North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week seizes the moment at the perfect time

Jaden Marchan was not alive the last time Leonia rode down the Turnpike to the Penn Relays. Neither was his head coach.

So the chance to set foot on Franklin Field in Philadelphia was not lost on the Lions track star. The biggest stage brought out a new level of speed.

Marchan put on a show last Thursday when he took the baton for the 4-x-400 relay. His split in the anchor leg (47.21) was the fastest all day by a New Jersey runner and perhaps the best all-time in Bergen County.

And while the Lions finished fifth in their heat, it didn't spoil the party for the Edgewater native.

Credit goes to his frequent trips to the South Side Running Club in New York and the apricot bagel that fueled him mid-meet.

"It feels good because I know that my goal this season is to break the Bergen County [individual] outdoor record which is Walter McCall's 47.18," Marchan said. "It was just a lot of preparation."

Leonia doesn't have an indoor track team, so his preparation this season came in other ways.

Over the winter, Marchan commuted to The Armory for club practice on Tuesday and Thursday, then came back over the bridge to sharpen his game as a power forward in basketball. While he plans on running in college, Marchan wanted to have one last dance in basketball with his senior brother Jem.

Setting a personal record last week should open some doors for the junior.

"He's just a hard worker," Leonia coach Tim Ryan said. "It's a cliché to say because all the kids at that level work hard. But he really is so focused and so locked in all the time. He's track, track, track 24/7."

Marchan is still a relative newcomer to the middle distance. He threw the shot put in his track debut in seventh grade, then lost a year to COVID the following spring. Freshman year, he moved to the sprints and started to take the sport more seriously.

Still, there was a little skepticism about running anything longer than the 200. Then came a stroke of irony – a weakness in his game unleashed a new strength.

"My start is still really bad," Marchan said. "My club coach really changed the path for me and wanted me to move to the 400. Ever since then, I haven't looked back."

Marchan is an avid chess player, the youngest of three brothers and a creature of habit. He doesn't know how it started, but his pregame routine often includes some tea and apricot toast.

One of his other habits is spending free periods inside his coach's office. There, he'll talk track with Ryan and any teammate who stops in.

"It's been a fun experience because it's people who know and love track as much as I do," Marchan said.

Last season is when Marchan truly broke out. He raced to sectional gold in the 100, 200 and 400 and placed eighth in the state in the latter race. That set the stage for Leonia's return to the Penn Relays for the first time in at least 30 years.

"He's so team-oriented," Ryan said. "He loves to be with his teammates and support them. It doesn't matter if they are in the first heat or third heat or fourth heat. Fastest kid or slowest kid. He's what you want on your team."

Jaden Marchan

Sport: Track and field

School: Leonia

Class: Junior. Age: 16

Accomplishment: Marchan turned in a 47.21 in the last leg of the 4-x-400, the fourth fastest split among nearly 2,300 runners at the Penn Relays. Earlier in the week, he won the 200, 400, and 4x400 in a the dual meet against a Emerson.

Also nominated: Matt Mulato of Leonia and Sean Guzman of Ridgefield Park for baseball.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Male Athlete of the Week: Jaden Marchan, Leonia