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EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - The Southern Regional High School girls track and field team even surprised its own Jill Smith on Saturday.

The Rams dominated the South Jersey Group IV competition. Southern won its fourth straight title, outscoring second-place Lenape 107-78 at Egg Harbor Township.

Smith, one of the nation's top scholastic distance runners, led Southern with three individual wins. But the Rams also got some unexpected points from freshmen and sophomores, and from upperclassmen who far exceeded their previous personal bests.

"It's pretty amazing," Smith said. "I don't know where all these girls are coming from."

Southern's team title highlighted several outstanding efforts by local athletes in the Group IV meet.

Alex Romanelli of Absegami set a meet record to win the triple jump. Nijgia Snapp of Oakcrest added to her illustrious career with a victory in the 200-meter dash. Jill Shaner of Egg Harbor Township won the javelin.

The top six finishers, plus ties, in each event qualified for the state group championships next weekend.

Southern is one of the state's top teams. Shawnee (1993-1997) is the only Group IV school to win more consecutive South Jersey championships.

Smith is at the center of Southern's program. The senior's effort Saturday was one the entire team could build off.

She first won the 800 in 2 minutes, 11.49 seconds. Snapp was second in 2:12.36. Smith, as she does in most of her races, took the lead on the back stretch of the final lap and then held off all challengers.

Smith then won the 3,200 in 11:09.69. Caitlin Orr of Lenape did her best to chase Smith down on the final lap, but she finished second in 11:12.11.

The 3,200 was run during the hottest part of the day.

"We were all like, 'Uhh, the sun came out for our race,' " Smith said.

Smith ended Saturday by anchoring Southern's 1,600 relay team to victory in 3:58.93.

She also won the 1,600 Friday night. Her individual wins and the relay victory produced 40 points. Only three other Group IV teams topped that total.

"You can't put a price on what she does," Southern coach Brian Zatorksi said. "Nobody else on our team can complain (about being in multiple events) because Jill Smith is constantly competing the whole meet."

Southern also got a strong effort from junior Chelsea Cox, who showed why she is one of the state's more versatile athletes.

Cox finished third in the 800, second in the 200 and ran the third leg on the winning relay team.

But what raised Southern to such a high level was the unexpected performances.

Junior Barbara Simovic threw 142 feet, 6 inches to finish second in the javelin. Simovic threw 123-09 to finish third at last week's Shore Conference Championships.

Freshman Samantha Rodriguez was second in the 100 hurdles. Freshman Chelsea Vaughan cleared a personal-best 10-6 to finish third in the pole vault.

Junior Jessica Carlson was sixth in the triple jump and fourth in the 100 hurdles. Junior Erin Horleman was fifth in the 800.

"It's awesome," Zatorski said of the championship. "I'm running out of superlatives."

***

Absegami's Romanelli just didn't feel right sprinting down the triple jump runway the past few weeks.

"I was in a big triple jump slump," she said.

No more.

Romanelli won the event with a meet-record 37-7.25. That broke the previous record of 37-0.25 set Tabatha Haskins of Shawnee in 2005.

What did Romanelli do differently Saturday?

"I have no clue," she said.

Romanelli also won the long jump Friday. Her wins helped the Braves to a fourth-place finish.

"I'm just really happy," she said. "I think I'm out of my slump. I'm excelling at the right time."

***

Nijgia Snapp of Oakcrest won the 200 dash.

But what really excited her was her performance in the 800, even though she finished second to Smith.

Snapp's 2:12.36 was a personal best.

"I try to be versatile," said Snapp, who is headed to Seton Hall. "I like the sprints, but I think my future might be in the 400 and the middle distances."

Nevertheless, Snapp was impressive in the 200. She pumped her arms as she ran the turn and won in 24.92 seconds. Cox was second in 25.84.

Snapp also won the 400 dash Friday night.

***

EHT's Shaner qualified for the Meet of Champions in the javelin as a freshman.

She didn't make it back in either of the next two years, however, because of an injury and other reasons.

She took a big step toward returning to that meet Saturday.

Shaner won the javelin with a throw of 148-5. She was pumped about the win.

"I wanted to prove to myself that I was good," she said.

E-mail Michael McGarry:

MMcGarry@pressofac.com

RESULTS

TEAM SCORING: 1. Southern Regional, 107; 2. Lenape, 78; 3. Millville, 58.5; 4. Absegami, 54; 5. Oakcrest, 34; 6. Williamstown, 32; 6. Toms River North, 32; 8. Cherokee, 24.5; 9. Egg Harbor Township, 18; 9. Toms River South 18; 11. Pennsauken, 11; 12. Cherry Hill East, 10; 13. Mainland Regional, 7; 13. Eastern, 7; 15. Toms River East, 4; 16. Cherry Hill West, 1.

100 HURDLES: 1. Lindsay Hardcastle, Lenape, 15.1; 2. Rodriguez, Southern Regional, 15.22; 3. Lindacher, EHT, 15.5; 5. Carlson, Southern Regional, 15.51; 5. Newman, Millville, 16.19; 6. Ward, Lenape, 15.65.

3,200: 1. Jill Smith, Southern Regional, 11:09.69; 2. Orr, Lenape, 11:12.11; 3. Ruiz, Williamstown, 11:14.8; 4. Harris, Millville, 11:21.92; 5. Rugino, Toms River North, 11:25.42; 6. Bertulis, Millville, 11:28.32.

1,600 RELAY: 1. Southern Regional (Elissa Knight, Taylor Jennings, Chelsea Cox, Jill Smith), 3:58.96; 2. Millville, 4:00.36; 3. Williamstown, 4:07.89; 4. Lenape, 4:08.96; 5. Oakcrest, 4:09.19; 6. Mainland Regional, 4:10.87.

TRIPLE JUMP: 1. Alex Romanelli, Absegami, 37-7 1/4; 2. Ford, Millville, 36-8 1/2; 3. Okoro, Eastern, 35-10 1/2; 4. Newman, Millville, 35-9; 5. Pugh, Oakcrest 35-1; 6. Carlson, Southern Regional, 35-0 3/4.

DISCUS: 1. Chelsea Carballo, Toms River South, 111-11; 2. Kushner, Lenape, 111-11; 3. Stinsman, Lenape, 111-1; 4. Keister, Absegami; 5. Spieker, Cherokee, 109-1; 6. Still, Cherry Hill West, 108-8.

JAVELIN: 1. Jill Shaner, EHT, 148-5; 2. Simovic, Southern Regional, 142-6; 3. Lake, Cherokee, 126-7; 4. Tiplady, Toms River North, 125-11; 5. Keister, Absegami, 121-0; 6. Kott, Millville, 113-7.

POLE VAULT: 1. Dana Schweiger, Toms River North, 11-6; 2. Bednarz, Toms River South, 11-0; 3. Vaughan, Southern Regional, 10-6; 4. Santora, Mainland Regional, 10-0; 5. Beebe, Millville, 10-0; 6. Taylor, Cherokee, 9-6.

NOTABLE: Wildwood's Karley Webb finished sixth in the girls Group I triple jump (31-4 1/4), qualifying for the state championship meet.

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