Winter track: Highlights from the Passaic County championships

Warming up for the Passaic County 55 hurdles preliminaries at Ocean Breeze Track Center in Staten Island on Jan. 24, 2022, Passaic Valley sophomore Tavi Victoria, one of the favorites in the event despite his youth suffered a broken left clavicle in a bad fall over a hurdle.

Even though he recovered remarkably quickly and was back in time for spring track season, it was the beginning of hard luck experiences for one of North Jersey's top hurdlers in the short hurdles event at his county championship.

That spring, he narrowly lost to Passaic Tech's Johann Contreras at 110 hurdles after leading the qualifying rounds. Last winter, he lost the 55 hurdles by .02 second to Lakeland's Kyle Keyes after again leading qualifying. Last spring, he was second to Clifton's Romelo Tables.

"It was more heartbreaking than difficult to keep coming up short,'' said Victoria after he finally won a Passaic title in an exciting 55 hurdles race that kicked off the 2024 Passaic County Championships Monday at Ocean Breeze. "That first year I was going full speed to the first hurdle, and I got to the hurdle too quickly and caught my lead leg under the hurdle. I still have the scar from the surgery.''

Victoria never gave up and got over the fear of returning to the hurdles, where he ranks second in school history at both the 55 (indoor) and 400 (outdoors) and has a great shot at a state group medal. But the win Monday was a big one for him.

"It was really rewarding,'' said Victoria. "To get the edge on Kyle after we've had so many great races together was sentimental to me.''

Passaic Tech boys count on their depth to retain the title

On paper, it looks as if Passaic Tech breezed to its second straight boys title, 95-60, over Passaic Valley. But the Bulldogs had several setbacks, including an injury to standout jumper Trashon Dye and some sub-par performances from other expected stars, winning just two individual events, the long jump and 800. The Bulldogs, usually strong in the sprint events, didn't get a single point in the 100, 200 and 400.

Yet the repeat title was never in doubt.

"Everybody came through today,'' said PCTI boys coach Jeff Cioletti after the meet. "We started off by placing three kids in the hurdle finals and we got some great performances from our second and third kids in a few events.''

One of those was junior John Swaney, who took second behind PCT state medalist Raynier Galvez in the 800 and third in the 1,600 before running a terrific leg as part of the Bulldogs' winning 4-x-400 relay.

"John's been with us from his freshman year and he just keeps getting better,'' said Cioletti. "Rey has had a great year and John has improved right with him. The key to winning these things are kids like him.''

Galvez missed setting the meet record in the 800 by just .09 second, running 1:58.17, and also had a sizzling 49.60 anchor leg on the aforementioned relay. Victor Echavarria won the long jump with a strong leap of 20-9 for PCTI's other win.

The Bulldogs also placed a pair of athletes in the pole vault, triple jump and shot put en route to their win.

Passaic County cross-country champion Lamarr Olive scored impressive wins in both the 1,600 and 3,200, with a PR of 4:33.10 in the former event. Passaic Valley's Karim Elsaadany won the 55 and 200 races and took fifth place in the high jump.

Owen Keating of Pompton Lakes showed he's a contender for a group pole vault ,championship, by clearing a personal best 13-7.

Mieses and Villaneuva doubles lead Passaic Tech past a scrappy Wayne Hills girls challenge

In contrast to the depth that enabled the PCTI boys team to score its second straight victory, the Lady Bulldogs were powered by a trio of individual stars to score its repeat win, 87-77, over a versatile Wayne Hills team.

Hailey Mieses, Calyse Villanueva and Jahnzara Mclean Abdullah combined to score five wins and 62 points to lead the Bulldogs to the win.

Mieses, running her first indoor season, set a personal bests of 7.46 and 26.86 to win the 55 and 200 meter races, with Villanueva, disappointed, with her non-placing performance in the high jump, stormed back to win the pole vault and then triple jumped an indoor personal best of 36-6 1/2, fifth in Passaic County history to win that event.

Abdullah, a sophomore who was second to Mieses in the 55 and fourth in the 200, both in personal bests, scored a third personal best in winning the 55 hurdles and ran a leg on the third place 4-x-400 team.

Wayne Hills stayed in the meet through some brilliant individual performances of its own. Sprinter Alyssa Chan took a pair of thirds in the 55 and 200, Elizabeth Dankwa threw a personal best and indoor school record to win the shot put and Payton Dubanowitz scored 16 points with personal bests in all three distance events.

