Madison High School Indoor Track Shows Improvement

The Madison High School boys and girls indoor track teams saw a marked improvement at the NJAC Championships at Drew University on Saturday. It was a day full of personal bests for the Dodgers.

The Northern Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Drew University were split into two sections on Saturday, with the larger teams competing in the American Division events, while the smaller teams compete in the Freedom Division events. Madison, being classified as a small school, competed in the Freedom events.

In the boys 1,600-meter run, the Dodgers placed second, fifth, and eighth out of 20. Senior Kyle Flyer took second, running the event in 4:42.95, which was one second better than his personal record time this year. He earned eight points for his team with the finish. Sophomore Jack Mahoney's fifth place finish earned the Dodger boys an additional two points. Senior Greg Zitelli took eighth, running well but earning no points.

"It was my personal record for the year, but I've only run the mile twice. This was my first individual mile, I have been running the medley. It was a second off my best time," said Flyer.

Junior Melissa Iskandar ran her personal best time as well, taking fourth in the girls 1,600 meters with a time of 5:31.82 and earning her team four points.

"I had a good workout on Tuesday. I knew that if I came in today, I could run well," described Iskandar.

Two of the Madison girls placed in the girls shot put event. Senior Grace Marotta took fourth with a length of 29 feet, 11.5 inches, scoring four points for the Dodgers. Junior Elizabeth Hubbard took sixth in the event with a length of 28 feet, 11.25 inches, earning an additional point. With three events scored, the Madison girls were in sixth place with nine points.

Junior R.J. Graddy just missed scoring some points for his team in the Boys 55 Meter Hurdles, taking seventh with his time of 9.00. He did, however, take sixth in the high jump with a height of 5-feet, 6 inches, earning his team another point and putting them in fifth place with four events scored.

Junior Gabby Rojas took sixth for the girls team in the 600 meters with a time of 1:47.71, earning the Dodgers 1 point and putting the girls team in fifth place with four events scored.

With six events scored for the girls, Morris Hills was leading the Freedom conference with 47 points. Hanover Park held second with 38. Madison and Chatham were tied in sixth with 10 points each.

Junior Aaron Shinn took second place on a judge's decision in the boys pole vault. Both Shinn and the first-place finisher, Pat Rynearson of Whippany Park, hit the 12 foot mark, but with his second place finish, he earned eighth more points for the Dodger boys and propelled them into fourth place with 25 points total. At this point, 7 events had been scored. Hanover Park was in first with 49.5, Whippany Park was in second with 43.5, and Morris Hills was in third with 36.

Shinn's second place finish was a personal best in competition for him.

"It feels really good," Shinn described. "I didn't know how I would do today, but I came into it feeling really good and felt like I was going to place."

The best finish of the day for the Dodgers came in another personal best for Iskandar in the 1000 meter. With her time of 3:11.66, 5 seconds better than her previous best time in the event, she took first place and earned 10 points for the Madison girls.

"Four girls had run 3:16, and Kat Grimes (of Chatham) hadn't run yet this season, because she had just gotten back. So, I didn't know what to expect," noted Iskandar.

Grimes, a track star in Chatham, took second in the event.

Two Madison boys placed in the 1000 meter as well, with Flyer taking third with a time of 2:48.23 and Zitelli taking fifth with his time of 2:48.96. Flyer earned six points for his team and Zitelli won two points, bringing the Dodgers total to 27 and putting them in fifth place with nine events scored.

Jack Mahoney scored another point for the Dodgers with a sixth place finish in the 3200 meter run.

The Madison boys 4x400 relay team, consisting of Flyer, Zitelli, Andrew Benzenberg, and Jimmy Finelli, took fourth in their event, earning the team their final 4 points and placing the Dodger boys in fifth place overall for the meet.

The Madison girls took eighth overall, earning 20 points total. Iskandar earned 14 of those 20 points in individual events. The Morris Hills boys and girls teams both took first for the Freedom conference of NJAC.

Madison's next indoor track meet is on Monday at Drew University for the Morris County Freshman and Sophomore Championship.