O’Sullivan impresses again for Old Tappan by Paul Schwartz of The Record
TOMS RIVER — It’s not as if Caroline O’Sullivan hasn’t had success in the past. After all, the Northern Valley/Old Tappan junior won the state indoor group 3 800-meter championship last winter and recorded medal finishes at both the indoor and outdoor state Meet of Champions last year.
But O’Sullivan took herself to another level in Saturday’s Group 3 1,600 championships at Bennett Center, showing an ability to race as well as run and then blowing away the field with a 32.8 final 200 to run a personal-best 5:02.26 for her first major 1,600 title.
“I’ve had a problem mentally locking in to what I want to do,” said O’Sullivan, who ran the fastest 1,600 in North Jersey all year and the 13th fastest in Bergen County history. “But before the races today I told myself that I can do this, and I went out and did it.”
O’Sullivan has been known as a runner who can lead, but on Saturday she was content to sit in third place behind Allison Condell of Timber Creek and Madison Brand of Middletown South through a 2:31 and a 3:51 1,200.
The pace picked up on the next-to-last lap as Condell tried to pull away, but O’Sullivan covered the move nicely and got back on Condell’s shoulder when the bell rang for the final lap. And then O’Suillivan sprinted, gaining ground with every step and winning by more than 20 meters.
“It was a really good feeling after all the work I’ve put in to try and get better,” said O’Sullivan, who came back in the 800 and comfortably repeated her 2016 win, in 2:18.01, with another 32-plus second final 200. “The past few weeks I think I’ve gotten better and I’m excited to see what I can do next week (in the Meet of Champions).
Several defending champions from North Jersey came up short in attempts to repeat, notably Michelle Rubinetti of NV/Demarest and Lauren Chamberlin of Ramsey in the Group 2 pole vault and high jump, respectively. But Jessica Ippolito of Fair Lawn won her second straight indoor and third total Group 3 pole vault, clearing 11-6 to defeat defending outdoor champion Brittany Raffo of Seneca.
“I wasn’t so sure three weeks ago that I could do it,” said Ippolito, who had a crisis of confidence after seemingly being stuck at 11 feet in the early season. “But my coaches and teammates kept telling me I could do it and it started to click again.”
Then when Ippolito made 12 feet for the first time indoors at Bergen Counties on Wednesday, her confidence was back in full force.