Track & Field at NJCAA Nationals (photos at bottom of page)

May 6-9, 2009, Alfred, NY

The Gloucester County College track and field teams enjoyed a stellar weekend at the NJCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Alfred, NY.  Despite battling wind, rain and a few injuries, the teams managed a better finish that last season.  The women finished in 4th place nationally, while the men ended up in 7th place.  I was very pleased with the performances, and think that everyone gave the best efforts they could have.  There were several athletes who earned their way to the awards stand with point scoring top 8 national finishes.  In the NJCAA, the top 2 finishers are awarded All-American honors.  GCC had 6 performances earn All-American honors, including 3 National Championships!

In the men's high jump, Matt Sullivan (Haddon Hts.) was locked in a battle with heavy downpours as well as his competitors.  When the height was raised to 6' 4.75", it came down the last four competitors, and the slick conditions led to two misses for everyone.  With the pressure on, it came down to the last attempts at the height, and with a massive leap, Matt was able to clear!  Only one other competitor was able to clear, also on the last attempt, leading to a 2-way battle for the national championship.  Both ended up missing the next height and the win came down to previous misses, which unfortunately, Matt had more of, leaving him in second place to earn All-American status with his best leap of the season.

In the women's triple jump, the nerve racking last attempt heroics continued for Jacqueline Nisbett (Woodbury).  The final round of jumps started with Jacqueline in the lead.  As the round progressed, one competitor jumped further, then another, putting Jacqui in third place with her last jump being the end of the competition.  With the pressure on, she headed down the runway and hop, skipped and jumped her way to a 4 inch improvement over everyone and earned herself her first national title!

In the women's 400m intermediate hurdles, Jacqueline went the entire season with the nation's leading time.  This led to high expectations and she did not disappoint at Nationals.  After completing a busy day of jumping and running, she was still able to dominate the field by over 5 seconds to earn another national championship, All-American status, and smash her own previous school record with a time of 1:04.43.

In the women's long jump, Jacqueline earned 2nd place and All-American status.

In the women's 10,000m, Heather DiCrescenzo (Triton) added to her two cross country All-American honors with a dominating 2nd place finish for her first track All-American honor.  She led for more than half of the race before eventually being overtaken for the lead.  Heather also earned her way on the award stand with a 3rd place finish in the 5,000m and a 5th place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase.

The final national champion and All-American from the weekend was another Triton graduate.  Chris Johnston waited patiently for the final day of competition for the men's javelin event.  The event was held in one of the few moments of the national championship meet without rain, but we were instead faced with fierce 30mph wind gusts!  Throwing into a headwind and crosswind at times, Chris was able to unleash an outstanding attempt to take the lead early in competition.  Throughout the event, the winds continued yet other competitors were getting closer and closer to overtaking his lead.  Finally, it came to the last round of competition and Chris was not able to be beaten.  His throw was the final throw of the competition, and just to show the nation he deserved the win, he unleashed another outstanding throw into the wind to win the competition by over four feet.

As mentioned, the top two places earn All-American honors.  It was also noteworthy that GCC had 6 competitors who placed 3rd in the nation, just missing All-American.  Chris Kelly (Washington Twp.) 3rd in the men's 5000m, Tracy Dobkowski (West Deptford) 3rd in the 10,000m and the 3,000m steeplechase, Kevin Brown (Woodbury) 3rd in the 400m, Andre Thompson (Winslow Twp.) 3rd in the 800m. 

Heather DiCrescenzo	Andre Thompson
Shehab Uddin	Anthony Higareda
Elaina Unger	Matt Sullivan
Jacqueline Nisbitt	Tracy Dobkowski
Cameron Kane	Della Sartor
Chris Kelly	Kevin Brown
Chris Johnston	Jacqueline Nisbitt