Pequannock boys, Morristown Beard girls win big at NJAC track and field championships

HAMBURG — Pequannock boys track and field coach Samantha Santos refused to look at the total team scores during most of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference small-school championships. But her athletes were not nearly as timid, so the Golden Panthers knew just was at stake when they stepped on the track for the 4x400 on Wednesday night.

As the sun set, Pequannock celebrated its first NJAC boys team title – without winning a single gold medal. The Golden Panthers placed in half of the events during the two-day meet.

Morristown Beard captured the its first girls title with only eight competitors, edging Hanover Park 56-51.

"It's a gift having all our athletes and all our success," said Pequannock senior Derek Luttenberger, who was second in the high hurdles and long jump, led off the second-place 4x400, and third in the 100.

"We did realize we were ahead, so we told each other we had to dial in. I can't say we expected it at a big meet like this."

Morristown Beard goes back to back

Nick Troiano exceeded even his own expectations at NJACs on Tuesday. A Morristown-Beard junior, Troiano narrowly missed his personal best while winning the 1,600 meters (4:35.9) with a late surge.

Troiano has been mixing up his training, combining long runs, cycling and endurance workouts. He also tried a respiratory trainer "that seemingly opened up my lungs a lot and gave me power for that kick at the end."

"In the past, when I've run this pace I got obliterated and wound up on the ground," said Troiano, a Chatham resident. "I'm hoping to push myself even harder next week at counties, when I'm running against faster kids."

A few minutes later, Spencer Anderson captured his first NJAC title in the 100 meters. Anderson, a Morristown Beard senior, is the reigning Morris County champion in the event.

Crimson senior Chloe Higgins added another gold medal in the 400 meters, the last event on the track on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Morristown Beard repeated its dual-decker dominance as Anderson and Higgins both won the 200 meters. Crimson junior Raidah Karriem was first and Higgins fourth in the 100 hurdles.

"It feels really good to get respect because our team is really good," said Higgins, one of just eight Morristown Beard girls competing at the NJAC meet. "The county kind of underrates us. We're not really known for our sports. I have to make the differentiation between Morristown Beard and Morristown High. We wanted to come out and show how good we're doing this season."

More: Mount Olive earns first Morris County Relays title, Delbarton first since '18

NJAC newcomers shine

∎ Jacqueline Reid has only been involved with track and field for a couple of years. The Parsippany freshman followed her older brother, Brett Reid, onto the track – and quickly got hooked because "those people were so unbelievably fast."

Jacqueline Reid won her first championship on Tuesday afternoon, finishing first in the 100 meters at the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference small-school meet. She credited her teammate, junior Amanda Dean, and advice from coaches: "To get out hard and run fast."

"I've still got to keep working to get faster," Reid said. "I hope to be one of those fast people, where people are like, 'Wow, I want to be as fast as her.'"

∎ Madison junior Jacob Nolan skipped the first day of NJACs to study for the AP Computer Science test. He went straight from the exam room to Wallkill Valley and won the 3,200 meters (9:56.43).

"I think I wasn't as fatigued as everyone else," Nolan said. "I wanted to come back and race well. I felt like I had a bad race at Morris County (cross country) in the fall. Coming out here makes me feel accomplished."

Outstanding in their fields

∎ Less than a week after winning the Morris County Relays girls shot put , Hanover Park went 1-2-3 in the NJAC event. Senior Kelly Stephen had the best throw, 36-1.75, followed by juniors Juliana Behringer and Emily Kaszowski . Behringer was first in javelin (114-10), and also took discus (110-6) by almost 11 feet.

Hornets senior Luke Riordan had personal bests to win discus (161-1) and shot put.

∎ Wallkill Valley senior Brady Bonser cleared 13-3 to break the meet record while winning the pole vault.

Finish lines

∎ Wallkill Valley junior Delana Einreinhofer won her third straight 1,600 (5:07.47). She doubled back on Wednesday to defend her 3,200 title, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the field.

∎ Parsippany Hills senior Julio Tatis defended his NJAC 400 title, breaking his own school record in 48.73. He also broke the meet record, set by Dylan Capwell of Hopatcong in 2013.

∎ Jefferson junior Kiley Shatzel broke the 9-year-old school record while winning the 400-meter hurdles in 1:04.1 to open Tuesday's competition. Shatzel added a second school record while placing second in the 400 (59.13).

