Chatham Indoor Track Athletes Achieve Personal Bests

It was a day of personal bests for the Chatham indoor track team at the Morris County Winter Track Championships on Wednesday.

Chatham's girls earned 10 points at the meet, taking 10th place. The Chatham boys finished 17th overall with one point total.

Randolph dominated the meet, taking first place with both their boys' and girls' teams.

Sophomore Anthony Malatesta, who has been winning various junior varsity events for Chatham throughout the indoor track season, ran a personal record time in the boys varsity 1600 meter event, taking ninth place out of 39 with his time of 4:45.25.

"This time was really unexpected … I've been running in the 4:50s every single race and not really getting any better. I was feeling really good today and just let the pack pull me," said Malatesta.

Senior Kat Grimes was the first runner to place for either the Chatham boys' or girls' teams, taking fifth out of 33 in the girls varsity 1600 meter run with a time of 5:14.57. She earned two points for her team.

"It was my best time this season … but I ran a 5:02 last year," Grimes said.

Grimes, who suffered a hamstring injury earlier this season, is still making up for lost training time. Despite not being at her peak, she has consistently placed among the top finishers in various distance events since her return.

With two events scored, Randolph was leading in both the boys' and girls' events—its boys earned 20 points and its girls won 22. The Chatham boys had not yet scored, but the girls were in seventh place with two points.

Chatham junior Lachlan Davis took 12th out of 51 in the boys varsity 300 meter dash with a time of 39.12. Senior Jake Bucksar took 14th with a time of 39.37.

Junior Jake Neumann was the first to place for the Chatham boys team, taking sixth out of 43 in the boys varsity shot-put event and earning one point with his throw of 45 feet, 4.5 inches.

"I expected he would go for his personal record, and he got it by over a foot," said Chatham Coach Pat Barry. "I know he is ecstatic."

Sophomore Tara Hanley had the best finish of the day for Chatham, taking second in the girls varsity 3200 meter run with a time of 11:19.94. She earned eight points for her team and broke her personal record.

"It was 11 or 12 seconds better than my best time," Hanley said. "I thought I would be in the 11:30s, like last time."

The Morris County Winter Track Championships are the last event of the season held at Drew University, where most of Chatham's meets have been this year.

The next Chatham indoor track meet is the Ed Grant Last Chance Invitational at the Jersey City Armory at 4 p.m.