Millburn Boys 4x1600 Wins County Relay Title

When Millburn’s Blake Udland got the baton from Robert Stone on the final leg of the 4x1,600 relay race at the annual Essex County Relays, he knew that he had to go out hard and fast right away. With St. Benedict’s sophomore superstar Edward Cheserek chasing down the field, there was no room to conserve energy.

“All I kept hearing from people on the track and from the announcer was Cheserek is coming, Cheserek is coming. All I kept thinking about was the county meet during indoor season where he sat on me.”

As he entered the third lap, Cheserek had moved from fourth place to second place, and despite him closing the distance on the third lap, Udland actually extended his lead in the final 400 meters, running the fastest one-mile split of his life (4:12.9) and held off the sophomore runner for Millburn’s sixth consecutive gold medal performance in the 4x1,600 county relay.

“Cheserek cut the lead in half in the first lap and really closed the gap in the next two laps,” said Millburn boys head coach Jeff Kaye. “I’m really proud [of Udland], he ran a great race.”

Matt DeShaw led off the relay team with a 4:40.2 split, Dan Bier followed with a 4:35.8 and Stone ran a 4:33.6 before handing off to Udland, who had about an 80 meter lead at the time.

“It turns out that everybody ran a really great race,” Udland said. “Now I know what it takes to beat him and it’s really going out hard.”

The boys distance medley relay team of Stone, Jordan Young, Bier and Udland also performed well, coming in at 10:39.94, taking second place behind Livingston.

“They were about what I expected, especially with it being their second race of the day,” Kaye said.

Millburn’s girls placed in three events on the day as well. The 4x1,600 relay team of Corey Weiss, Beatrice Konrad, Margaret Tang and Emily Draper took fourth place in the event (22:30.19), setting a school record, with Mt. St. Dominic winning the event with a record setting performance. Initially the Miller girls were awarded the third place trophy, in a photo finish against Columbia, but after review, it was determined that Millburn had actually finished .15 of a second behind the Cougars.

Konrad, Draper, Weiss and Sabrina Ahamparam combined for a fourth place finish in the distance medley relays, with Columbia setting a record in the win.

“I’m extremely proud of everything they did yesterday, even the ones that didn’t place,” said Millburn girls head coach Amanda Dilworth. “I was happy with the way they ran.”

The Miller girls duo of Mariel Jurist and Karin Anna Hess also took fourth place in the pole vault, clearing 15 feet.

“That was really a nice surprise,” Dilworth said. “They both have been clearing seven feet consistently but to see them both seven feet six inches was really great.”

Dilworth added that she was extremely happy with the performance of her newly formed 4x400 team, which had not been an event they typically competed in.

Overall the Millburn boys finished in ninth place, scoring 18 points, with Seton Hall Prep winning the county. The girls placed 13^th, getting 12 points, with Columbia winning for a third consecutive year.