Girls results

Team scores: Morristown Beard 56; Hanover Park 51; Parsippany Hills and Parsippany 42; Wallkill Valley 41; Madison 37; Villa Walsh 33; Jefferson 31; Whippany Park 27; High Point 23.3; Mountain Lakes 18.3; Newton 18; St. Elizabeth and Hackettstown 15; Vernon 14; Kinnelon 10; North warren 8; Morris Catholic 5; Boonton 3.3; Kittatinny 3; Pequannock, Hopatcong, and Lenape Valley 1

100 meters: 1. Jacqueline Reid (Parsippany) 12.58; 2. Raidah Karriem (Morristown Beard) 12.69; 3. Amanda Dean (Parsippany) 12.73; 4. Ella Tucker (Madison) 12.98; 5. Sophia Haw (Vernon) 13.16; 6. Azariah Andrews (Villa Walsh) 13.26.

200 meters: 1. Chloe Higgins (Morristown Beard) 25.63; 2. Kiley Shatzel (Jefferson) 25.89; 3. Amanda Dean (Parsippany) 26.23; 4. Jacqueline Reid (Parsippany) 26.49; 5. Ella Tucker (Madison) 27.07; 6. Leah Fass (Madison) 27.28.

400 meters: 1. Chloe Higgins (Morristown Beard) 57.68; 2. Kiley Shatzel (Jefferson) 59.13; 3. Kira Chebishev (Parsippany Hills) 59.99; 4. Maggie Boler (Villa Walsh) 1:00.5; 5. Sophia Haw (Vernon) 1:00.52; 6. Mikayla Louwrens (Morris Catholic) 1:01.38.

800 meters: 1. Kira Chebishev (Parsippany Hills) 2:17.67; 2. Maggie Boler (Villa Walsh) 2:19.09; 3. Blythe Dudley (Villa Walsh) 2:19.17; 4. Isabella Bolstad (Madison) 2:23.29; 5. Grace Mougalian (Kinnelon) 2:24.83; 6. Emma Bradley (St. Elizabeth) 2:25.19.

1,600 meters: 1. Delana Einreinhofer (Wallkill Valley) 5:07.47; 2. Emma Bradley (St. Elizabeth) 5:08.29; 3. Blythe Dudley (Villa Walsh) 5:10.39; 4. Ines Lemee (Villa Walsh) 5:31.93; 5. Kate Veivia (Morris Catholic) 5:37.19; 6. Jackie Santana (Pequannock) 5:37.47.

3,200 meters: 1. Delana Einreinhofer (Wallkill Valley) 11:03.41; 2. Maya Van Horn (Madison) 11:19.92; 3. Emma Bradley (St. Elizabeth) 11:23.49; 4. Claire Sieminski (High Point) 12:17.53; 5. Martha Smart (Villa Walsh) 12:20.19; 6. Erin Lyons (Villa Walsh) 12:25.64.

4x400: 1. Parsippany Hills (Kira Chebishev, Sahar Naematullah, Kaia San Martin, Anya Sadowski) 4:06.4; 2. Parsippany (Jacqueline Reid, Maryam Kandil, Amanda Dean, Maggie Letsch) 4:06.9; 3. Hackettstown (Naia Deithorn, Kiara Koeller, Angelen Mattingly, Blanka Varga) 4:15.4; 4. Madison (Isabella Bolstad, Criseyda Turner, Kate Mack, Emily Jones) 4:16.52; 5. Morris Catholic (Sarah Hoff, Kathryn Hunt, Mikayla Louwrens, Kate Veiva) 4:21.22; 6. Villa Walsh (Delaney Caughey, Maggie Boler, Blythe Dudley, Avery Poruczynski) 4:21.56.

High hurdles: 1. Raidah Karriem (Morristown Beard) 15.99; 2. Sierra Strasser (Newton) 16.27; 3. Anya Sadowski (Parsippany Hills) 16.32; 4. Chloe Higgins (Morristown Beard) 16.53; 4. Sophia Duarte (Hanover Park) 16.93; 6. Adalia Edwards (Boonton) 17.0.

Intermediate hurdles: 1. Kiley Shatzel (Jefferson) 1:04.1; 2. Anya Sadowski (Parsippany Hills) 1:08.39; 3. Maryam Kandil (Parsippany) 1:08.89; 4. Chloe Higgins (Morristown Beard) 1:09.43; 5. Kiara Koeller (Hackettstown) 1:09.54; 6. Riley Cobb (Hopatcong) 1:09.91.

High jump: 1. Jessica Tsang (Mountain Lakes) 5-2; 2. Emily Donise (North Warren) 5-0; 3. Nikki Ditta (Hanover Park) and Kiley Shatzel (Jefferson) 5-0; 5. Sydney Vierzchalek (Wallkill Valley) 5-0; 6. Samantha Ruitenberg (Kittatinny) 5-0.

