Monmouth, Ocean, RBR win county relay races
CBA boys win team title
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Monmouth Regional's sprinters were in peak form Thursday at the Monmouth County Relays.

The quartet of Kelly Fisher, Joe Ortiz and Chris and Charles Cox won a pair relay crowns, including a meet record.

The championships were held at the new Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex on the campus of Toms River North High School. The Golden Falcons scored 32 points to finish second in the boys competition behind Christian Brothers Academy.

Monmouth Regional broke the 1,600-meter sprint medley record by six seconds with their 3:39.97. Charles Cox ran the opening 400-meter leg, followed by the 200-meter sprints of Fisher and Ortiz. Chris Cox finished the meet record off running the 800 anchor leg.

Fisher, Ortiz and the Cox twins won the 4x400 in 3:28.12. With two of the best 400 runners in the state in the Coxes (Charles won the outdoor MOC title last fall) running the final two legs, no one was close at the finish as the Falcons won by more than four seconds.

Fisher, Keyle Radcliffe, Rashon Verrett and Charles Cox took second behind Ocean Township in an exciting 4x200. The Spartan team of Nick Moyle, Willy Rodriguez, Jason Meyer and Rob Yaffe used a 22.8 split by Yaffe to nip the Falcons, 1:35.34-1:35.51.

The Falcons' Brandon Catley had the best throw of the meet in the shot put, 50-2. Combined with Charles Johnson's 37-0, Monmouth finished fourth.

CBA scored a pair of wins on Thursday in the 55-meter shuttle hurdles and shot put relays.

The quartet of Bart Henderson, Clay Collins, Pat Larkin and Christian Yuskevich posted a 32.52 in beating Ocean Township by .10 in the hurdles relay.

In the circle, Kevin Roehrig (45-7) and Carl McSherry (45-3) were so close to each other's mark that they easily won the shot put relay. Their combined throws totaled 90-10, which was more than 2 feet ahead of runner-up Colts Neck (88-8).

The Colts, led by Brendon Pierson, who ran on three teams, piled up the points with second places in the 4x400 (3:32.80), 4x800 (8:19.60), 1,600 sprint medley (3:41.27) and distance medley (10:58.76).

CBA took fourth in the high jump relay with Mike Galano and Ian Sutherland each over the bar at 5-8.

Red Bank Regional's distance medley relay team bested CBA, 10:52.74-10:58.76. Mike Kolodziej, Max Vanderblet, Mark Degenhart and Dennie Waite formed the DMR championship team. The Bucs and Colts were even heading into the 1,600-meter anchor legs. Waite played a waiting game for the first half of the race and pulled away late with a 4:33.

"It was exciting for them," said coach Geoff Harrison. "They are now thinking about qualifying for Penn [Relays]."

Rumson-Fair Haven's Alex Smith had the best high jump, 6-2, at the meet. Teammate Christian Pettineo did 5-0 and with that, the Bulldogs tied for fifth

Ocean Township's girls, the State Group III champions in the 55-meter shuttle hurdles, added the county championship to their 2007 résumé in Toms River. Georgina Nembhard, Sam Kay, Vicky LaMarre and Jaimie Brown were .10 faster than at the state championships, when they threw down a 33.67 to win by more than a second.

Nembhard, one of the best sprinter/hurdlers in the state, jumped into the shot put circle and was part of the winning shot put relay team. Suhail LaVecchia got off a 35-5 toss (third best) and with Nembhard reaching 34-1, the duo won easily with a combined 69-6.

Thanks to that pair of wins, the Spartans were second to Colts Neck, 60-31.

The county relay results bode well for tomorrow's Monmouth County Championships, which are back at the Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex. The complex will also host the Shore Conference Championships on Feb. 10.