Winter Track: Highlights from the NJIC Championships

Hasbrouck Heights won its seventh NJIC winter track championship in both the boys and girls divisions Thursday night at the Armory Track Center. But the way the Aviators earned their sweep couldn't have been more different.

The girls won just two events and tied for a third title but rolled up the largest victory of the 10 meets held since the inaugural meet in 2013, while the boys won four events, three by distance star Aidan Morrow to win by just one point over Glen Rock in the closest margin of any of the previous league meets.

The girls, winners 102 1/2-29 over Rutherford, scored enough points in the 3,200, 55 dash and 55 hurdles, the meet's first three events to earn their victory despite not winning the 55 dash, 55 hurdles or the 3,200 meters.

But the boys championship wasn't decided until Lodi's Jeremy Andre came up less than three inches short of passing Hasbrouck Heights' Matt Murillo on his final attempt in the triple jump, securing the Aviators 68-67 win over Glen Rock.

When Glen Rock won the 4-x-400 relay, the last event on the track, the Panthers led Heights, 67-56 with both the high jump and triple jump still incomplete.

Murillo, a former basketball player in his first season of winter track was third after the preliminaries of the triple jump and was one of six jumpers who had cleared 5-10 in the high jump. Two misses at 5-10 had left him in sixth place and if the meet ended right there, Heights would still be four points short of a tie.

"Matt cleared six feet for the first time ever on his first attempt and clinched third place and six points in the high jump,'' said Hasbrouck Heights head coach Rob Brady. "Then he went back over to the triple jump.''

Jack Monolucas of Lodi and Noah Thomas of Eastern Christian were sitting 1-2 in the event with Murillo third. Three other jumpers were within seven inches of Murillo as the final set of three jumps apiece began. No one improved in the fourth and fifth round. But after Andrew Pasdar of Emerson and Anthony Santana of Lyndhurst came up short of Murillo's effort, Andre soared to his best jump of the night, coming up 2 3/4 inches short of Murillo's 41-3 3/4. Murillo, next up in the rotation, went 42-0 3/4 for his personal best within 15 minutes and the boys had their win.

Before that it was the Aidan Morrow and Michael Napolitano show. Morrow, the junior distance star, easily won the 3,200 and 1,600, then capped his night by setting a meet record in the 800, one of 11 meet records set during the competition. Napolitano, just a sophomore crushed the old 55 meters record in a win and then took third in the 55 hurdles.

Keating sets Passaic County record in the pole vault, continuing a stirring comeback

First he won the pole vault competition at a pedestrian 11-6. Then he tied his personal best set just three nights earlier and set an NJIC meet record of 13-7, seven inches higher than anyone else in state group 1 has jumped this year.

But Pompton Lakes junior Owen Keating was just getting warmed up. He cleared 14-2 on his first attempt, breaking the indoor Passaic County record (14-1 by Chris Steele of Pompton Lakes in 2011) and the indoor Keating family mark of 14-0 set by his dad (and coach) Steve Keating in 1986.

Then it was 14-7 on his first attempt, breaking the absolute (indoor and outdoor) Passaic pole vault best of 14-6 set by Jeff Young of Wayne Valley in 2003 and tied by Steele in 2011.

And after switching to a heavier pole, Owen, whose sister Emma won three girls state Meet of Champions titles including indoor last winter, went over 15 feet on his third attempt, just the 10th New Jersey junior in history to reach the exalted height.

"I knew it was coming,'' said Keating, who didn't vault from June, 2022 to last November on doctor's recommendation because of pain in his ankles caused by growing more than three inches and add more than 20 pounds. "But I didn't think it would happen this fast. I wanted to clear 15 feet by the end of this spring and now I have to adjust those goals.''

Leonia's Jaden Marchan completed a sensational January by running his third state leading time of the month, this time an easy 48.23 400 win in his first attempt at the distance this season. The Georgetown-bound Marchan had earlier set seasonal state bests in the 600 (1:17.66) and 200 (21.62) and nearly matched his indoor Bergen record of 48.22 that he ran at the New Balance Indoor National meet last March. His 600 mark is a state record and his 200 mark ties the Bergen record for that event.

Heights girls roll to their win

Eliott Eddy set a meet record in the shot put and Lexi Samperi won the long jump, lost the 55 hurdles by .01, took third in the 55 and fourth in the high jump. The star senior duo combined for 38 points, easily enough for the team title.

The Hasbrouck Heights distance team of juniors Mackenzie Bua, Lexi Powers, Mae Veliky and Nina Castellano combined for 30 points in the 1,600, also enough to outscore any of the 22 other teams.

The rest of the Heights team combined for 34 1/2 points, again more than any other team.

"We have kids like Ellie Shkreli who are coming on strong and our pole vaulters, Jennie Olivero, Andrea Estrada and Abigail Wanco did a great job,'' said Brady. "We have a balanced and deep team behind our stars and everyone contributed.''

