On The Track: LHS Boys and Girls Impress At Essex County Tournament

Livingston gave the home crowd plenty to get excited about with several sizzling performances at Friday's Essex County Relays.

The Livingston boys, which finished fifth in the 20-team field, provided one the biggest thrills of the meet in the distance medley relay, while the girls team showed off its balance and depth by scoring in 14 of the 16 events and placing second in the team standings.

For the boys, Nick Fogarty (3:12.6 for 1,200), Shane Molzer (53.4 for 400), Kieran Tonero (2:08 for 800) and Jeramy Elkaim (4:12.8 on the anchor) combined to finish first in 10:27.47. It was the first outdoor relay gold medal for Elkaim, a senior All-American.

Andy Jung and Mike Lazar also struck gold for the Lancers in the pole vault when the duo combined to clear 24-0. Lazar also added a personal best 18-10 on the runner-up long jump team.

In the triple jump, German Valdez and Chris Bargoud teamed up to grab a second place finish with a school record 80-3, just behind the first-place total of 80-4 1/4 by Montclair Immaculate. Valdez was also on the runner-up long jump team and sixth-place high jump team.

The throwing events produced personal bests for Josh Wang and Rusty Clark in both the discus, which placed sixth, and the javelin, which didn't finish in the scoring.

"We got great contributions from the distance team,'' said Livingston boys coach Bill Ehrlich. "Jeramy Elkaim, Nick Fogarty, Kieran Tonero, David Coleman, and Eric Sugarman, are always the backbone of our team. And German Valdez, a senior jumper and hurdler, led the team to three jumping medals. And our pole vault, Andy Jung and Mike Lazar are always among the best in the state."

Ehrlich said having the meet on its home track is a big source of inspiration for his team.

"So many of our relay teams performed their best at this meet,'' said Ehrlich. `"We host it, and our sense of ownership drives us to exceed expectations.''

The Livingston girls had a great meet as it finished second to mighty Columbia for the third straight year, 92-66, in the field of 19 teams.

There were many highlights for the Lancers. School records were broken in the triple jump, third with a 68-11 1/4, and the shuttle hurdle team, fifth in 1:08.84.

Senior captain Megan Kelly was on the 400 hurdles and DM teams, and did the long jump and high jump. Shannon Kelly anchored the 4x1600, 4x800 and anchored the DM with a personal best 5:15.6.

Eloissa Cusi ran on the 4x1600, 4x 800, and the sprint medley. Taylor Rosenblum recorded strong lead off legs on the 4x100, SM, 4x200 and ran a personal best 17.3 on the shuttle hurdle team.

Michelle Lee was on all three medal winning throwing teams. Tess Erhlich soared to a personal best of 9-6 in the pole vault. Freshman Jen Su earned four medals with four personal bests in the long jump (15 3 1/2), 400 IH (71.50), at 28.3 for 200 on the SM, and she ran an outstanding 16.8 anchor leg on the shuttle hurdle team.

Joy Horng continues to impress in the multi events, scoring in the pole vault, 400 hurdles and shuttle hurdles. Nancy Yang came up personal bests in the 4x100, shuttle hurdles, high jump and triple jump.

"I’m very proud of the way the whole team stepped up, each member did there part to contribute to our success,'' said Livingston girls coach Keith Chaudruc.

"We’ve continued to talk about the "TEAM" concept (Together-Everyone-Achieves-More) and the girls team really embodies that concept. As a coach, you love to see athletes overachieve, and that's what we did. I don’t think many people saw us as a team that would be competing for medals in almost every event.''