Long jump: 1. Sophia Haw (Vernon) 16-2; 2. Sarina Sanders (Wallkill Valley) 16-1.5; 3. Leah Fass (Madison) 16-1; 4. Nicole Rider (Whippany Park) 16-0; 5. Amanda Dean (Parsippany) 15-11; 6. Sydney Vierzchalek (Wallkill Valley) 15-10.

Triple jump: 1. Sarina Sanders (Wallkill Valley) 36-2.5; 2. Nicole Rider (Whippany Park) 33-7.5; 3. Sierra Mark (Morristown Beard) 32-10; 4. Gabriella Vega (High Point) 32-5.5; 5. Ella Corigliano (Kinnelon) 32-5.5; 6. Nicolette Liloia (Whippany Park) 32-5.

Pole vault: 1. Sierra Strasser (Newton) 11-6; 2. Emma Guerard (Whippany Park) 9-0; 3. Jessica Diamond (Whippany Park) 8-6; 4. Kelsey Greer (Madison) 7-6; 5. Gabriella Vega (High Point) 7-6; 6. Gianna Kimkowski (High Point, Prisha Sakpal (High Point) and Mikaela Calderon (Mountain Lakes) 7-0.

Shot put: 1. Kelly Stephen (Hanover Park) 36-1.75; 2. Juliana Behringer (Hanover Park) 32-3.75; 3. Emily Kaszowski (Hanover Park) 32-1.75; 4. Janiesha Dureny (High Point) 32-1; 5. Leila Torres (Boonton) 31-2.5; 6. Megan Kerwin (Hackettstown) 30-10.75.

Discus: 1. Juliana Behringer (Hanover Park) 110-6; 2. Taylor Kobis (High Point) 99-9; 3. Carsyn Corydon (Hackettstown) 98-10; 4. Aiyana Hobbs (Morristown Beard) 98-4; 5. Peyton Berg (Kittatinny) 98-01; 6. Dallas Walther (High Point) 95-11.

Javelin: 1. Juliana Behringer (Hanover Park) 114-10; 2. Sara Tarkanpour (Mountain Lakes) 103-9; 3. Jess Stubbs (Kinnelon) 101-4; 4. Margaret Kim (Madison) 100-1; 5. Leila Galarza (Parsippany Hills) 98-2; 6. Elise Quirk (Lenape Valley) 93-9.

Boys results

Team scores: Pequannock 63; Parsippany Hills 56; Kinnelon 43; Madison 41; Morristown Beard and High Point 36; Hanover Park 35; Mountain Lakes 34; Hackettstown 33; Lenape Valley 18; Parsippany 17; Newton 16; Boonton and Vernon 14; Sussex Tech 13; Wallkill Valley and Whippany Park 10; Jefferson 6; Dover 1.

100 meters: 1. Spencer Anderson (Morristown Beard) 10.97; 2. Ryan Geng (Kinnelon) 11.23; 3. Ryan Trocolar (Pequannock) 11.25; 4. Adrian Valencia (Hackettstown) 11.3; 5. Kyle Willis (High Point) 11.4; 6. Cory Apgar (Hanover Park) 11.5.

200 meters: 1. Spencer Anderson (Morristown Beard) 22.07; 2. Rohan Tucker (Madison) 22.28; 3. Julio Tatis (Parsippany Hills) 22.4; 4. Simeon Washington (Parsippany Hills) 22.6; 5. Jai Royal (Parsippany Hills) 22.62; 6. Joseph Mendy (Kinnelon) 23.1.

400 meters: 1. Julio Tatis (Parsippany Hills) 48.73; 2. Ryan Trocolar (Pequannock) 49.95; 3. Simeon Washington (Parsippany Hills) 50.65; 4. Adrian Valencia (Hackettstown) 50.89; 5. Nathanael Crefield (Pequannock) 51.38; 6. Matt Kispert (Kinnelon) 51.55.

800 meters: 1. Arya Garg (Parsippany) 2:00.06; 2. Will Portman (Kinnelon) 2:00.63; 3. Nicholas Troiano (Morristown Beard) 2:01.33; 4. Dylan Barca (Vernon) 2:02.13; 5. Elijah Dalelio (Sussex Tech) 2:03.26; 6. Ayush Pundyavana (Parsippany Hills) 2:03.54.

1,600 meters: 1. Nicholas Troiano (Morristown Beard) 4:35.9; 2. Max Kahn (Mountain Lakes) 4:36.83; 3. Will Portman (Kinnelon) 4:38.32; 4. Xavier Trinidad (Pequannock) 4:38.85; 5. Kyle Bjornson (Kinnelon) 4:40.26; 6. Aarin Tyagi (Parsippany) 4:40.26.

