It's wheels up for three North Jersey teams at Penn Relays

It was cold, it was wet, it was early on a Philadelphia Saturday morning. But the Holy Angels, Hasbrouck Heights and Northern Highlands girls had the same goal in mind, to win a heat of the 4-x-400 relay at the Penn Relays.

"If you win you get a wheel,'' said Northern Highlands junior Anna Bryan-Jones, who ran second on the Highlander team that captured the coveted plaque a year ago, and led off Northern Highlands' winning effort on Saturday. "We used that to motivate us as we were warming up early (this morning).''

Four hundred fifty-teams ran in 42 heats over nearly four hours chasing a plaque, including more than 15 teams from North Jersey, yet Holy Angels, Hasbrouck Heights and Northern Highlands won their races just a half-hour apart.

Nearly 70% of the 42 races are lightly seeded open races, grouped by a mysterious formula that Penn Relays officials have kept secret for years. There appear to be some guidelines: Previous finishes and meet times are a part of the mix, and coaches' seed times are also taken into consideration. The last seven or so races before the 11 Philadelphia Area conference races finish the time slot, in time-honored order, are reserved for the Jamaican teams that dominate the event and those American teams that figure to give them the best competition.

This year Ridgewood and Ramapo were placed in the first of those seeded races and faced Jamaican power St. Mary's, which won the heat in 3:53.58, not enough to qualify for the nine-team Championship of America final held some five hours later, but fast enough to finish 12th overall and pull Ridgewood to third place in a North Jersey-leading 4:01.63.

But this year at least, the winning North Jersey squads had no illusions about reaching a final. They just wanted to beat the teams in their heat.

Certo's great start propels Holy Angels to its second win in three tries

Sophomores Gina Certo and Ali Darmanin had already won Penn Relays medals on their first trip to Franklin Field a year ago. But the Angels, while taking silver medals last year, had not run particularly well, barely breaking 4:20 and finishing nearly 20 seconds behind race winner Morristown.

So Angels coach Howard Schuman shifted Certo, the indoor Non-Public A 400 champ, to leadoff and gave her instructions to get out fast. Certo delivered, going out in a speedy 57.1 to open up a big lead.

"We got to the stadium early and then we noticed the races were going off earlier than expected, so we grabbed our clothes, warmed up for 10 minutes and were on the track,'' said Certo. "I knew I had to get out fast and keep my elbows out to get out of traffic. I was pleased with my race."

Certo handed off to an admittedly nervous freshman Amaris Hiatt.

"I wasn't sure what to do, and I got off to a shaky start,'' she said. But she recovered her poise and turned into a regular 400 leg, which left her about 15 meters clear of the field when she handed off to Darmanin.

"I was more comfortable running on the track this year than last, and I loved the atmosphere,'' said Darmanin, when she got the stick.

For a moment, maybe she was a little too comfortable, as a runner from Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland briefly took the lead. But Darmanin, usually a solid 800 runner, felt the pressure and opened up, pulling away in the final turn to reopen the lead before handing it over to anchor leg Ella Buoncuore, who knew exactly what she had to do.

"I've run so many of these races, and I like running by myself in front of the pack, so I put my head down and just ran my best,'' said Buoncuore, also a sophomore. "There was never anyone coming up next to me, so I was really happy because I knew we were going to win."

The Angels ended up with nearly a 60-meter margin of victory, running a very strong 4:07.75, and happily collected their wheel. The 2019 team also won a race at Penn.

Hasbrouck Heights wins a tight one

While Holy Angels' win was pretty easy, the Aviators' first win since 2015 was in doubt nearly the entire race.

The Aviators battled Bayport/Blue Point of Long Island and other teams throughout the race and never had the lead at the end of a lap until Lexy Samperi anchored them to a 3-meter win in 4:12.81.

Dea Jera, Morgan Gagliano and Samperi had been part of a team that had finished second a year ago, but they weren't thinking about that when they took the track Saturday.

"When we got to the track we had already been standing in the cold for a while, and we were all cold and wet,'' said Jera. "But I was thinking there are no points on the line, our season isn't in jeopardy, just have some fun and run hard.''

That worked for most of the lap, as Jera got off quickly and opened up a solid lead. But she tightened up with about 50 meters to go, and by the time she handed off to Gagliano, the Aviators were third, albeit only a step or two behind the lead.

"I was pretty stressed out and I was exhausted,'' Jera said.

"I heard Dea yell out my name and scream 'get out,' so I just took off and tried to keep us in the race,'' said Gagliano, who passed to freshman Sarah Vinas in second just a step behind Bayport/Blue Point, with the rest of the field well back.

"I was really excited to run, and I just tried to keep pace with the girl in front of me and not get passed by anyone behind me,'' said Vinas, who held her own with her rival, Bayport/Blue Point's fastest leg. "But it was nerve-racking to watch after I handed off to Lexy.''

