Soccer, football and, of course, track and field know all about bad weather, but they carry on. That theory was tested to the utmost at the 39th Annual Holy Trinity Track & Field Invitational recently held at Saint Joseph’s High in Metuchen. The small field of schools and competitors, intermittent monsoon-like downpours and a canceled long jump, made for upsets and surprising results. Saint Cassian’s took the first place in the team battle followed by Saint Matthias, Saint John the Apostle and Our Lady of Sorrows. The OLS boys scored second in the Boys’ division.
While the turnout for OLS could have been larger, the performances were top notch. Oliver Karbownik, just weeks from graduation, raced to second in the Boys’ 400 in 60.8 seconds, narrowly missing the school record. He later took fourth in the 200. Unfortunately, his attack on the long jump record ended when the event was canceled. Parker Hamilton took two 5th Boys’ events, first the Shot and then the TurboJav.
Emma Torres extended her 1,600-meters win streak to two years with her new sixth grade class record of 6:33.84 and then came back to win the TurboJav. Caroline Schmidt joined with her to take fourth in the 1,600 and then placed fourth in the 800. Will Spreeman won again, cruising to the 6th Grade 800 title. Joe and Chris Schmidt placed second and third in the Boys’ 3rd Grade 1,600. Chris came back to place third in the 3rd Grade 800. Maudie Grace Lomuscio placed third in the Girls’ 4th 1,600, while Fionn Tynan won the boys’ event and then placed first in the 800.
Joe Schmidt re-surfaced to win the 3rd Grade 400 and Sam O’Hara placed fifth. Sabina Meister grabbed a point in the Girls’ 4th Grade race. In her first 400 of the year, Alyma Karbownik “swam” to victory in the Girls’ 6th Grade 400, followed by Edlaine Luberisse in fourth. Max Ince won the Boys’ 6th and then took first in the Boys TurboJav.
OLS had some scoring in the 200 meters. Bella Borde took fourth in the 2nd Grade Girls’ race. Sam O’Hara and Brendan McKeon placed 3rd and 4th in the 3rd grade race. Fifth grader Zayda Gordan also took a third in the Girls’ 5th 200 meters. Declan Tynan placed fifth in the Boys’ 6th Grade race.
Rain certainly impeded the field events, but Brendan McKeon and Joe Schmidt went 1-2 in the 3rd Grade Shot and Lori Kola placed second in the Girls’ 4th Grade event. Parker Hamilton remained unbeaten in the 5th Grade Shot this year and he came back to win the TuboJav. Wadner Luberisse also placed fifth in the 5th Grade Boys’ Shot. Edlaine Luberisse placed fifth in the 7th Grade Girls’ event.
The TurboJav was a very strong event for OLS with Mary Kola dominating the 2nd Grade Girls and Peter Dio gaining a third for the 2nd Grade boys. Sam O’Hara eked out an upset win in the 3rd Grade category, while Maudie Grace Lomuscio, Lori Kola and Sabina Meister outscored the rest of the 4th Grade Girls’ field by taking second, fourth and fifth. Halle Jules scored a 4th in the Girls’ 6th and Edlaine Luberisse scored a point for OLS in the 7th Grade Girls’ event.
So, in a rebuilding year, OLS placed third at Union Catholic, OLS and Saint John the Apostle, and a fourth at the Holy Trinity championships. OLS wraps up with the Kids Running 4 Kids meet, a charity meet to support the Scholarship for Inner City Children in its 15th year, and the Saint Cassian meet, which holds no team championship. Since the team loses only two eighth-graders, OLS has four strong second-graders as hopes are high for great improvement next year!