected," Koegel said. “We also had some kids who just missed making it. A lot of young kids like (freshman) Leah Salituro (7th in the 100 meters) and (freshman) Samantha Renfree (7th in the javelin). We have a decent spread of events covered."

Other Raiders who qualified for the state meet: sophomore Erin Pierce, who was third in the 1,600 meters at 5:21 and fourth in the 800 at 2:23:25; junior Osazenoriuwa Ebose, a third-place finisher in the shot put.

Sophomore Isabel Crystal was third in the 400 at 1:02.11. Junior Kathleen Leeper was sixth in the 3,200 at 11:37.80. Senior Alana Salituro was sixth in the pole vault.

The boys finished ninth with 24 ½ points, led by senior Frank Mellana’s 197-8 toss. Mellana didn’t even make it out of the sectional meet last year, and now is a favorite to win a state Group III title next week. Mellana won by nearly 30 feet.

“Last year he was just a blip on the radar," Koegel said. “He found something he enjoys doing. He’s really, really worked at it and it has shown. He’s even getting some letters from Division I schools."

|Junior Quentin Blackwell was third in the long jump at 20-3 and junior Alex Parker and senior Brandon Wheeler were fourth and six respectively in the 3,200-meter run.


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