Winter track: Boys team-by-team previews for 2023-24 season in North Jersey

Take a team-by-team look at every boys winter track and field team in North Jersey.

D: Distance

MD: Middle Distance

T: Throws

J: Jumps

S: Sprints

LS: Long Sprints

H: Hurdles

PV: Pole vault

Big North

American

Cliffside Park has a new head coach, Gabriela DePena who has a pair of fine returning seniors in Darwin Ruiz (D) and Skyler Saric (H/J). DePena says her team has a great group of leaders willing to help bring the younger athletes along.

Dumont is a contender for the league title, behind a senior class led by Dylan Cholewka (MD/D), Colin Graham (MD/D), Danny Lu (MD/D) and Kelvin Sesay (S) and sophs Karl Andre (D) and Sebastian Estrada (MD/D). A large newcomer group will add depth and talent.

Dwight Morrow's top performers are senior Saundrae Palmer (J/S) and junior Aaron Tinsley (MD) and the Maroon Raiders are building around a solid middle distance team/.

Fort Lee expects to be a contender as usual, with seniors Kymani Clarke (S/J) and Chris Chun (S/J), Arsham Bayrami (T), junior Jalen Balbuena (S/J) and soph John Walsh (D) being the top potential point scorers. The Bridgemen seem to be a balanced team.

Ridgefield Park has a new head coach in Dan Morris and hope to advance multiple athletes to the group meet. Seniors Marco Feliciano (S) and Elliot Ramos (PV), and juniors Andrew Pena (T) and Will Ocampo (MD) are the most likely contenders for those roles.

Freedom

Hackensack has a young team with a great freshman turnout and a terrific group of sophomores who gained great experience last year. Seniors Dylan Guarquila (D), Salomon Jacome (D), Brendan Polley (S) and Samuel Yoon (PV) and juniors Elwin Lliguisupa (D) and Nadir Miller (T) and a great sophomore class of Dustin DeCambre (S), Devin DeCambre (S), Jayden Desauza (S), Seven Garcia (S) and Michael McGinnity (D) will make the Comets an intriguing team.

Northern Highlands has a very solid senior class of distance runners Timothy Cobb, Eddic Conway, Freddy Liljegren, Carter Monaco and Sota Shimizu, sprinter Max Gurovic, thrower Jacob Novak and vaulter Carter Pataki. If the Highlanders can build some depth, they could be dangerous.

Paramus is building a competitive program with some veteran sprinters of senior Ryan Fernandes, juniors Anthony Arnone and Matthew Medina and a with "a ton of young kids with potential" as head coach Jerry Somma describes them, should get better throughout the season.

Ramapo has a couple of potential stars in seniors Ryan Welch (MD) and Michael Samarro (S) and depth with seniors Griffen Eisele (D) and Aris Perez (S/J), juniors Jack Kinney (J) and Gavin Campozano (S) and sophs Ryan Ficarra (S) and Gabe Galasso (T).

Ridgewood lost a lot talent from a great team but has a lot left, especially in the distance group. Junior Luke Pash, the Bergen County cross-country champ, is one of the state's best distance runners. He's joined by seniors DJ Murphy, and junior Trevor Kane from last year's distance group, senior Victor Souza (H/J), Leo Grace (S/J) and junior Jack McKenna (MD) as key returnees.

Independence

Fair Lawn has a pretty good core led by senior Ryan Pascual (J/LS), juniors Aidan Soukas (MD) and Anthony Francis (S) and sophomore Semyon Cheremisin (J) and has some promising newcomers who should help the Cutters develop into a contender.

Lakeland has just one senior letterman in football star Kyle Keyes (H) and one junior standout in thrower Brody McCormack (T) and two potentially great sophomores in Logan Grey (S) and Evan Caldwell (D).

Passaic Valley continues to be a contender even though they lost a lot of graduation. The senior class is a strong one with Karim Elssadany (S/J), Tavi Victoria (H/S). Brian Pizzaro (LS/J), Basell Dahhan (MD), Nick Ragueso (D), Nick Montiel (MD), Rizwan Ahmed (LS), Rajan Rana (T), Jake Torres (T) and Kaiden Rodriguez (J/S). Elssandany and Victoria are potential all-county performers.

Wayne Hills did not submit information.

Wayne Valley picks up senior Matt Califf (MD), an all-Passaic cross-country and outdoor track selection, who was a skier in the winter. Added to senior returnees Milan Mistry (D), Zach Daudelin (T) and juniors Danny Haddad (D), Aidan Magno (S/D), Bobby Liput (PV) and Garett Zaremba (H), it makes the Indians contenders.

West Milford is led by one of the most versatile and talented athletes in the area in senior Noah Traverso (S/J) and returns senior Richard Gomez (T) and juniors Coby Scott (J/S) and Tyler Meier (S/J).

