North Jersey boys track & field athletes to watch during the 2024 season
The 2024 spring track season gets started Monday across the Garden State.
Here are the top boys athletes to watch this season in North Jersey.
Raynier Galvez
Passaic Tech senior middle distance runner
His awaited promise came to fruition last spring when he finished in the State Meet of Champions 800 after great performances in the state sectionals (a win) and a personal best 1:52.78 for second in Group 4. He also ran well in the 400 at the Passaic County and sectional meets a year ago. This winter, he was second at the State Meet of Champions and sixth in the Nike Indoor Nationals, gaining All-American honors.
Owen Keating
Pompton Lakes junior vaulter
Keating's best outdoor performance in the pole vault came in 2022, when the then-freshman cleared 12-6, tied for second in the state for ninth graders. He then missed a year of vaulting with "growing pains" in his back and legs before returning this winter with a bang, clearing 15 feet twice to set a Passaic County indoor record, which had been held by father (and coach) Steve, from 1986 to 2008.
Adrian Laing
Paramus Catholic senior hurdler/sprinter
He's going to be playing cornerback at Temple University in the fall, but if that doesn't work out, he'll make a great hurdler for the Owls (or anyone else). Laing is consistently at or near the top of any hurdle race, be it the 55-meters variety run indoors (he was sixth in the State Meet of Champions) or the 110-meter race outdoors (third in the Non-Public A championships last spring). He's also a solid 200-meter runner.
Jaden Marchan
Leonia senior sprinter
Just two runners in Bergen County history have run the 400 faster outdoors than Marchan, whose 47.44 clocking in his second-place race at last spring's State Meet of Champions is just .26 second short of the record set by former Hackensack and Manhattan College star Walter McCall in 1988. Fewer than 20 New Jersey boys have broken 47 seconds in the event and Marchan, who easily won the SMOC indoors, should add to that number before he's off to Georgetown.
Bobby Mays
Don Bosco senior jumper
Another football commit on this list, Mays will play wide receiver at the University of Buffalo. But first, the talented athlete will try to defend his state championship and perhaps grab an All-American slot in the triple jump at New Balance Nationals after missing by one spot last year. Mays is also the Bergen County high jump champ and earned a medal at the State Meet of Champions. He's also a talented 100 meter hurdler and long jumper.
Jayden McKenzie
Eastside senior sprinter
The latest in a long line of great Eastside long sprinters, McKenzie won the Passaic County and Group 4 sectional titles last spring in the middle of a six-meet streak of sub-50 second clockings. McKenzie, also a fine 200 runner, placed third in Group 4 and earned a seventh-place medal at the State Meet of Champions in the event. He just missed another medal in the SMOC 200 last winter.
Liam Paneque
Demarest junior hurdler/jumper
From the time he donned blue and white as a freshman, Paneque has been one of the top athletes in Bergen County. He may be the best combo jumper in the state. He won the long jump championship at the State Meet of Champions this winter, won the Group 2 state high jump title and was one of only three 46-foot triple jumpers this winter. He's one of just two Bergen jumpers to jump 23 feet in the long jump, 46 feet in the triple jump and 6-6 in the high jump.
Luke Pash
Ridgewood junior distance runner
It seems like every race Pash runs, he gets even better. He had a very good freshman season, a better sophomore cross-country season, an excellent sophomore winter season, then exploded into the top echelon of New Jersey runners last spring, nearly winning the Group 4 state 3,200 meter race with an outdoor best of 9:06.10, seventh in Bergen history. He became Bergen's second sub-9 minute 3,200 man in winning the State Meet of Champions this winter.
Goran Saric
Old Tappan senior multi-athlete
When he gets to college, most likely at TCNJ, it's likely Saric will be a decathlete after winning the 2023 Bergen pentathlon and earning All-American honors. But for now, Saric has to settle for being the most versatile athlete in North Jersey, with his best events this spring likely the 400 hurdles and triple jump. He's always talented enough to place in the 100 hurdles, 200, 400, long jump and even the shot put, where he threw 47-9 3/4 this winter, fifth best in Bergen County.
Benji Shue
Bergen Catholic, junior thrower
There's only one thing missing from Shue's resume' as he assembles the best career ever by a North Jersey thrower with two years to go: a State Meet of Champions title. He's got a pair of Non-Public A titles in both the shot and discus, two wins in each event at the Bergen Meet of Champions, four All-American selections and 15 of the top 20 discus throws in North Jersey history. He ranks third all-time in the Bergen shot put rankings with the best throw of the last 39 years and has four SMOC medals.
Joshua Yoon
Cresskill senior sprinter/jumper
If he can stay healthy, expect a monster year from Yoon, who placed in the 100, 200, long and triple jumps last spring in the Group 1 state meet and reached the State Meet of Champions in the jumps. His only two SMOC medals came in the winter triple jumps in 2022 and 2023. This past winter, he leaped 45-10 to win the Armory Officials Hall of Fame meet and won the NJIC long jump in his only two meets before the injury bug struck again.
Others to watch
Andrew Jeremiah Boakye, Bergen Catholic (junior sprinter/jumper)
Tyler Caswell, Glen Rock (junior hurdler)
James Dely, Paramus Catholic (junior hurdler/sprinter)
Patrick Kurtz, Pascack Valley (senior middle distance runner)
Ben Mandler, Pascack Hills (senior pole vaulter)
Aidan Morrow, Hasbrouck Heights (junior distance runner)
Jack Small, Old Tappan (senior thrower)
Noah Traverso, West Milford (senior jumper/sprinter)
Ryan Trocolar, Pequannock (senior sprinter)
Alan Villavicencio, Tenafly (junior pole vaulter)
Ryan Welch, Ramapo (senior middle distance runner)
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ boys track: North Jersey athletes to watch during 2024 season