Other individual scorers were Sarah Vinas and Jasmine Williams.

Summaries

Boys

TEAM SCORES: Hasbrouck Heights (HH) 68, Glen Rock (GR) 67, Rutherford (RU) 38 1/2, Lodi (LO) 22, Becton (BEC) 21, Hawthorne (HAW) and Weehawken (WEE) 18, Park Ridge (PR), Saddle Brook (SB) and Dwight-Englewood (DE) 14, Emerson (EM) and Midland Park (MP) 11, Pompton Lakes (PL), Cresskill (CR) and Leonia (LE) 10, Lyndhurst (LY) and Ridgefield (RF) 8, Manchester (MAN) 4, New Milford (NM) 3, Eastern Christian (EC) 2 1/2.

55: 1. Michael Napolitano (HH), 6.56 (record, old record, 6.64 by Quazier Dailey (MAN), 2017); 2. Marco Bozza-Cabballero (RU), 6.59; 3. Jack Monolucas (LO), 6.71; 4. Gustavo Costa (BEC), 6.77; 5. Jeancarlos Mendoza (HAW), 6.80; 6. Edwin Sanjay (NM), 6.81.

400: 1. Jaden Marchan (LE), 48.23 (record, old record, 50.71 by Jake DiJulia (SB), 2023); 2. Carter Solloway (HAW)), 50.77; 3. Bozza-Caballero, 51.41; 4. Tyler Caswell (GR), 51.60; 5. Steven Longo (BEC), 51.75; 6. Kai Sperling (RU), 52.15.

800: 1. Aidan Morrow (HH), 2:02.47 (record, old record, 2:03.13 by Isaiah Sparkes (MAN), 2020); 2. Devin Smith (GR), 2:04.64; 3. Ryan Ober (HH), 2:05.32; 4. Ben Habler (GR), 2:06.05; 5. Longo, 2:07.65; 6. Ben Raser (GR), 2:07.65.

1,600: 1. Morrow, 4:37.97; 2. Patrick Tallman (PR), 4:45.76; 3. Habler, 4:47.21; 4. Alex Talmazan (EM), 4:50.83; 5. Raser, 4:52.62; 6. Max Thorn (BEC), 4:55.31.

3,200: 1. Morrow, 10:03.94; 2. Habler, 10:15.09; 3. William O'Donovan (PR), 10:18.51; 4. Raser, 10:32.67; 5. Ryan Wolfe (GR), 10:39.46; 6. Thoen, 10:39.47.

55 HH: 1. Caswell, 7.71 (record, old record, 7.94 by Dan Dooner (GR), 2014); 2. James Alati (RU), 7.82; 3. Napolitano, 8.23; 4. Haotian Lin (HAW), 8.26; 5. Aidan Vidal (HH), 8.51; 6. Nick Esposito (MP), 8.53.

Shot put: 1. Jake Douma (MP), 48-4 1/2; 2. Gregorie Ramirez (SB), 46-2; 3. Luke Faber (SB), 43-9 1/2; 4. Evan Yuzon (GR), 42-2; 5. Jayiem Gilkes (BEC), 41-10; 6. Bobby Else (RU), 40-0 1/2.

High jump: 1. Jordan Russell (WEE), 6-4 (record, old record, 6-0 by Naseer Wilson (DE), 2018 and Rashawn Markman, Waldwick, 2020); 2. Lasana Darboe (RF), 6-2; 3. Matt Murillo (HH), 6-0; 4. Elijah Rowe (MAN), 5-10; 5. Noah Thomas (DE), 5-10; 6. Jaydon Gilkes (BEC), 5-10.

Long jump: 1. Joshua Yoon (CR), 20-9; 2. Russell, 20-6; 3. Anthony Santana (LY), 20-2 1/2; 4. Thomas, 20-2 1/2; 5. Murillo, 20-2; 6. Jeremy Andre (LO), 19-10 3/4.

Triple jump: 1. Monolucas, 43-2; 2. Thomas, 42-1 1/2; 3. Murillo, 42-0 3/4; 4. Andre, 41-1; 5. Santana, 40-9 1/4; 6. Andrew Pasdar (EM), 40-9.

Pole vault: 1. Owen Keating (PL), 15-0 (meet and Passaic County record, old meet record, 13-6 by Andrew Accardi (PL), 2015; old Passaic record, 14-1 by Chris Steele (PL), 2011); 2. Dylan Gravina (RU), 11-0; 3. Peter Forsdahl (EM), 10-6; 4. Raser, 10-6; 5. Tim LaBianca (EM), 10-6; 6. Sebastian Castro (RU) and Stone Davis (EC), 9-6.

4-x-400 relay: 1. Glen Rock, 3:34.47 (record, old record, 3:36.5 by Hasbrouck Heights, 2015); 2. Becton, 3:35.31; 3. Rutherford, 3:36.65; 4. Hawthorne, 3:36.72; 5. New Milford, 3:42.53; 6. Lodi, 3:42.54.

