Local high schools compete at county track and field meet Boyd, Brodeur, Hahn earn MVP status BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer Student-athletes from Brick Township came away with three of the four Most Valuable awards during the Ocean County outdoor track and field championships at Neptune High School, an unprecedented accomplishment in the meet's history. "That's crazy. And two of them came from my own school," said Lisa Stuto, who throws the shot put and discus. "It makes me proud." "It's pretty cool, three of four from the same township," said Andrew Brodeur. Stuto also was part of an astounding effort by Brick Township girls in the discus eventwhere four of themfinished among the top six, including Stuto, who was in fourth place behind record-setting teammate DeAnne Hahn, who was named the Most Valuable Player in the girls field events after also finishing second in the shot put. Their teammate, Ryisha Boyd, was named theMost Valuable Player in the girls running events after winning the long jump and the 400 and medaling in two other events. Brick Memorial's Andrew Brodeur was named theMost Valuable Player in the boys running events after winning the two long distance events. But it was the girls discus that was the talk of the town for the meet. "I talked to meet officials, some of them who have been doing this for 30 years and they said they never saw anything like that," said Brick Township coach Bill Brunner, whose greatest expertise is in coaching throwers over the past 30 years, many of them state caliber. "We feed off each other's positive energy. You need that in the big meets like this," said Hahn. Hahn,who is headed to theUniversity of Minnesota, has always considered the discus an afterthought to the shot put. But she won a third straight county discus titlewhen she threw a county and Shore Conference record 153 feet, 3 inches on her first attempt, far beyond runner up Mo Laffen of Toms RiverNorth,who threw136 feet, 1 inch, and JacksonMemorial's ShannonWatt,whowas a half foot behind. Hahn won it last year at 144-1. "I had a stinger in my arm so coach Brunner said to get in a good safe throw on the first one," said Hahn. "I passed on my last throw when it was killing me a little bit. But it will be all right for the upcoming meets." Stuto finished fourthwhen she uncorked a throw of 120-6, followed by Katie Brunner - daughter of the coach- who was fifth in 118-7 and DeenaHaluza of the Green Dragons was sixth in 114-11. Brunner's throw surpassed a county record for freshmen of 117-5 that was around since 1995. "And all of her throws were within 20 inches of that measure," said the elder Brunner of his daughter. "It was like a groups state meet. Every other county winner seemed to be under 110 feet." But Stuto preferred not to look to it as a mini-MOC (Meet of Champions). "We don't think of it that way. We just think about throwing the best we can," said Stuto. It was a fitting encore to the county relays a week earlier where Hahn, who was "off" with a throw of 116 feet, Stuto and Brunner combined for a county record 325-5 measure. Stuto andBrunner threwabout 15 feet farther in the countymeet lastweekend than they did in the county relays. "It wasn't my best throw but it was nice. Everybody throwing on my team was so positive," said Stuto. "It was just a matter of putting it all together in one meet. It's like they say: Winning is contagious." The shot put was not quite as auspicious forHahn and Stuto but still a solid performance. Laffen hit a winning 44 feet on her third attempt. Hahn's best was 43-9 on her second throw, beating teammate Stuto by another mere three inches as she continued to struggle with her technique. Her throw, nonetheless, was better than her winning 42-9 1/2 throw in last year's meet. "I'm confident she'll come out of it," said Brunner of his No. 3 nationallyranked thrower. "She's overthinking in the circle. It's her power position. She's blocking herself prematurely and not getting over the board." "Ugh, I messed up miserably," said Hahn when asked her thoughts about the shot put. "I'm at a fork in the road with how I want to throw. My warmups were great but in the competition my technique fell apart. I had the lead and when I lost it, I started pressing in the finals. If one thing goes wrong at the beginning of the glide, the whole thing gets messed up." Hahn said she will continue to work hard in the weight room this week to prepare for the Shore Conference championships at Neptune on Friday and Saturday and is deciding whether or not to emphasize the agility she shows in the discus or the strength that has made her a national caliber thrower over the past three years. If something goes wrong for Hahn, Stuto says she is ready to answer the challenge. "I'm peaking at the right time and now I'm going into the Shore Conference championships with a lot of confidence," said Stuto. "I'm looking to win it," said Stuto, who then explained, "I hope DeAnne does it but if she doesn't, I have to step up as a teammate and do my best. And if I do my best and finish fourth, that's fine, too." That sense of teamwork was obvious a week earlierwhenHahn,with a throwof 44- 9, Stuto and Brunner combined for a meet record throw of 111-10 in the county relays. As for Boyd, who is considering a college career between the University of North Carolina and the University of South Florida, she could not look much sharper at this stage of the season in the long jump where she hit 17 feet, 7 inches to defend her county title. It was an inch beyond her winning jump in last year's meet. She won the 400 in 55.7 seconds after finishing second in last year's meet. Boyd also was third in the 200 in 26.0 and fourth in the 100 in 12.7. In another unusual twist in the meet, only six girls teams scored points in the meet, with Brick Township finishing fourth with 59 points. Boyd will look to defend her gold medal finishes in the long jump and 400 in the Shore Conference championships. Hahn won the shot put and was second in the discus in last year'smeet to themeet record 153 feet throw of Marlboro's Kristen Batts, who went on to the University ofMaryland. "I want that record and to get to 160 feet. I seem to rise to the occasion in the bigger meets," said Hahn. "And there is a lot more to come before the MOC NJSIAA Meet of Champions." As for BrickMemorial's Brodeur, he won the 1,600 for the first time in 4:20 and the 3,200 that hewon for the third year in a row in what coach Brian Decker called a "spectacular" school record 9:17.08. Itwas the second fastest 3,200 in the state this season. Just as in the 1,600, Brodeur hung on the leader in the 3,200 until taking over around themidwaymark. "After hemade hismove, therewas no doubt he'dwin it," saidDecker. "It was just amatter of what his time would be." It marked only the third time since 1996 that a runner won both distance events. "It's nice finishing my career in the county meet with a double. I was pretty satisfied with it," said Brodeur, who will run for Duke starting this fall. "I'm happy with the way he prepared. He used a little better strategy," said Decker. Brodeur relied on his well-regarded strong finishing kick to hold off a late challenge. I feel pretty strong right now. Hopefully, it will last through the meets ahead." Decker said Brick Memorial will not run in the Shore Conference championships to prepare for the upcoming state meets. "Yeah, it's a tough field and you've got to be training for it to have a better chance," Brodeur agreed. Also, Brick Memorial's Rich Dalatri won the high jump in a school record-tying 6-2 in what Decker called a "major surprise. He had cleared 6 feet a couple of times and we hoped he'd finish in the top three." Also for Brick Memorial, George Cook ran a personal best 4:38.67 1,600 for 15th place andNeil Stocco clocked a personal best 10:41.74 in the 3,200 meters. And for Brick Township, two other girls runners had fine times that were short of medals - Amber Hessenkemperwith a 5:28 time in the 1,600 and Megan Schenk with a personal best 12:14 in the 3,200.