Liberty

Bergen Tech is rebuilding but has a good core group of seniors Anthony Senatore (H), Ryan Nasr (S), Justin Ahn (S) and Adrian Gamarra (D) and junior Leo Langley (S) could speed up the process.

Clifton did not submit information.

Eastside did not submit information.

Kennedy is still rebuilding and hopes sophomore Isaiah Melendez (S) continues to improve.

Passaic has some really strong talent in state level senior shot putter Michael Clark and junior distance runner Michael Coliente.

Passaic Tech did not submit information.

National

Bergenfield should make some noise with a solid group of returnees led by Julian Batista (MD), Aaron Cruz (S/J), Daniel Isaacs (S), Irasel Sawyers (J/H/S), Marcus Knowles (J), Jimmy Hernandez (D) and Omari Russel (H/J/S).

Demarest did not submit information.

Old Tappan has two of the best athletes in the state in shot putter Jack Small and all-American pentathlete Goran Saric. If the supporting athletes like seniors Nicholas Kim (D), Kendrick Merrcredi (T), Matt Renaghan (T) and sophs Benjamin Johnson (D) and Aidan Nally (S) improve, the Golden Knights could contend.

Pascack Valley has a great 1-2 distance punch of senior Patrick Kurtz (D) and soph Marcus Koshy (D), and some good support in Dylan DerSimonian (S) and senior Totu Bosede (S/T).

Teaneck has an all-North Jersey distance runner in Joshua Tejada, a promising sophomore in JoJo Williams (S/J) and high expectations for a growing program.

Tenafly has a new head coach in Aziza Solis and two good seniors in Jaylen Tang (S) and Michael Forde (MD).

Patriot

Indian Hills did not submit information.

Mahwah hopes to compete for a league title and with seniors Joey Perriello (H/J), Sam Choo (H/S), Michael Ciongoli (PV/T), Nolan Duffy (S/J) and Logan Kayal (D) they could be in the mix. Junior Ayden Antolino (S) and sophs Ricky Adoni (H) and Nick Lencask (MD) should also contribute.

Pascack Hills has a versatile, balanced team and some senior potential stars in Ben Mandler (PV/multi), Peter Priestner (D), Michael Dao (PV), and Anthony DiFiore (S). Juniors Dylan Barret and Jack Herrington add distance depth.

Ramsey has a very young team led by an excellent senior thrower in Brad Weiner. The Rams have some promising juniors in Sam Linderman-Vento, Jack Bussanich, Gavin Lyle, Caeden Doyle, Justin Loriz and Jonathan Grandusky and sophs Luciano Zizza, Colin Dougherty and Reilly Fehmel are getting better daily.

River Dell, as usual, will contend for the league title, county relays and state sectional titles. Seniors Jacob Ceylan (J), Liam Schwabik (MD) and Ryan Iacovone (T) lead the way with junior Aidan Grivas (MD), and sophomores Alijah Anraham (S) and Chris Baxter (MD) adding potential point scorers.

Westwood is rebuilding and senior Will Roche (LS/MD) and junior Andrew Foote (T) will help the Cardinals in that area.

United

Bergen Catholic hopes to continue its reign over the division with seniors Jason Lessieu (J), Tristan Oliver (J) and Brenden O'Rourke (D) and junior Andrew Jeremiah-Boakye (S), should have a chance for doing that.

DePaul has two athletes, senior Kevin Borneman (D) and freshman Giancarlo Glass (S).

Don Bosco welcomes state outdoor triple jump and Bergen high jump champ Bobby Mays to its winter team and with senior Kyle Irving (J), junior Greg Celariste (S) and soph Lorenz Neblung (PV) and an excellent distance team.

Paramus Catholic will make a strong case for the league title this season led by seniors Adrian Laing, Antonio Colon, Corey Sanders, Nicholaus Micheal, juniors James Dely and Jayden Candelaria and Cicai Jaramillo, and sophs Marcelo Giglio and Isaiah Selby. Dely, Laing, Sanders and the sprint and hurdle relay teams are state contenders.

St. Joseph have one of their largest teams in years and senior Jimmy Montesano (H/J), junior Mekhi Rossignol (S) and sophs Kaelen Harper (J), Joe Lizzi (D) and Darren Coyle (D) will help develop some good relay teams.

NJIC

Becton has a large turnout of more than 50 boys, and should have an excellent season led by seniors Jaydon Gilkes (J/S) and Chris Zawadzki (T) and juniors Steven Longo (MD), and Max Thorn (D)

Bogota has three first year indoor runners off of their excellent cross-country team, sophs Emmanuel Marin, Zohaib Syed and Hussain Salam.

Butler did not submit information.

Star senior jumper/sprinter Joshua Yoon leads Cresskill, which also returns senior Pedro Gonzalez (S) and junior John Jamieson. A growing turnout should lead to improvements across the roster.

Dwight-Englewood returns senior Noah Thomas (S/J) and junior Andersen Thompson (S) as its returning letter winners but has a large turnout of newcomers, several with spring track experience which should lead to a successful season.