Girls

TEAM SCORES: Hasbrouck Heights (HH) 102 1/2, Rutherford (RU) 29, Becton (BEC) and Glen Rock (GR) 27, Hawthorne (HAW) 24, Emerson (EM) 23, Lyndhurst (LY) 21, Ridgefield (RF) 20, Eastern Christian (EC) 17, Midland Park (MP) 16, Butler (BUT) 13, Bogota (BOG) 12, Weehawken (WEE) 8, New Milford (NM) 6 1/2, Manchester (MAN) 6, Dwight-Englewood (DE) and Waldwick (WAL) 5, Saddle Brook (SB) 4, Garfield (GAR) 3, Park Ridge (PR) 2, North Arlington (NA) 1.

55: 1. Kylie Castillo (RF), 7.41 (record, old record, 7.42 by Castillo, 2023); 2. Izabela Samu (GR), 7,63; 3. Alexandra Samperi (HH), 7.67; 4. Fiona Waller (RU), 7.69; 5. Nicole Freiler (PR), 7.74; 6. Julia Tozduman (LY), 7.79.

400: 1. Castillo, 57.61 (record, old record, 58.12 by Castillo, 2023); 2. Olivia Passero (HAW), 1:01.36; 3. Sarah Vinas (HH), 1:03.99; 4. Averie Cartagena (HAW), 1:04.02; 5. Jaidyn Reiser (WEE), 1:04.27; 6. Gabriella Sperling (RU), 1:04.36.

800: 1. Poppie Bimson (RU), 2:27.10; 2. Mika Tampadong (BEC), 2:30.11; 3. Passero, 2:30.61; 4. Olivia Poplawski (SB), 2:32.50; 5. Ana Michel (BOG), 2:32.84; 6. Abigail Manley (GR), 2:33.66.

1,600: 1. Isabel Michel (BOG), 5:29.23; 2. Mackenzie Bua (HH), 5:37.71; 3. Lexi Powers (HH), 5:54.46; 4. Taylor Paglio (LY), 5:56.60; 5. Mae Veliky (HH), 5:58.41; 6. Julia Jablonska (GAR), 6:04.60.

3,200: 1. Tampadong, 11:58.72 (record, old record, 12:00.4 by Alex Walter (GR), 2015); 2. Bua, 12:12.38; 3. Tarikwa Dunn (WEE), 12:15.58; 4. Powers, 12:16.56; 5. Nina Castellano (HH), 13:03.54; 6. Brenna Heelan (WAL), 13:11.96.

55 HH: 1. Samu, 8.88; 2. Samperi, 8.89; 3. Ellie Shkreli (HH), 9.09; 4. Fibianna Ajetunmobi (NM), 9.32; 5. Taylor Peters (BU), 9.86; 6. Callie Rapoport (BU), 9.88.

Shot put: 1. Elliot Eddy (HH), 38-8 1/4 (record, old record, 38-5 1.2 by Jenna Rogers (RU), 2020); 2. Riley Butler (MP), 36-1; 3. Sharyn Thomas (EC), 34-8; 4. Abriella Woodward (WAL), 34-5 1/2; 5. Sarah Dupreville (NM), 32-6 1/4; 6. Daliana Rojas (NA), 32-2.

High jump: 1. Peters, 5-0; 2. Olyvia Burrell (EM), 5-0; 3. April Disla (MAN), 4-10; 4. Samperi, 4-10; 5. Juliette SIng (RU), 4-10; 6. Jasmine Williams (HH) and Hannah Belthoff (NM), 4-8.

Long jump: 1. Samperi, 17-6 3/4; 2. Tozduman, 17-3; 3. Burrell, 16-7 1/2; 4. Samu, 15-10 1/2; 5. Samantha Cebulski (MP)< 15-8 1/2; 6. Valerie Portuphy (EC), 15-7.

Triple jump: 1. Portuphy, 35-11; 2. Tozduman, 35-7; 3. Cebulski, 35-5 1/4; 4. Uma Rajan (DE), 33-8; 5. Gracie Taylor (BEC), 33-4; 6. Emma Hsu (DE), 33-3.

Pole vault: 1. Oliwia Kapuscinski (EM) and Jennie Olivero (HH), 8-0; 3. Amelia Carrasco (BEC), 8-0; 4. Andrea Estrada (HH), 7-6; 5. Raena Forte (RU), 7-6; 6. Abigail Wanco (HH), 7-0.

4-x-400 relay: 1. Rutherford, 4:16.25; 2. Hasbrouck Heights, 4:23.81; 3. Hawthorne, 4:30.83; 4. Glen Rock, 4:31.69; 5. Garfield, 4:37.08; 6. Becton, 4:40.50.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Highlights from the NJIC Winter Track Championships