FAB FOUR: Members of the Wilberforce School girls’ track4x800-meter relay enjoy the moment after the placed first in the event at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Meet of Champions last Thursday at Franklin High. Pictured, from left, are Laura Sallade, Sophia Park, Adeline Edwards, and Gwen Mersereau. Earlier this month, the quartet helped the Wilberforce girls’ squad place first in the team standings at the NJSIAA Non-Public B championship meet for the first time in program history. (Photo provided by Lois Szeliga)

By Bill Alden

Although the Wilberforce School girls’ track team is small in numbers, it had some big expectations heading into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public B championship meet early this month.

“You can see the rankings and where you can score points,” said Wilberforce head coach Lois Szeliga. “I knew that we had a chance to win and the girls all knew that.”

In order be a title contender, Szeliga had to maximize the talent at her disposal.

“We had to switch some people around and ask people to do different events,” said Szeliga. “We were trying to steal points in so many different events. You try to see realistically where they can end up.”

Wilberforce ended up piling up a lot of points, taking first with 83 points as Montclair Kimberley Academy scored 59 to come in second. It marked the first-ever Non-Public team track title for the program.

Individual standouts for the Wolverines included Gwen Mersereau, the winner of 800 meters and fourth-place finisher in the 200, Adeline Edwards, who took second in the 3,200 and fifth in the 1,600, Maria Madigan, the runner-up in the 400, Laura Sallade, the second place finisher in the 800, and Sophia Park, who came in third in the 800 and fourth in the 1,600. The squad’s 4×400 and 4×800 relays both placed first while the 4×100 took second.

“We told the girls in the 800, don’t let anyone finish in between you and they came in first, second and third,” said Szeliga. “They got the maximum number of points that you could get. I told Adeline [Edwards] to get second in the 2-mile and she did, so the day was off to a great start. I was like, ‘Gwen, try to get any points in the 200,’ and she ended up getting fourth for three points.”

The 4×400 and 4×800 relays have been staples for the squad.

“Having those 4×8 and the 4×4 be so strong that gives you a solid 20 points right there,” said Szeliga. “The girls who were doing really hard doubles, triples, and quadruples were fortunately able to take it pretty easy and still win the 4×8.”

The 4×100’s performance was emblematic of the program’s progress.

“The thing that is different this year is that we had a lot of sprint points,” said Szeliga. “In that 4×100, we were the top seed but 4×1 we were all within one second of each other. The fact that they came in second and got eight points, everybody really scored where they could.”

The Wolverines also got points in the throws as senior Jenna Fischer took sixth in the shot put.

“Jenna has the school record in every throw,” said Szeliga, noting that assistant coach Kristen Yonkman works with the sprinters and throwers. “She has been our throwing star for our school. It is great to see the program grow like that.”

It was great for the program to earn its breakthrough title. “This is our first non-public track title,” said Szeliga. “Track is such a bigger tent, it just includes more girls and events.”

While the Wilberforce boys didn’t win a title at the Non-Public B meet, they tied for seventh even though they were missing senior star Jeremy Sallade, who was sidelined by a leg injury.

“It was such a small crew, every boy who competed, medaled; it was amazing,” said Szeliga.

Caleb Brox and Philip Schidlovsky led the way for the Wolverines as Brox placed second in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200 while Schidlovsky took fourth in both the 800 and the 1,600. In addition, Andrew Pratt placed second in the pole vault and Matthias Damrau took sixth in the 400.

Szelaga was proud of how her boys competed. “We have our first pole vaulter, Andrew, and he came in second,” said Szeliga. “Caleb medaled in two events. He earned his first individual spot in the MOC (Meet of Champions), that was huge. Caleb had the most epic race of the day in the 1,600. It just came down to a big kick. These two guys are running neck and neck until the bitter end — it was him and the boy from St. Rose (Tyler Ferlise), and Caleb edged him out. The whole team was so excite for Caleb because he has been wanting that. Philip is definitely one to watch, he did cross country this year. Damrau has been a solid performer.”

The two squads ended the day by coming together to savor the spoils of victory.

“It was so fun to celebrate with everybody with their medals and a big trophy after that long day,” said Szeliga.

The Wilberforce girls had even more fun last Thursday as their 4×800 relay placed first in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Franklin High, establishing another program first.

“You have to make a decision of what is going to be your priority because everyone is coming in fresh to the MOC,” said Szeliga. “The girls all saw that they could win the 4×8 and this was their best chance for a championship. Nobody can take that away from you. They all set aside their individual goals. They did go in their individual events, but they had already run the relay. They all ran their events but they wanted to do the 4×8 and have that be their main focus and go for the win. This is what their goal was going into it.”

Weeks before the MOC, Szeliga sensed that the quartet of Laura Sallade, Sophia Park, Adeline Edwards, and Gwen Mersereau could achieve that goal.

“We did a meet at Christian Brothers in late May called A Night at the Horse Farm, and all four of those girls ran under 2:20,” said Szeliga.

“We knew we had a really great 4×8 and we could win the Meet of Champions. That gave us a lot of confidence.”

In the MOC relay, that confidence proved to be justified as the quartet posted a winning time of 9:16.22, well ahead of the 9:25.18 mark produced by runner-up Haddonfield.

“We had Adeline Edwards who is so aggressive, she is our lead off,” said Szeliga. “We have Laura Sallade is very fast and she loves to race people. That is why she is in the second leg because there could still be a race. Sophia Park is next and then Gwen Mersereau is the fourth leg. I said to them, ‘If you get passed by somebody, don’t worry, that might be their ace running 2:09, so you just keep getting it to your teammate.’ That was the strategy going in and the girls really got the lead and they were able to enjoy the thrill of the moment.”

Watching her runners pull away from the competition triggered some deep emotions for Szeliga.

“I was so thrilled for them; knowing from the beginning of the season when they started seeing what a great team they were as they qualified for the Penn Relays and to see each one develop as individuals into a terrific 800 meter runner,” said Szeliga. “They all dropped their times by 10 seconds from last year; each of them became such elite runners this year individually. It was so thrilling to see them achieve that in the space of one season. When the girls finished, it was like they were swarmed by the paparazzi. We had never had anything like that before it was great. It is so amazing.”

This weekend, the Wolverine girls produced another thrilling performance as they placed first in the Rising Stars Distance Medley Relay at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

The quartet clocked a winning time of 12:15.81, a school record and the top time in New Jersey this year as the program competed in the nationals for the first time. Edwards ran the 1,200-meter leg in the event with Eve Szeliga running the 400, Sallade running the 800, and Park doing the 1,600.

Reflecting on the historic spring by the produced by the program, Szeliga is relishing the big impact her athletes have made on campus and in the track world.

“Everybody at school is just thrilled, nobody can believe it; the parents who come to support us at all of these long meets are so thrilled and the social media is blowing up,” said Szeliga. “With the success, you did see a camaraderie. The other area teams are so supportive. Even when we went to nationals, the Union Catholic coach came over and congratulated us. You just see the embrace of the running community and the support. It is really nice. You go and coaches say, ‘Wow Wilberforce, Princeton, New Jersey.’ Even when we were at nationals, it was there is one of the Wilberforce girls. It is different, we used to get where is that but now people know us.”