The Livingston girls stepped out of the shadows of the boys team and showed that it also has a team to be reckoned with when it scored a dramatic one-point victory at the Eighth Dodgertown Relays this past Saturday in Madison.
Meanwhile, the Livingston boys nearly made it a sweep, placing second to Summit, 54-40.
The Lady Lancers, led by senior captain Megan Kelly, junior Nancy Yang and thrower Michelle Lee, used a very balanced attack on the track and in the field to edge Parsippany, 55-54, to win the team trophy.
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"We had a nice combination of experienced athletes and underclassmen all performing well both on the track and in the field events,’’ said Livingston girls coach Keith Chaudruc. "Many underclassmen are capable of contributing much earlier than I had previously thought.’’
Kelly was one of the catalysts for the Lancers. She led off the fourth-place distance medley relay with a 4:06.9 1,200 leg, soared a meet best 16-2 for the winning long jump team, cleared 4-6 on the runner-up high jump team and anchored the seventh-place sprint medley.
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Yang recorded the top triple jump mark of the meet with a 32-4 ½ to help her school place third in that event. She made a 4-8 in the high jump and went 14-9 ½ in the long jump.
In the throwing events, Lee had marks of 99-6 for the runner-up javelin team, 95-5 for the fourth place discus team and 28-6 ½ for the sixth place shot put team.
Senior Shoshanna Mahon also had an impressive all-round day for the Lancers. She recorded a throw of 97-4 in the javelin and also teamed with Lee on the fourth-place discus team.
Livingston also received a third-place finish in the pole vault from sophomore Joy Horng (8-0) and freshman Jennifer Su (7-0).
Finishing first in its first invitational of the season is something Chaudruc feels will create a positive outlook for his team as it prepares for bigger meets down the road.
"It’s a great confidence builder for the team,’’ said Chaudruc. "With many underclassmen and upperclassmen competing on the same relays, we are developing a strong sense of team unity which is always crucial for our success. I think many of our experienced athletes that we rely on so heavily are very excited about the performances of underclassmen. Another key to our teams success this year will be our ability to develop a strong well-balanced lineup in every event on the track and all the jumps and throwing events.’’
For the Livingston boys, senior German Valdez had a big day to help lead the team to a runner-up finish. Valdez had a 20-3 ¼, the No. 2 mark of the meet to lead Livingston to victory in the team long jump. He cleared 6-0 on the runner-up high jump team and ran a leg on the fourth place 4x200.
The Lancers also placed second in the distance medley in 10:37.8 (All-American Jeramy Elkaim anchored in 4:22), second in the pole vault behind Andy Jung’s 12-6, third in the shuttle hurdles, fourth in the 4x200, and fourth in the 4x800.
Livingston will seek to continue its hot start to the season when it heads to the Morris Hills Relays this Saturday.
