Ridge HS Boys Track Team Wins Somerset County Championships

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Following victories at the cross country and indoor relay championships, the Ridge High School boys' track and field team added to the string with a dominating win in this year's Somerset County outdoor championship.

Ridge outpaced runner-up Franklin by 30.5 points (110 – 79.5) combining a balanced attack of both their traditional middle-distance strength with a steadily improving field event presence.

Junior Owen Mays and senior Leo Kovatch got things rolling for Ridge in the 400-meter hurdles, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. They were followed by the trio of sophomore Brenden McMahon, junior Dev Patel and junior Dmitry Cole in the 1600 meter run, who finished 1st, 2nd and 4th – with Patel posting a career PR in the process.

Mays then came back to capture 3 rd in the 110HH. He was followed by junior Edward Condolon and Kovatch, who finished 3 rd and 5 th respectively in the 400 meter dash. In the process, Kovatch posted his second PR of the day!

Next up for Ridge was the 800 meter run, where senior Patrick Doran continued his return from injury to place 2 nd and senior Jon Wey chipped in with a 4 th place finish.

This was followed by the 3200 meter run where McMahon captured his second victory of the meet and Patel used his second PR of the day to secure a 5 th place finish.

The track scoring concluded with the 4x400 meter relay team of Kovatch, sophomore Joseph Dachnowicz, Condolon and Doran getting the baton around with a 2 second victory.

A young and improving field event group contributed 26 points to the victory.

Junior Lok Hariharan posted a 2 nd place mark in the Shot Put. Senior Chris Kirkwood tied his PR to place 3 rd in the Pole Vault. Junior Will Deady jumped to a PR to place 3 rd in the High Jump Sophomores Marcus Reilly and Jared Rascio also contributed key 5 th place finishes, with Reilly tying his PR in the Pole Vault and Rascio in the Long Jump.

Next up for the boys will be the Skyland Conference outdoor championships, which will be held at Hillsborough High School on Tuesday, May 22.

— Submitted by Susan Rascio