Central Pole Vaulter Wins Morris County Title

Junior Pole Vaulter Marlena Paz cleared an outdoor best 10' 6" to top a field of 30 competitors and win the county title at the Morris County Outdoor Track and Field Championships contested earlier this week at Boonton High School. 

Her victory was the lone top finish for Central over the two day championship meet; however, there were plenty of other outstanding performances by WMC athletes at this very competitive and entertaining event.

On the second day of competition, the Central boys top pole vaulter, Max Maroney, was able to clear 13' 6", good enough for third place in the county. Maroney also finished in third place in the County Championship during the indoor season, when he vaulted 12' 6".

Perhaps the emotional highlight of the championships for West Morris was the thrilling girls 4x400 relay, the meet’s final event. The relay team consisting of Abby Rec, Katie Sabatino, Lauren Toth and Kylene Cochrane succeeded in breaking the school record which they had been zeroing in on over the last few weeks.   

Rec opened up the relay with a 1:00:75 split, followed by Sabatino (1:00:25) and Toth (1:00:44). Cochrane took the baton in third place, only a few strides behind Parsippany’s Gabriela Rachmaciej. She flew by Rachmaciej on the back stretch and secured WMC’s second place finish with a 59:85 split. 

The team’s time of 4:01:68 easily broke the school record of 4:04:10 set in 2008. In addition to the post-race hugs in the infield among the girls, there was applause and high fives among the very happy parents in the stands. 

In the girls’ 800 meter race, West Morris was very well represented with two girls placing in the top five. Cochrane ran her best time of the outdoor season in 2:15:82, finishing second to Randolph’s talented sophomore Liz Lansing. In the same heat, Toth bettered her personal record in this race by almost 4 seconds to garner a fifth place medal in a time of 2:18:69.  Toth has been a 400 meter runner for most of her high school career and seems to be improving in this longer distance every time on the track.  She’ll be running for East Stroudsburg University in the fall.

Other point scorers for Central included: Cochrane finishing fourth in the 1600 (4:58:92); Brennan Sharkey taking fifth in the 3200 with a time of 11:09:75; Carli Thurber putting the shot 37-9, for a fourth place medal; and, Meggie LaGueux clearing 4-10 in the high jump, good enough to tie for sixth place and round out the scoring for Central’s girls.  Overall, the girls’ team scored a total of 38.5 points to place sixth in the county.

The other noteworthy performance for the girls’ team was Senior Brigitte Rec running the best 100 meter hurdle race of her career, clocking in at 17:20 in the preliminary heats and earning a spot in the semi-finals.  

In addition to Maroney’s performance in the pole vault, the two other top 10 results on the boys’ side were submitted by senior distance runner David Reed.  Reed finished seventh in the 1600 (4:28:37) on Tuesday and followed that up with an eighth place finish in the 3200 (10:00:72) on Wednesday.

A number of boys had their top performances of the season at the County meet. Thrower Kyle Guldner equaled his personal best in the Javelin with a throw of 153', which was good enough for 12th in the county. Sprinter John Fischer equaled his personal best in the 100 with a time of 11.91 and hurdler Sam Piraneo ran a personal record in the 110 hurdles in a time of 17.11.

Over the weekend, Central’s future varsity contributors had an opportunity to compete against their peers in the Morris County Frosh/Soph Championships.  This always popular meet allows underclassmen to experience running at the front of the pack and taking home well earned medals competing against their peers. And, WMC’s freshmen and sophomores brought home a lot of hardware.

For the boys, Teddy Meiners finished third in the 3200 with a time of 11:27:35.  Sophomores Brian Degen (high jump, 5-6) and Drew Billing (Javelin, 124-6) both took fourth place in their respective events. Mitchell Werth ran a 25:05 in the 200 to take fifth place, while fellow sophomore Greg Pease finished fifth in the 400 with a time of 55:45.  Pole Vaulter Scott Schumacker tied for 6^th in his event with a vault of 9-6.

The sophomore boys 4x400 relay team of Pease, Sergei Ashey, Kyle Fenskey and Werth finished sixth in their race with a time of 3:51:84.

On the girls’ side, Sierra Castaneda led the medal brigade with gold in the 1600, lowering her personal best time to 5:14:04.  Castaneda also had the fastest 1600 time of any freshman in the varsity County Championships and should be a valuable member of this team for the next three years.

Also on the track, Abby Rec medaled in two events, with third place finishes in the 400 (1:01:93) and the Long Jump (15-1). Tanna Holzworth added a third place finish in the 100 with a time of 13:36, her best time ever.

In the field events, Christen Cooper placed third in the discus with a throw of 30-9, Kristina Lovenberg took fifth in the high jump at 4-4 and Olivia Rassussen tied for sixth in the pole vault, clearing 6 feet.

Both the freshman and sophomore 4x400 meter relay teams medaled in their races. 

The freshman team of Castaneda (1:03:98), Lovenberg (1:07:97) and Mackenzie Eggleston (1:07:91) put WMC in medal position after three laps.  And, to the delight of her teammates and coaches, anchor Abby Rec ran a blistering 1:00:46 anchor leg, passing two runners in the home stretch to win the race for Central.

The team of Ally Heal (1:05:85), Tanna Holzworth (1:07:90), Mikayla Young (1:08:18) and Meghan Lloyd (1:06:78) took fourth place in their sophomore 4x4 relay.

The varsity competitors will be training this coming week in preparation for the State Sectional meet to be held on Friday and Saturday. Top finishers in this event will advance to the State Group Championships to be held the following weekend. Coaches Jay Herrigel (girls) and Tom Lawrence (boys) are hopeful for a strong showing from their athletes.