In order to succeed in championship meets, everyone from distance runners to throwers to jumpers need to perform well. On Jan. 22, the girls track team showcased their all-around excellence and placed fourth in a competitive county at the Union County Individual championships.
To start off the day, junior Vanessa Larkin made up for some scratched entries and placed 10th in the 1600 with a time of 5:46. Her performance was followed up by freshman Oriana Soloway’s time of 5:54 as she captured bronze in the Novice 1600. “My strategy was to start off fast because I struggle with keeping my speed in the middle of the run,” said Soloway.
Later in the day, junior Claire Sewald and senior Olivia Thornton toed the line for the highly anticipated 800 meter race. In the shadow of some of the top runners in the nation, Sewald and Thornton ran times of 2:29 and 2:28, which was just enough for Thorton to grab a point for the Blue Devils. Although it seems small, that singular point was enough to push Westfield into fourth place, ahead of Rahway.
However, the success on the track would not mean as much if it were not for the girls on the infield putting up strong marks. In the 55 meter hurdle final, senior Lilly Petrie and freshmen Lidia Wright teamed up and finished fourth and fifth place with times of 8.86 and 8.88. Combined, they granted Westfield six more points to add to the teams growing total.
On the throwing side, senior Ashley Cunningham threw 34-3.75 in the shot put, followed by senior Livia Reyes who threw 32-0.25 to get the Blue Devils eight and two points respectively.
Over at the long jump pit, senior Morgan Samet broke her own school record that she set just two days prior, jumping a new personal record of 15-7.25. “It felt really good to break [the school record],” said Samet after her jump. “I am excited to jump more because I know that I can improve.”
In the final event of the day, sophomore Scarlett Goldman, senior Alexis Ray, Thornton and Wright challenged one of the country’s top teams, Union Catholic, in the 4X400 meter relay. Their time of 4:12.56 was enough to capture a commanding third place finish, and six more points for Westfield.
Overall, the performances on Wednesday not only gave the Blue Devils a fourth place finish as a team, but showed the rest of the county what is to come from the girls in the near future.
“Today, we were missing some of our frontliners,” said head coach Joseph Berardi regarding the absence of some of Westfield’s top runners. However, he continues to look forward to some of the upcoming meets. “Sectionals are 26 days away…so the drive is towards [winning] the section.”
