Under the falling sunset at Gary Kehler Stadium, boys and girls track and field teams from all over Union County gathered together to compete and set new records last Thursday and Friday.
The county tournament for track and field is not as one may expect. The entire tournament is conducted through relay events, meaning there are no individual events and each event is a team effort. With each finish in a relay event, a team earns points which get accumulated into an overall team score. The team with the most points at the end of the two days takes home the trophy.
After the first day of counties on Thursday, the girls Union Catholic team led the way with an impressive 53 points with Westfield trailing behind with 28 points.
Westfield girls’ 4×100 meter relay of Gabby Demeter, Maura Hyland, Sean O’Brien and Darcy Scheiner made history, again. Breaking their own school record of 48.38 seconds, the girls hit 47.87 seconds on the first day of counties. However, even with their dominant performance, Union Catholic hit 46.06 in the race, taking the first place spot and beating the previous meet record of 47.51. On Friday, the 4×200 relay of O’Brien, Alexis Ray, Scheiner and Demeter placed second, recording an impressive 1:42.23.
Blue Devil Grace Lisnock said, “Cross country is always very team-centered, but sometimes track feels entirely individual, which can feel more mentally taxing. It was really fun to run the 4×800 this week and remember why I was competing and being able to rely on three other girls to do their jobs just like I did mine. Coach Berardi gave us a goal which we were able to meet and exceed. That was my first relay in a while and it makes the racing process more enjoyable as well to share small with teammates, especially on our home track.”
For the girls field side, Cheyenne Blackwell, Grace Kim and Gabby Demeter set a new school record in the long jump, recording a combined length of 48 feet and 3.75 inches, placing second in the county relays.
Also, the girls javelin squad of Priscilla Dayon, Emma Sullivan and Sienna Schael placed third with a total mark of 275′ 03″, and the girls high jump relay of Demeter, Jordan Hadel and Laura Oliviera placed third, marking 14′ 1.00″.
For the boys, Union Catholic was in first place with 58 points after the first day, and Westfield was right behind with 45 points.
The boys 4×400 meter hurdle relay took third place with senior Emanuel Gayanilo leading the Blue Devils with a split time of 53.55 seconds. Westfield also placed second in the 1600 Sprint Medley with senior Neil Weiss, Rowan McMahill, Christian Sanford and Noah Petrassi, earning the boys 8 points.
With a huge first place finish on Friday, the boys 4×1600 meter dominated its competition. Eamon Mason, Avery Keith, Cole Varner and Alex Valencia secured a victory by over 10 seconds, finishing in 18:09.95.
On the field side, Westfield posed a major threat. The boys javelin placed first. Senior Jeremy Cruz and junior Lincoln Meyers scored first and second place respectively, throwing 159′ 8″ and 155′ 5″, and senior Max Cho placed fourth, marking 151′ 10″. With their total mark recording 466′ 11″, not only did this relay rack in a significant 10 points for the Blue Devils, but they also made history by combining for the longest three-man javelin relay score in school history. Also taking first place, Westfield’s discus team of Noah Rubenstein, Sam Luzuriaga and Brenton Hatch had a total marking of 375′ 9″, stacking up points for Westfield.
Despite some of Westfield’s major victories, Union Catholic absolutely dominated this tournament. They kept the lead through both days of counties, winning the girls and boys trophy with 105 and 113 points, respectively. Westfields girls team took second place with 63 points while the boys came in third with 78 points, trailing behind Elizabeth with 85 points.
The Blue Devils look to take home some hardware on Thursday where individuals will compete in the Union County Championship at Governor Livingston High School.