And American University bound distance runner Kara Langbaum, after dominating the 800 and 1,600 races, ran her first ever 3,200 and took second behind Passaic cross-country champion Ciara Clinton of West Milford.

"It wasn't very much fun running the 32,'' said Langbaum. "But I did it to give our team a chance to win. I knew we needed the points and I knew that Payton and could do well in a third race.''

Langbaum, who won the outdoor 800 and 1,600 titles last spring has taken on a larger leadership role this year and that's helped Dubanowitz step up as well.

"I'm much more confident in myself,'' Langbaum said. "I tell people to walk to the starting line like they own it and that makes a big difference."

Summaries

Boys

TEAM SCORES: Passaic Tech (PCT) 95, Passaic Valley (PV) 60, Eastside (E) 48, West Milford (WM) 44, Clifton (CL) 33, Wayne Valley (WV) 25, Wayne Hills (WH) and Lakeland (L) 18, Hawthorne (HAW) and Passaic (P) 16, Pompton Lakes (PL) 10, Kennedy (K) 8, Eastern Christian (EC) 5, Manchester (MAN) 4.

55: 1. Karim Elsaadany (PV), 6.54; 2. Nigel Jennings (E), 6.66; 3. Noah Traverso (WM), 6.71; 4. Jeancarlos Mendoza (HAW), 6.73; 5. Logan Gray (L), 6.85; 6. Tyler Lizardo (HAW), 6.86.

200: 1. Elsaadany, 22.45; 2. Jayden Mckenzie (E), 22.61; 3. Traverso, 22.67; 4. Mendoza, 22.91; 5. Jennings, 23.17; 6. Brendan Carroll (WH), 23.32.

400: 1. Mackenzie, 50.38; 2. Issaih Melendez (K), 51.19; 3. Carter Solloway (HAW), 51.73; 4. Brian Pizzaro (PV), 51.81; 5. Tavi Victoria (PV), 51.86; 6. Carroll, 52.55.

800: 1, Raynier Galvez (PCT), 1:58.17; 2. John Swaney (PCT), 2:03.27; 3., Basell Dahhan (PV), 2:03.57; 4. Aidan Mugno (WV), 2:03.97; 5. Jon Novembre (WH), 2:04.80; 6. Nicholas Montiel (PV), 2:06.35.

1,600: 1. Lamarr Olive (CL), 4:33.10; 2. Milan Mistry (WV), 4:36.15; 3. Swaney, 4:39.38; 4. Patrick Dubois (CL), 4:41.89; 5. Dahhan, 4:43.77; 6. Daniel Haddad (WV), 4:46.27.

3,200: 1. Olive, 10:01.55; 2. Mistry, 10:29.20; 3. Michael Coliente (P), 10:31.89; 4. Haddad, 10:41.03; 5. Evan Caldwell (L), 10:45.27; 6. Alexandro Ralli (CL), 10:48.14.

55 HH: 1. Victoria, 7.89; 2. Kyle Keyes (L), 7.92; 3. Jordan Lawton (PCT), 8.06; 4. Esmeidy Ortiz (PCT), 8.13; 5. Logan Ntansah (WH), 8.26; 6. Michael Vargas (PCT), 8.48.

Shot put: 1. Michael Clark (P), 49-0; 2. Owen Wescott (PCT), 47-1; 3. Brody McCormack (L), 42-11 1/2; 4. Nick DeCeglie (PCT), 42-2 1/2; 5. Rajan Rana (PV), 42-1 1/2; 6. Alias Ragsdale (CL), 41-2 1/2.

High jump: 1. Tyler Meier (WM), 5-10; 2. Zaire Belton (E), 5-8; 3. Jared Garcia (PCT), 5-8; 4. Elijah Rowe (MAN), 5-8; 5. Elsaadany, 5-8; 6. Pizzaro, 5-6.

Long jump: 1. Victor Echavarria (PCT), 20-9; 2. Traverso, 20-7 1/4; 3. Belton, 20-5; 4. Kevin Ortiz (PCT), 19-10; 5. Colby Scott (WM), 19-4; 6. Nathaniel Phillip (CL), 19-0.

Triple jump: 1. Traverso, 43-8; 2,. Abdulai St. Paul (WH), 42-0; 3. Phillip, 41-7; 4. Ethan Justin (PCT), 41-3; 5. Pizzaro, 41-2; 6. Garcia, 40-11.

Pole vault: 1. Owen Keating (PL), 13-7; 2. Vargas, 10-0; 3. Liam Bottcher (PCT) and Tim LaBianca (EC), 9-0.