Eastern Christian has a new coach in alumnus Carter Heerema and returns a strong junior standout in Caleb Kuperus (MD).

Emerson elevates assistant coach Lila Morreale to the head job and she welcomes a good senior crew of Alex Talmazan (MD/D), Nick D'Agostino (D), Anthony DeLalla (S/PV) and Nathaniel Falcon (J/S) with a strong junior class of Peter Forsdahl (J), Nick Gismondi (S), Logan Clavel (H/S), Gabriel Molina (H/S) and Andrew Pasdar (H/S/J).

Senior middle distance runner Alexander Trujillo is one of the few veterans on Garfield's young team, but juniors Andrew Campos (S/J), Aaron Gilkes (MD) and Jakub Stypulkowski (D) are talents with experience and will help the team develop.

Glen Rock has a great group of returnees that should help it contend for league, Bergen relays and state sectional championships. Seniors Ben Habler (MD/PV) and Ben Raser (D) led the state sectional championship cross-country team and juniors Devin Smith (LS/MD), Tyler Caswell (H/S) and Harrison Wortley (S) are potential point scorers in all three meets.

Hasbrouck Heights has talent in almost every event and just two returning seniors, Tyler Cappadonna (T) and Eric Newman (S). Juniors Aidan Morrow (an all group 1 cross-country runner), Max Mazza (S), Matt Murillo (S/J), Aidan Vidal (H/LS), Ryan Ober (LS/MD), Sebastian Broncato (H/LS), Louis Perdomo (D) and Tommy Nilaj (D) and soph Michael Napolitano (S/J) give the Aviators a chance to contend for league, county relays and state sectional honors.

Hawthorne has good numbers of athletes with great attitudes and could be a surprise team in the league. Seniors Neo Barnabe (T), JC Mendoza (S), Tyler Lizardo (S) and Anthony Lin (H) are the heart and soul of team but sophomore long sprinter Carter Solloway is poised for a jump into prominence this season.

Leonia has one athlete on its team and he's all-state contender Jaden Marchan. out for winter track for the first time. His first meet, running unattached at the Coaches Hall of Fame Classic Saturday led to a pair of wins in the 55 (6.52) and 200 (21.71) in the 14th best and third times in Bergen County history.

Lodi returns senior Linden Mejia (MD/H/J), Jack MonoLucas (J), Ivan Larcier (S/MD), Ethan Arias (S) and Delwin Guerrero (T).

Lyndhurst is rebuilding behind senior Tyler Wise (S) and soph Aidan Nogueira (D).

Manchester did not submit information.

Midland Park has some excellent individuals in juniors Jake Douma (T) and Nick Esposito (S) and soph Ralph Caprio (J/multis).

New Milford returns senior sprinter Edwin Sanjay and welcomes junior middle distance runner Sebastian Herrera.

North Arlington has gone from four to 18 athletes in one year and seniors Fabrizio Garcia (S) and Declan Hughes (S) and juniors Aidan Maleski (S/MD) and Remi Kahlil (MD) are the top performers on this year's team.

Palisades Park did not submit information.

Park Ridge has a very good distance squad headed by seniors Josh Pena and Patrick Tallman and junior William O'Donovan. Junior sprinters Nick Marra and Bruce Mixon will also contribute.

Pompton Lakes returns senior Travis Burke (J/S) and soph Matt Bandolon (S) and welcomes back junior pole vaulter Owen Keating from injury. Keating cleared 13 feet in his first meet, tying him for eighth on the all-time Passaic County list.

Ridgefield did not submit information.

Rutherford has a talented group of returnees in Marco Bozza Caballero (S), Kai Sperling (S), Dylan Gravina (J/S), Tyler Smith (J/S), James Alati (J/S/H), Haratio Nelson (S/H), Ariel Tepox Carino (MD/S) and Joaquin Narucki (MD).

Saddle Brook returns senior Luke Faber (T), Greg Ramierez (T) and junior Devin Thomas (D) and will prepare for the spring season.

Saddle River Day did not submit information.

Secaucus has a new head coach in former assistant Don Somerset, who welcomes back senior Isaac Garcia (MD), and juniors Youcef Abada (MD) and Ryan Joehnk (S).

Waldwick returns distance standout Marshall Carver and sprinter Matthew Elsasser.

Weehawken did not submit information.

Wood-Ridge/Wallington is a new Co-op program under new coach Juan Pachon and has only freshmen on the boys team.

Others

Kinnelon has a solid distance team with seniors Will Portman, Kyle Bjornsen and Jayden Hur and depth and versatility in Henry Manton, Kieran Fitzgerald and Harrison Cornett. Senior Matt Kispert (S/J), junior Joseph Mendy (S/J) and junior Mohammad Almosbeth (S/H) will also be prominent potential scorers.

Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com Twitter: @northnjtrack

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ boys winter track team-by-team previews - 2023-24