Lyndhurst head track coach Rich Tuero can remember the frustration Yasemin Ugurlu had after a disappointing second place finish in the Triple Jump at the NJIC Colonial & National Division Championship back on April 29.
Those feelings from five-plus weeks ago must seem like an eternity considering the torrid run the Golden Bears senior has been on since.
Titles in the Bergen County Championship; North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 Championship and the Bergen County Meet of Champions, followed by a second place finish in the NJSIAA Group 2 Championship later, Ugurlu is back in the State Meet of Champions to end what has become a storied high school career.
“Honestly, the best thing that ever happened to her was having that bad day at the NJIC meet,” Tuero said. “It lit a fire under her. She felt that (negative) feeling and she said I’m not going to feel like this ever again.”
Despite taking off a little behind the board, Ugurlu’s score of 36-6.50 was the second best of her career. It was good enough to earn her one of two automatic bids in the meet at South Plainfield for Wednesday’s NJSIAA State Meet of Champions and the 15th best overall among all of the six group championship meets.
Joining Ugurlu in Pennsauken on Wednesday are teammates Asya Akar and Nikalena Iacono, both of whom are making their first MOC appearances.
While Ugurlu knew her ticket was punched at the conclusion of the event thanks to her second place finish, both Akar and Iacono had to wait to find out if their scores were good enough to earn one of 18 wild card spots.
Iacono’s throw of 36-9 in the Shot Put was good for third in Group 2, just 2.75 inches from second place and the automatic bid. However, it was more than good enough to earn a wild card spot as she finished tied for 22nd for the group championships.
Akar, who placed fourth in Group 2 in the Triple Jump at 35-7, had to sweat it out, but ultimately finished 29th among all the groups to earn her spot in the MOC.
“We were a little uneasy,” said Tuero. “I felt confident with Nikalena’s throw that she would be in, but I was a little worried about Asya. Then when we did the math and we looked up the scores and found out she was in, it was awesome. We were confident, but obviously a little concerned because you never know what could happen.”
A few miles away in the Group 4 Championships at Franklin High School, Kearny’s Gabriela Pifano had a record-breaking performance in the Shot Put, throwing a school record 38-6. The mark was good for eighth best in Group 4 and 13th overall.
For Pifano, it was her second consecutive monster weekend. At the Hudson County Championships on Memorial Day weekend in Secaucus, Pifano won gold in the Shot Put (34-01.50) and Javelin (93-10) and took second in the Discus (90-01).
Johanna Escalante also medaled for Kearny, which as a team finished fifth in the Girls Championship, taking fifth in the Javelin with a throw of 68-10.
On the boys side, Austin Lobban placed second in the Discus with a throw of 122-01 and took third in the Javelin (113-03). Shaheed Lahlou also was a double medal winner, finishing fifth in the Triple Jump (39-08.00) and sixth in the Long Jump at 18-10.25. Braidan Logue took fifth in the 1600 Meter Run (4:35.37).
Due to the stormy weather, the Bergen Meet of Champions was spread out over two weeks in Hackensack.
There, Ugurlu became Lyndhurst’s third gold medalist in four years when she recorded a 36-04.50 in her final Triple Jump to finish first. Ugurlu also took fifth in the Long Jump (16-04.50). Iacono placed fourth in the Shot Put with a personal best 37-02 and Akar finished fifth in the Triple Jump with a jump of 35-01.50.
Also qualifying for the Meet of Champions was Bloomfield’s Alexander Travers, who finished 11th in Group 4 and 19th overall in the 400-Meter Hurdles with a time of 55.15.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)