SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – For several years, the Our Lady of Sorrows track and field coaching staff had said that if the track team could reach 40 members from the third to eighth grades – up from the usual 25 to 28 – OLS could beat the big teams such as Good Shepherd in Irvington, Saint Thomas of Bloomfield and Saint John the Apostle of Clark.
The opportunity came this year and the team won all its major meets – Union Catholic, OLS and now Holy Trinity. OLS track had not won this Triple Crown since 2004!
As usual, OLS opened with very impressive 1,600 meters races. Maudie Grace Lomuscio placed second in the 3rd grade race, setting a new class record (7:24.4) in the process. Fionn Tynan (6:47.1) and Aidan Benjamin (7:03.4) followed with a one-two placing in the Boys’ 3rd grade race. Emma Torres went undefeated in the event as she put away the 5th grade girls. Jared Edwards also was undefeated as he breezed to the 6th grade boys win. In the 8th grades, Hana Yamaoka was a surprise entry and a surprise winner, while Nick Torres won a close boys’ race over an undefeated cross country champion.
Kyle Dixon opened the 100-meter scoring with a win at the Boys 3rd grade level. Declan Tynan sneaked in for fourth place in the 5th grade race! Jordan Ince and Teresa Pollard placed second and third for the 8th grade girls and Dukens Dossous (13.52) placed third for the boys.
The onslaught continued with Joseph Schmidt’s easy win (3:03.0) in the Boys 3rd grade 800. Joe is a second-grader! Isabel Sabnekar placed third in the girls’ 3rd grade race. Alyma Karbownik (3:02.0) edged Emma Torres by 3/10 of a second in the 5th grade girls’ event as they went one-two. Jared Edwards won (2:44.4) again in the 6th grade race. Then Ajamo Carraby-Jones and Nick Torres took on a tough field of eighth-grade boys, finishing second and third. Ajamo’s time (2:32.8) broke the school record set by James Kelly in 2006!
Kyle Dixon (1.20.0) won again in the Boys 3rd grade 400. This was the first time he had run this distance and Fionn Tynan also placed fourth. Max Ince placed fourth among the 5th grade boys, Nicholas Scantlebury, second for the 6th grade and Ajamo Carraby-Jones, second for the 8th grade boys. Olivia Ince was a surprising third in the 7th grade girls’ race. Then Charlotte Marian took the 8th grade girls’ race.
In the 200-meters, Christina Paul placed third in the 2nd grade girls’ race while Alyma Karbownik (31.25) added another gold in the 5th grade race to her 800-meter gold medal. Amelia Benjamin picked up sixth. Nicholas Scantlebury placed third in the 6th grade race before Sheu Maphosa won the 7th grade boys’ race. In the 8th grade races, Jordan Ince scored again with a third place among the girls and Dukens Dossous (27.07) was second for the boys.
The field events are a source of pride for OLS and Lori Kola and Isabel Sabnekar opened in 3rd and 4th in the girls’ 3rd grade TurboJav. Ochanya Ofikwu won the 4th grade in a new girls’ class record. Enayi Ofikwu, Amelia Benjamin and Emma Torres were second, third and fifth at the 5th grade level. Charlotte Marian’s second in the girls’ 8th grade event (72 feet) finished the girls’ scoring. Parker Hamilton’s fourth opened the scoring for OLS’ boys at the 4th grade level. Max Ince and Declan Tynan were fourth and sixth for the 5th grade competition. Taona Maphosa (85 feet-9 inches) placed second among the sixth-graders and Sheu Maphosa (97-2) took second among the seventh-graders. Jeremiah Lunis closed the scoring in this event with a third-place in the 8th grade competition.
In the shot put, Lori Kola grabbed second for the 3rd grade girls before Ochanya Ofikwu (23-2) wiped out the field of fourth-grade girls. Enayi Ofikwu eked out a win at the 5th grade level and Amelia Benjamin was fourth. Teresa Pollard, an eighth-grader, placed second in her division. The boys had some highlights, too, as Parker Hamilton (35-1.5) won the 4th grade event by more than 8 feet. Aryan Sabnekar was fifth among fifth-graders, Taona Maphosa was third among the sixth-graders, Sheu Maphosa (38- 5), third among seventh-graders and Dukens Dossous, second among the eighth-graders.
The Long Jump was a surprise as Kyle Dixon placed third for the 3rd grade Boys in his first attempt at this event while Adam Ofikwu scored fifth. Alyma Karbownik continued her season-long success with a second-place for the 5th grade girls. Two sixth-graders, Jared Edwards and Harold Fullilove, placed third and fourth in the boys’ event. Olivia Ince’s fifth in the 7th grade event did not prepare the team for the shock of Charlotte Marian, Hana Yamaoka and Jordan Ince placing first, second and fifth for 8th grade girls.
The little guys competed in the Softball Throw. Caylee Brice, Bella Borde and Mary Kola were first on deck and responded with third, fourth and fifth for the 2nd grade and under girls’ event. Christopher Schmidt (74 feet) won the boys’ event. Chris is a first-grader.
The relays closed the meet. The Holy Trinity meet is unique in that it features five-person relay teams. In the Glynn Relay for third- and fourth-graders OLS fielded a young girls’ team of first- through fourth-graders with Maudie Grace Lomuscio, Isabel Sabnekar, Zenya Stewart-Mitchell, Zayda Gordon and Bella Borde racing to a fifth-place finish. The boys’ team of Parker Hamilton, Aidan Benjamin, Kyle Dixon, Joseph Schmidt and Fionn Tynan was up next and finished a solid second.
For the 5th and 6th grade Fitzpatrick relay, the OLS girls’ team of Emma Torres, Caroline Schmidt, Alyma Karbownik, Stephanie James and Amelia Benjamin placed fourth, while the boys’ team of Jared Edwards, David Purnomo, Sergio Marian, Nicholas Scantlebury and Max Ince finished in second.
In the final two races of the day, the McCabe Relays for seventh- and eighth-graders, both OLS teams placed a close second with a boys’ team of Ajamo Carraby-Jones, Akhir Crenshaw, Dukens Dossous, Nick Torres and Sheu Maphosa and a girls’ team of Charlotte Marian, Jordan Ince, Nyla Edwards, Olivia Ince and Teresa Pollard.
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