Flyer Breaks Own School Record for Madison Indoor Track

It was a day of record-breaking performances, with both personal records and a Madison High School record beaten by the Dodgers at the Morris County Winter Track Championships. The Madison girls earned four points at the meet, putting them in 13^th place overall, while the Madison boys finished 16^th overall with two points total.

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

Sophomore Jack Mahoney took eighth out of 39 in the boys varsity 1,600-meter event with a time of 4:39.60, a personal best. Among underclassmen that competed in the varsity event, he was third. Senior Madison runner Greg Zitelli placed 11^th in the event.

Mahoney's time was the best this year for any Madison runner in the 1,600 meters. Mahoney, who left the event early because he is also in the school's jazz band, was not available to comment on his race, but his teammates described it for him.

"He was behind in the beginning with a big group ahead," Zitelli said, "But he stayed patient and ran his own race."

"You could tell from the beginning he was running a good race … you could see in the last two laps he was going at a record pace for himself. He broke 4:40 and we were all excited because we knew it meant a lot to him," said Madison senior Jakob Steinmetz.

The Madison High School record in the mile is 4:28, which some of Mahoney's teammates suggested was within his reach considering he is only a sophomore.

"I could even see him being a state champion in a couple years," said Zitelli.

With two events scored, Randolph was leading in both the boys and girls events, earning 20 points for the boys and 22 points for the girls. The Madison boys and girls had not yet scored in any event.

Senior Kyle Flyer was the first Madison boy to place in an event, taking fifth out of 35 in the boys varsity 1,000-meter run, finishing the event in 2:42.44 and earning the Dodgers two points.

Flyer's time was a personal best, breaking his own Madison High School record which he set in last year's Morris County Championships.

"I thought I could do better, but top five in county championships is great. It was a good meet," Flyer said.

Junior Melissa Iskandar continued a string of recent top-six finishes with a fourth-place finish in the girls varsity 1,000-meter run, earning her team its only four points with her time of 3:08.22, another personal record.

"I was so nervous today. I was getting butterflies and freaking out, and I know when I get that way it makes it hard to focus and do well. For me, it's a lot about controlling my nerves to do well, and I did. So, I was really happy," Iskandar said.

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

The next Madison indoor track meet is at the Fairleigh Dickinson Field Events meet in Teaneck at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.