4-x-400 relay: 1. Passaic Tech, 3:26.95; 2. Passaic Valley, 3:30.84; 3. Eastside, 3:34.60; 4. Wayne Hills, 3:37.92; 5. West Milford, 3:43.61; 6. Hawthorne, 3:43.64.

Girls

TEAM SCORES: Passaic Tech (PCT) 87, Wayne Hills (WH) 77, Passaic Valley (PV) 58, Lakeland (L) 56, West Milford (WM) 42, Wayne Valley (WV) 29, Clifton (CL) 24, Eastern Christian (EC) 14, Hawthorne (HAW) 9, Manchester (MAN) 6, Eastside (E) 1.

55: 1. Hailey Meises (PCT), 7.46; 2. Jahzara Mclean Abdullah (PCT), 7.58; 3. Alyssa Chan (WH), 7.64; 4. DeZyiah Carswell (PV), 7.75; 5. Sara Paul (WV), 7.80; 6. Alexa Goll (L), 7.83.

200: 1. Mieses, 26.86; 2. Carswell, 26.96; 3. Chan, 27.16; 4. Abdullah, 27.42; 5. Goll, 27.48; 6. Olivia Passero (HAW), 27.50.

400: 1. Goll, 1:00.87; 2. Mia DeVita (CL), 1:00.96; 3. Passero, 1:01.24; 4. Casey Noonan (PCT), 1:01.83; 5. Carswell, 1:01.92; 5. Catherine Wiley (L), 1:03.54.

800: 1. Kara Langbaum (WH), 2:21.78; 2. Ava Maher (WV), 2:27.80; 3. Alayna Antonucci (PV), 2:29.46; 4. Payton Dubanowitz (WH), 2:31.12; 5. Hope Walker (L), 2:31.87; 6. Ciara Clinton (WM), 2:32.68.

1,600: 1. Langbaum, 5:16.57; 2. Dubanowitz, 5:27.89; 3. Clinton, 5:29.47; 4. Brenna Traverso (WM), 5:44.80; 5. Viktoria Green (CL), 5:49.02; 6. Kayla Barnhardt (L), 5:50.53.

3,200: 1. Clinton, 11:54.02; 2. Langbaum, 12:33.36; 3. Green, 12:34.81; 4. Dubanowitz, 12:40.55; 5. Barnhardt, 12:44.86; 6. Nour Salem (WH), 12:52.69.

55 HH: 1. Abdullah, 9.33; 2. Antonucci, 9.37; 3. Mckenzie Moore (WH), 9.40; 4. Jaelynn Vivanco (L), 9.44; 5. Deborah Amoh (CL), 9.63; 6. Noonan, 9.76.

Shot put: 1. Elizabeth Dankwa (WH), 35-10 1/2; 2. Isabella Andriulli (L), 35-1 1/2; 3. Chloe Brijbag (WM), 34-4; 4. Taylor Giles (PCT), 31-8 1/4; 5. Thalia Bennett (L), 31-2 3/4; 6. Olivia Galambos (WH), 30-5 1/2.

High jump: 1. Mackenzie Beazley (PV), 5-3; 2. Madison Freideman (WM), 4-10; 3. April Disla (MAN), 4-10; 4. Amoh, 4-8; 5. Maher, 4-8; 6. Christina Chen (WH), 4-6.

Long jump: 1. Valerie Portuphy (EC), 15-9; 2. Mieses, 15-8; 3. Brianna Rodriguez (L), 15-7 1/2; 4. Laiana Anderson (L), 15-6; 5. Amoh, 15-4 1/2; 6. Sharlin Martinez (E), 15-4 1/2.

Triple jump: 1. Calyse Villaneuva (PCT), 36-6 1/2; 2. Rodriguez, 34-2 1/2; 3. Freideman, 33-3; 4. Portuphy, 32-1 1/2; 5. Mackenzie Doyle (HAW), 32-0; 6. Athena Giotis (WV), 31-9.

Pole vault: 1. Villaneuva, 9-0; 2. Meghan Tomback (WV), 8-6; 3. Giuliana Antonucci (PV), 8-0; 4. A. Antonucci, 8-0; 5. Sofia Campadonico (PCT), 7-6; 6. Ashley Hammerle (L), 7-0.

4-x-400 relay: 1. Passaic Valley, 4:11.81; 2. Wayne Valley, 4:12.51; 3. Passaic Tech, 4:15.32; 4. Lakeland, 4:25.28; 5. Wayne Hills, 4:30.24; 6. West Milford, 4:41.39.

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