MADISON — The Chatham indoor track teams competed at Drew University on Wednesday in an invitational that honors the head coach of Dover, Wayne Valentine, who has coached at various Morris County schools throughout his 46-year coaching career and is active in the Morris County Track Coaches Association.
The meet, appropriately, is called the Valentine Invitational. No scores were kept at the meet, but top six finishers in each event were awarded medals.
The Chatham boys won three medals during the meet, while the girls finished with a total of four.
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Aaron Young earned the first medal of the day for Chatham with a fifth place finish in the boys' freshman hurdles event, clocking in at 10.10 seconds.
Senior Kat Grimes won the first medal for the girls team, taking second place out of 48 in the girls' varsity 1600 meter run. She lost only to a meet record-breaking performance by Sparta freshman Claudia Disomma. Grimes and Disomma led the pack for the whole race, but Disomma pulled away at the end.
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The second medal of the day for the boys team came from Thomas Whiteside's fourth place finish in the freshman boys' 1600 meter run. He finished with a time of 5:24.10.
"I was hoping to do well. It was right around the time I was looking for," said Whiteside.
Freshman Kathryn Gerding won a medal with her sixth place finish in the junior varsity girls' 55 meter dash. Her time, 8.5 seconds, was an improvement on previous performances.
"My last run was an 8.7, so I brought it down a lot," said Gerding.
Sophomore Corey Black took first place in the boys' junior varsity 600 meter event with a time of 1:34.20, exactly half a second away from the meet record.
"I come into it always hoping to do well, but I never thought I would do that well. I was able to come across the line, turn around, and see the next guy finish. I was not expecting that," said Black.
"He has been improving tremendously," Chatham Head Coach Pat Barry said of Black's performance. "His brother placed fifth in the Meet of Champions a few years ago, so Corey has running in his family—big shoes to fill."
Sophomore Julie Williamson earned the girls team a third medal by finishing sixth out of 56 in the junior varsity 300 meter event. Her time was 48.23.
"I usually run about a 45, but I just ran a 600 before it. It was still good for me. I thought I was going to be more tired, so it was a successful race," Williamson said as she picked up her medal.
Freshman Alex Conforti took fifth in the girls' junior varsity 1000 meter run with a time of 3:41.43, earning Chatham their final medal of the night.
Chatham's boys and girls track teams go to Toms River this weekend for the NJSIAA Group 2 Relays.
