Distance Teams Lead The Way In Millburn Relays

At the 25^th Annual Millburn Relays, held on Saturday at Millburn High School, the Miller boys and girls distance teams shined, and the locals, especially the girls, showed off some team depth, heading into the start of championship season in track.

The girls, who finished 10^th overall with 25.5 points, earned seven top six finishes in the meet. The boys were ninth with 29 points, with their 4x1600 team leading the way with a record setting performance. West Orange was the overall winner for the girls with 94.50 points, while Governor Livingston took home the relay title for the boys, scoring 84 points.

Distance events led off the meet, and the boys team of Blake Udland, Matt DeShaw, Dan Bier and Rob Stone blew away the rest of the field, coming in at a meet record time of 18:35.79, besting the next closest team by nearly a full minute.

Udland led off and handed the baton DeShaw with a nice cushion and Millburn just kept adding to it. Millburn’s B-team of Justin Meselsohn, Ethan Kramer, Tom Morreale and Billy Cohen placed third in the event, highlighting some serious depth in Millburn’s distance squad.

“That’s really the strength of our team and it has been,” said Millburn boys head coach Jeff Kaye. “It speaks to the depth of the team. …I just thought the whole team competed and performed very well and I was proud of them.”

Millburn’s girls 4x1,600 relay team were edged by Summit, taking second place with a time of 23:28.38. Millburn’s team was Margaret Tang, Beatrice Konrad, Emily Draper and freshman Corey Weiss. Millburn’s super freshman has really elevated distance team this season, and also has added some depth to the entire track team, because of her ability to compete and succeed in multiple events.

“We had a big loss when Shayna Rose graduated, and Corey has moved into where pretty much Shayna was,” said Millburn girls head coach Amanda Dilworth. “Our problem with Corey is that she is good at everything she does, including high jumping and long jumping, so she is spread a little thin. …She has done a really great job for us.”

Proshat Zarabikia and Zoe Taitel teamed up to place second in the shot put, with a combined distance of 60 feet and one inch, which was more than six feet behind first place West Orange. Both Millburn’s throwers posted top eight throws in the event.

Zarabikia, who had the fifth best discus throw of the day, teamed with fellow senior, Ali Morreale, to take sixth in the relay discus event, combining for a distance of 159 feet and two inches.

In the distance medley relay, Millburn’s boys team of Stone, Ori Tamir, Bier and DeShaw placed second behind Cranford, just being edged by slightly more than four seconds. The girls group of Konrad, Emelia Meo, Draper and Weiss finished third in the event at 13:31.95.

Meo and Tang were the final two legs for Millburn’s sixth place sprint medley relay, led off by Sabrina Ahamparam and Simone Steinfeld. The group clocked in at 4:42.06.

“Our sprinting group has really made huge improvements this year,” Dilworth said. “They’ve been putting in a lot of work and it has really paid off. …Emelia has made huge improvements this year. I’m very excited to see what she will be doing at the end of this year.”

The girls also took sixth place in the pole vault behind Marielle Jurist and Karin Anna Hess. Saori MacInnes and Taitel combined for a sixth place in the high jump, while Meo’s mark of 15 feet six inches was the fifth best of the day.

Kaye said that he was very pleased with his long jump and triple jump teams, who took 11^th place and seventh place respectively. Sam Farid led the way for Millburn in both events and he teamed with Kevin Seo in the long jump and with Jordan Young in the triple. The boys shot put team placed seventh, behind Adam Bavosa’s 43 feet 10 inch mark, the sixth best of the day.

“Our jumpers did really well in the long and the triple jump, even though they didn’t necessarily have the high places,” Kaye said. “A lot of them are brand new to the long and triple jump so they’re just getting better and better.”

This all comes just one week away from the start of championship season in track, which kicks off on Friday at the annual Essex County Relay Championships at Livingston High School. While neither team should be expected to finish high, their should be some placers in different events, namely the distance events, but their could be some top six finishes in others as well.

“With the county relays it’s tough to say because the levels we are competing against with the Columbias and the West Oranges,” Dilworth said. “I don’t remember us placing last year and I would be really disappointed if we didn’t place this year.”

“It was a good tune up and a good practice for the teams I’m planning on stacking,” Kaye said. “For some of the kids, it gives them some confidence heading in.”