3,200 meters: 1. Jacob Nolan (Madison) 9:56.43; Max Kahn (Mountain Lakes) 10:01.16; 3. Aarin Tyagi (Parsippany) 10:10.65; 4. Xavier Trinidad (Pequannock) 10:11.38; 5. Michelangelo Lepore (Mountain Lakes) 10:12.43; 6. Chase Zalfino (Pequannock) 10:15.92.

4x400: 1. Parsippany Hills (Simeon Washington, Jai Royal, Brandon Huang, Julio Tatis) 3:25.03; 2. Pequannock (Derek Luttenberger, Luke McGrory, Nathanael Crefield, Ryan Trocolar) 3:27.06; 3. Hackettstown (Andrew Bermudez, Aidan Murphy, Rejee Nonez, Adrian Valencia) 3:28.51; 4. Hanover Park (Bryson Sacher, Dylan Peterson, Prashanna Dahal, Cory Apgar) 3:34.83; 5. High Point (Cade Martress, Jerron Martress, Kyle Willis, Matthew Tunnel) 3:35.95; 6. Whippany Park (Andrew Farrell, Brody Yoo, Milan Lopez-Tassan, Jason Griffin) 3:36.93.

High hurdles: 1. Redjee Nonez (Hackettstown) 15.11; 2. Derek Luttenberger (Pequannock) 15.62; 3. Andrew Farrell (Whippany Park) 15.77; 4. Kyle Willis (High Point) 15.9; 5. Demarius Posey (Newton) 15.93; 6. Zachary Richards-Powell (Parsippany HIlls) 17.1.

Intermediate hurdles: 1. Rohan Tucker (Madison) 58.49; 2. Cade Martress (High Point) 58.97; 3. Bryson Sacher (Hanover Park) 59.12; 4. Elijah Dalelio (Sussex Tech) 59.9; 5. Daniel Kim (Vernon) 1:00.01; 6. Andrew Farrell (Whippany Park) 1:00.54.

High jump: 1. Isaac Smith-Lewis (Lenape Valley) 6-0; 2. Kyle Dickson (Newton) 6-0; 3. Walter Hebloom-Green (Boonton) 6-0; 4. Hunter Rhodes (Madison) 5-10; 5. Gavin Kelly (Whippany Park), Emilio Mendez (Dover) and Jordan Axler (Madison) 5-8.

Long jump: 1. Simeon Washington (Parsippany Hills) 21-1.5; 2. Derek Luttenberger (Pequannock) 21-0; 3. Kyle Dickson (Newton) 20-9; 4. Matt Kispert (Kinnelon) 20-9; 5. Kyle Willis (High Point) 20-6; 6. Brian Rauchbach (Sussex Tech) 20-0.

Triple jump: 1. Joseph Mendy (Kinnelon) 43-9; 2. Redjee Nonez (Hackettstown) 43-6; 3. Maxwell Yanagi (Lenape Valley) 43-4; 4. Justin Nunes (Hanover Park) 42-9; 5. Matt Kispert (Kinnelon) 42-3; 6. Brian Rauchbach (Sussex Tech) 41-11.

Pole vault: 1. Brady Bonser (Wallkill Valley) 13-3; 2. Gregory Bruno (Madison) 12-0; 3. Isaac Bielinski (Mountain Lakes) 11-6; 4. Giovoughni Dureny (High Point) 11-0; 5. Ryan Pietz (Lenape Valley) 11-0; 6. Sean Gilbert (Whippany Park) 10-6.

Shot put: 1. Luke Riordan (Hanover Park) 58-5; 2. Cole Herman (Vernon) 46-3.5; 3. Mike Nwankwo (Jefferson) 46-0.5; 4. John Porada (Sussex Tech) 44-5.5; 5. Salvatore D'Alessio (Pequannock) 43-10; 6. Ethan Corrado (Sussex Tech) 43-9.75.

Discus: 1. Luke Riordan (Hanover Park) 161-1; 2. Henry Struble (Pequannock) 151-10; 3. Andrew Noonan (High Point) 146-11; 4. Salvatore D'Alessio (Pequannock) 140-9; 5. Daniel Janevski (Parsippany Hills) 139-9; 6. Deandre Reaves (Hackettstown) 131-9.

Javelin: 1. Joseph Nigro (Mountain Lakes) 160-10; 2. Dan Musili (High Point) 159-5; 3. Metin Ahmedi (Boonton) 155-10; 4. Braylon Moore (Parsippany Hills) 155-3; 5. Charlie Hurd (Boonton) 149-4; 6. Ryan Geng (Kinnelon) 144-11.

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Pequannock boys, Morristown Beard girls win big at NJAC track and field championships