SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – Eleven years is quite a long time. No student at Our Lady of Sorrows could remember that far back and fewer than half were even born! George W. Bush was the President! No one had heard of Barack Obama and OLS had won its ninth straight OLS Track & Field Invitational.
If there was any pent-up frustration, the powerful OLS track team exploded May 19, overwhelming a field of 16 schools while winning the 20th OLS Track and Field Invitational for the 10th time. The meet was held at Union Catholic High School.
Second was Saint John the Apostle in Clark and third was Saint Thomas the Apostle in Bloomfield.
As usual, the 1,600-meter runners opened with a slew of medals. Ajamo Carraby-Jones (5:42.3) and Nick Torres (5:44.7) went one-two at the 7th & 8th Grades level. Jared Edwards (5:51.4) cruised again to victory at the 5th & 6th, while setting a new class record. Emma Torres (6:33.5) broke her own class record again while winning the girls’ 5th & 6th. Both Jared and Emma have now won all three 1,600-meter races this year. Fionn Tynan (6:37.3) and Joe Schmidt (652.9) ran second and fourth at the 3rd & 4th level, and Maudi Grace Lomuscio placed third for the girls. Fionn and Maudi Grace are third-graders while Joe is a second-grader.
Oliver Karbownik (2:33.4) won the 7th & 8th Boys 800, breaking his own class record and missing the school record by less than a tenth of a second! Hana Yamaoka took a third for the girls. Then Alyma Karbonik won her third straight 5th & 6th Girls 800. A pair of fourth-places rounded out the scoring in this event with Alfonso Dunmeyer scoring for the boys and Isabel Sabnekar for the girls.
The 400 meters brought more success with Akhir Crenshaw’s second place (1:02) at the Boys 7th & 8th race. His time was the second fastest ever recorded by an OLS boy. Olivia Ince grabbed third for the girls. In the 5th & 6th race, Nicholas Scantlebury scored a second.
Moving to the 200 meters, Jordan Ince took third in the Girls 7th & 8th, Nicholas Scantlebury also took third for the 5th & 6th.
The 100-meter races were even more kind to OLS as Dukens Dossous (12.52 hand-timed) won the Boys 7th & 8th in an impressive performance, while Jordan Ince returned for a fourth-place for the girls. Kyle Dixon took another OLS first with a win at the 3rd & 4th Boys race.
Turning to the field events, Dukens Dossous doubled with an impressive win in the Boys 7th & 8th Shot (40 feet, 8 inches), followed by Maurice Tabron’s fourth place. Teresa Pollard took third for the girls. Taona Maphosa placed third in the Boys 5th & 6th and Enayi Ofikwu placed fourth for the girls. Parker Hamilton (35-7) blasted the 3rd & 4th field, winning by 6-7 and breaking his boys’ fourth grade class record. Ochanya Ofikwu won the Girls 3rd & 4th by 5-9, while Lori Kola was third.
In the TurboJav, Sheu Maphosa and Jeremiah Lunis were third and fourth in the Boys 7th & 8th event, while Charlotte Marion was second for the girls. At the 5th & 6th level, Taona Maphosa was fifth for the boys and Enayi Ofikwu placed third for the girls. The Ofikwus struck again at the 3rd & 4th grade fields with Adam placing third and Ochanyi (61-7) doing even better with a second-place for the girls.
The Long Jump had Oliver Karbownik placing fifth for the 7th & 8th boys and Charlotte Marian had a fifth for the 7th & 8th girls. Alyma Karbownik popped her best jump (11-8) to win the Girls 5th & 6th for the third meet in a row.
The relays cemented the win with a gold and a new school record in the Boys 7th & 8th Medley, with Nick Torres, Ajamo Carraby-Jones, Akhir Crenshaw and Maurice Tabron. Hana Yanaoka, Teresa Pollard, Olivia Ince and Nyla Edwards followed with a close win for the girls. At the 5th & 6th level, Jared Edwards, Harold Fullilove, David Purnamo and Max Ince put together an easy win, while Emma Torres, Caroline Schmidt, Stephanie James and Ciarra McKeown placed third. The 3rd & 4th Boys also won with Aiden Benjamin, Adam Ofikwu, Brendan Mckeon and Joe Schmidt.
With the season drawing to a close, this team has been the most successful in 11 years ,and, depending on the results of the Holy Trinity meet, may be ranked among the best ever with a Union Catholic win, a Saint John the Apostle second and an OLS win. Then, of course, they began a new streak.
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