Samperi was about 25 meters when she got the handoff, but the two-time state Group 1 long jump champion handles pressure well and had a plan as she took off.

"I knew I wanted to catch her on the back straightaway and then hold on,'' said Samperi, who grabbed a few deep breaths and took off.

Just as planned, Samperi drew even with about 200 to go and then went by, opening up her own 7-meter margin. The Bayport anchor began to kick, but Samperi stayed composed and held her off for the victory.

"When Lexy passed her I was really happy for all of us,'' said Vinas. "I knew she would hold on.''

Northern Highlands has fun, takes a surprise win

The Highlanders had had great success in their previous seven appearances at Penn Relays since 2014, with three wins, three seconds and a fourth with nearly every race being run in 4:05 or less, including a win in 4:04.18 last year.

This year's quartet was inexperienced in running the event and at Penn with only leadoff runner Anna Bryan-Jones ever having set foot on the unique nine-lane track that sets Franklin Field apart. So expectations were probably a little bit lower than usual for the usually powerful team.

But Bryan-Jones laid down the mantra for the race and started the Highlanders on the way to an unexpected victory in 4:11.89, with a tough leadoff leg.

"This is the biggest track event in the country, and it's for fun,'' said Bryan-Jones, a contender for a State Meet of Champions medal in the 400 hurdles later in the spring. "You can't stress about it; there's no title on the line and a good reminder why I started to do track in the first place — it's fun.''

Newcomers freshman Kelsey Bennett and sophomore Meghan Buchanan followed Bryan-Jones' lead and ran strong laps as the second and third legs, with Bennett taking over the lead late in the second lap and Buchanan finishing strongly in the third lap to maintain a 5- to 7-meter margin over eventual runner-up Shore Regional.

That left the baton in the hands of junior Rebecca Maclaren, new to the 4-x-400, but a vital cog on a Northern Highlands team that finished fifth in the state cross-country championship last fall. She also knew her opposition, Shore Regional standout Megan Donlevie, the Group 1 cross-country champion.

"I knew how good she was and I just went for it,'' said Maclaren, who delivered a clutch 61.30 and was never seriously threatened by Donlevie, who finished about 10 meters behind. "This was an amazing experience, and I approached it as something that was exciting and fun,'' said Maclaren. "Running in something like this prepares you for anything, and I'm excited for the rest of the season.''

Other notes from a wet but exciting Penn Relays weekend

The Paramus Catholic girls 4-x-100 squad of Gina Rubio, Gabrielle Snell, Brianna DeSanto and Sydney Dungey came up short in their quest to join the Bergen Catholic boys as Northeast champions Saturday, finishing third behind Union Catholic and Benjamin Cardozo (N.Y.) in a time of 48.53, just off the 48.48 recorded by the Paladins in their qualification race on Friday.

The Paladins had a couple of dicey handoffs, which never threatened their position but prevented them from running their best time of the year. "I'm not worried about the other teams in the race, I'm worried about our kids,'' said head coach Bryan Durango.

Eastside came up two places short of an unusual quadruple, taking third in Saturday's girls 4-x-400 race, the first race of a long Saturday. The Ghosts had won their boys 4-x-100 and 4-x-400 heats Thursday in 44.57 and 3:29.80, respectively, both seasonal bests, and took their girls 4-x-100 Friday in 52.64. The Ghosts foursome of Paris Higgs, Sashkey Bonefield, Ciara Garcia and Nyasia Pauldo did earn bronze medals for their third-place finish Saturday.

The Ramsey girls earned a silver medal and Ridgewood took bronze medals in addition to the three sets of golds awarded Saturday. The Hasbrouck Heights and Ramapo boys took bronze medals in addition to Eastside and Paramus Catholic's golds at Thursday 4-x-400.

Former Tenafly star sets record in Olympic Development 1,500 meters

Josette Norris never had much success at Penn Relays in the past.

She ran second leg on a Tenafly 4-x-400 team that finished fifth in its heat at Penn in 2012, was 16th out of 23 finishers in the 2013 high school Invitational 3,000 meters and anchored the 4-x-800 team that finished 13th out of 15 entries in the 2014 event.

Her Georgetown team did take fourth in the championship of America distance medley in 2019, with Norris running a solid 4:33.40 1,600 anchor leg.

Saturday was a different story for the professional athlete, now running under her married name of Josette Andrews. She controlled a strong field in the Olympic Development 1,500 meters Saturday, pulling away for a 20-meter win over On teammate Sintayehu Vissa, who ran for Italy in the 2022 World Championships in 4:04.88, the third-best performance in the world in this early part of the season.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: It's wheels up for three North Jersey teams at Penn Relays