Andrews takes home Group IV 1,600 gold

There will be no decision to mull over now. Manalapan's Robby Andrews figured

PHOTOS BY TIM MORRIS Above: Freehold Township's Desiree Reese finished in the girls long jump with a leap of 17'5" at the State Group IV Track and Field Championships at Egg Harbor Township High School. Below: Freehold Township's Dan Mularz placed seventh in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (55.47). Both will be on display at the Meet of Champions at South Plainfield High School this afternoon. that he would be spending the time between last weekend's NJSIAA State Group Championships and today's Meet of Champions, deciding between running the 800 or 1,600meters at tonight'sMeet ofChampions in South Plainfield.

After finishing in 14th place in 800 (the top-six finishers in each event automatically qualified for theMOC) at the StateGroup IV Championships at Egg Harbor Township High School, Andrews noted "there will be no Plan B."

Andrews, the indoor MOC champion over 800meters, did not have his customary finishing kick Saturday as he slipped back in the final 200 meters.

Hillsborough's Jason Walton took the race out hard running the first 400 in 53 seconds. Andrews was well placed in the chase pack to make his customary move with 300 meters to go.

"I felt great going in," said Andrews. "Walton just jetted that first lap."

When it came time tomake hismove,Andrews noted, people started passing him, and as he fell out of contention so did the debate over what race to run tonight.

Walton polished off his solo effort turning in a 1:51.72.

It was hardly a wasted weekend for the Manalapan junior, however.After all, he did win the Group IV championship at 1,600 meters on Friday afternoon.

In this race,Andrews unleashed his customary finishing kick leaving the contenders in his wake. His winning time was 4:19.94.

Although the 800 is the event Andrews won at the indoor MOC, he does have a pretty nice fall back position in the 1,600. He's run the fastest mile in the state this spring, 4:12.82 at the Penn Relays.

"I'll go all out Wednesday," he said in search of a secondMOC title in '08.

Marlboro's Ada Unachukwu did not win either the 100- or 200-meter dashes, but she had a pretty good consolation prize, personal bests in both events and a newFreehold Regional District record in the century.

Her 11.99 in third place in the 100 on Fridaymade her the firstDistrict girl to run the race under 12 seconds (Freehold Borough's SondaBrangman had the old record at 12.0).

She credited the competition, that includes her rival, Jackson's Tylia Gillon of Jackson, who also broke 12 seconds (11.86) with making the fast times possible.

"Running against really good people pushes you," she pointed out.

Saturday, Unachukwu was third in the 200 (25.01).

Unachukwu finished fifth in the triple jump (36-9) and although she was seventh in the 400 (58.17), she ran fast enough to earn a wild card to theMOC in the one-lapper. Shewill decide in the days leading up to today'sMOC what events she will contest.

ColtsNeck's distance starAllison Linnell qualifed in the 1,600 and 3,200. In both races, the Cougar ace was up against the state's best in Jillian Smith of Southern Regional.

Linnell was second to Smith in Friday's 1,600 (5:04.67) and fourth in the 3,200 (11.00.81). Smith's winning times were 4:59.48 and 10:56.06.

Freehold Township's Marcus Goode was fifth in the boys triple jump (45-3) and will have one more chance to break his Shore Conference record (46-10¼).

High jumpersMaggieGilbertson ofHowell andMeghan Donovan of Freehold Township are headed to the MOC. Each cleared 5-2withGilbertson claiming third place and Donovan, fifth.

The Pats' Desiree Reese continued her string of 17-0+ long jumps finishing fifth with a 17-5.

Freehold Township's DanMularz (55.47 in 400 intermediate hurdles), Colts Neck's Mark Leininger (9:38.98) andHowell's Lindsey Lambert (11:07.57)were seventh in their respective events and are likelywild card entrants to theMOC.