Millburn Track Advances Five to Group III Championships

The Millburn track team turned in a very solid performance this weekend in the North II Group III Section Championships and will send three from the boys squad and two from the girls to the Group III Championships next weekend.

Friday's highlight for the Millers came in the boys 1,600 when Tyler Udland, Brian Robinson and Blake Udland finished first, second, and third. Millburn's unstoppable threesome dominated the rest of the field using both endurance and teamwork.

"We ran the race together the whole way," explained Robinson. "As a team, we carried out our plan to perfection from start to finish."

Robinson continued to impress on Saturday morning when he finished third in the 800 meter with a time of 1:58.05. Parsippany Hills' Ethan Gallagher, who finished second, narrowly outpaced Robinson with a 1:57.56 finish. Hamer Farag of Morristown ran away with the comfortable victory, beating Robinson by almost five seconds with a time of 1:53.88.

The Millers continued to garner accolades as the day wore on when brothers Blake and Tyler Udland took to the track for the boys 3,200 meter in the late afternoon. The Udlands ran together for most of the race, leading the pack throughout. With a couple laps to go, Tyler started to pull ahead of his younger brother and stayed in front through the finish line. He ended with a time of 9:16.00, good for a meet record. Blake turned in a time of 9:35.99 in his second place showing.

"We did what we had to do," said the elder Udland of the race. "While I would say it went according to plan, I feel like we didn't execute it as smoothly as we wanted to. What matters is that in the end we were able to get the job done, so Blake and I are really happy with the outcome."

Not to be outdone by their male counterparts, the girls turned in several good finishes of their own. Shayna Rose had a great day on the track with a third place finish in the 3,200 meter and a fifth place finish in the 1,600 meter.

In the 3,200, Rose finished in 11:26.67, 27 seconds off the pace of winner Colette Whitney of Vorhees. Whitney had a great meet, coming away with the victory in the 1,600 as well, where she finished in 5:04.76. Rose was not too far off with a time of 5:23.06, good enough for the top six finish necessary to advance to groups.

Rose, who will compete next weekend in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter, was ecstatic about her performance in the 3,200. "It was really a dream race, she said. "I accomplished what I set out to do today."

Sophomore Saori MacInnes also advanced to the groups for the girls with her fifth place finish in the high jump. MacInnes, although happy with clearing four feet, 10 inches, was still not satisfied. "I still want to keep improving," said the ambitious underclassman. "My goal for right now is to beat four feet, 10 inches and finally clear five feet."

Seniors Sarah Barrese and Hanna Levin, in their last high school meet, also put forth solid showings. Barrese, running with Rose in the 1,600 meter, finished thirteenth in 5:43.96. Barrese also came in fifteenth in the 800 meter. Levin also ran well, en route to a tie for ninth place with JFK Iselin's Brittany Green in the 100 meter hurdles.

"It's strange to think that track is over so suddenly," remarked Levin after her final race.

For some, though, there are still plenty of races to be run and bars to be cleared. Both Udlands (boys 1,600 meter and boys 3,200 meter), Robinson (boys 800 meter and boys 1,600 meter), Rose (girls 1,600 meter and girls 3,200 meter), and MacInnes (girls high jump) will start gearing up for the groups when they return to practice on Monday.