By DAVE O’SULLVAN
Staff Writer
Last winter, Egg Harbor Township’s 4×400-meter relay team surprised the state by winning the Meet of Champions in indoor track despite not finishing first in either the sectional or group meets. This year, the Eagles didn’t have the element of surprise heading into Friday night’s group championships, but it didn’t matter.
The team of twins Alex and Robert Dessoye, Aidin Hendriks and Amir Brock — all seniors — clocked in at 3:21.64 to beat out some outstanding competition from East Orange, Elizabeth and Trenton, the Nos. 2-4 finishers. EHT also set a school and meet record, highlighting a big weekend for Cape-Atlantic League teams and athletes. The old meet record of 3:23.92 to was set in 2014 by Old Bridge.
Holy Spirit’s relay team of Isabella Desario, Ayana Plummer, Christine Conaghy and Kristy Goff took home gold in the Non-Public B girls race, and sophomore Angela Bannan scored top-10 finishes in the 800 (6th) and 1,600 (9th). Brock also finished fourth in the 400 meters, two spots behind teammate Eric Barnes. St. Augustine, Pleasantville, Holy Spirit and Absegami all had top-10 finishers on the boys side, and girls from Pleasantville, Mainland, Absegami and Atlantic City either crowned champions or had top 10 finishers.
“We had the top seed going into the relay, but we knew there were going to be some tough teams like Trenton and East Orange,” said EHT boys coach Ryan Smith. “Last year, they won the Meet of Champions, which was an awesome accomplishment, and they did it without winning either the sectionals or states. This year was a little different because they won sectionals and states. They are really pumped up and this gets us ready for the Meet of Champions.”
Last winter, Smith inserted Hendriks into the lineup to give Barnes a chance to concentrate more on his distance running, and since then the relay team has taken off, as has Barnes. After winning MOC last winter, this same relay team won the South Jersey Group 4 championship and was second in Group 4. They ultimately chose to run the 4×800 relay at the Meet of Champions last spring.
Smith said he wouldn’t mind seeing this team concentrate solely on the 4×400 in the spring, but he knows his boys like to compete in any event they can get into.
“I’d probably have to get into a big argument with my distance coach about that,” Smith said. “We’ll see how it goes. They all want to run in both because they love to compete.”
The relay squad also had to overcome some adversity this winter to get to where it is now. Robert Dessoye broke his foot late in the soccer season and wasn’t cleared to fully run until the third week of January, so the team basically had about three weeks to put it all together.
“He’s had a crazy career (with injuries), but he just cares so much about the team and wants it to have success,” Smith said. “It just shows his character. He had the boot on for about eight weeks, and after that (doctors) said he still couldn’t run, so that was the hardest part. He overcame that, and it’s been cool to see. Those mid-distance runners run about 45 miles a week, and the sprinting just comes naturally to them.”
It may be a little more difficult for EHT to win the MOC title this year because Brock will also be running in the 400 meters and Hendriks the 800, so they’ll have to make a quick turnaround.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how they respond with that quick of a turnaround, but the guys they are going against are all running, too, so it’s not like they are going to be fresh either,” Smith said.
Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge, the Gatorade New Jersey Runner of the Year in cross country for the second year in a row this past fall, took home the girls Group 3 title in the 3,200 and was sixth in the mile, while Atlantic City sophomore Claudine Smith grabbed the Group 4 55-meter hurdle championship.
Absegami and Pleasantville had solid weekends as well. Daniel Do of Absegami finished sixth in the 3,200 in Group 3, and teammate Jonathan Nguyen was third in 55 hurdles. Joshonda Johnson, one of the top hurdlers in South Jersey last year as a junior, took home second place in the Group 3 55-meter hurdles for Absegami. Jennifer Figueroa, a senior who helped lead Pleasantville to a Cape-Atlantic League volleyball championship in the fall, was fifth in the Group 2 girls shot put while Tarence Walker grabbed fifth for the Greyhounds in the 400 meters and teammate Quentin Bundy was ninth.
Sincere Rhea of St. Augustine took home a title, winning the 55 hurdles in boys Non-Public A, while teammate Frank Bergamo was fifth in the high jump. Holy Spirit’s Ahmad Brown, just a freshman, placed second in the Non-Public B 400 meters.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays