MADISON — “Guys, we all just won!” junior shot putter Taylor Salazar shouted.
That’s all it took to start Morris Hills’ celebration. Morris County Relays wasn’t even officially over, but when Cristian Cruz crossed the finish line to end the 4×400, it was time to party.
The Scarlet Knights girls had earned their first championship since 1987, before head coach Mark DiGennaro was even born. They won the pole vault, shot put, and sprint medley on Tuesday night.
“It’s super fun. We were all very excited going into it,” said Yale-bound senior Shreya Sathiyan, who cleared 11 feet in the pole vault. “It’s super remarkable.”
Added Salazar, “It’s insane. It’s a feeling I thought I could never feel. It’s so incredible.”
Though Cruz crossed the line first in the 4×4, the Morris Hills boys still had to wait until the pole vault competition was done to claim their first plaque since 2020. The Scarlet Knights had scattered around Drew University’s Simon Forum, so no matter where a runner was on the track, he could hear the cheers.
That’s part of why senior Colin Fisher volunteered to run the 4×4. He was disappointed in his performance in the 4×8, where Morris Hills had placed fourth.
The 4×400 was the Scarlet Knights boys’ only event win at the meet.
“I knew I had more in me, and I wanted to leave it all out on the track,” said Fisher, who was also part of the Scarlet Knights’ fourth-place DMR. “I can’t find words for it right now. I could hear Hills from all angles, ‘Go, go, go.'”
Beware of falling records!
Chatham took down the Morris County Relays record in the sprint medley, as sophomore Braeden Tierney, juniors Kyle Wickham and Colin Daley, and senior Adam Petitjean finished first in 3:39.67. That time also broke the school record, and qualified the quartet for New Balance Nationals.
The old record of 3:42.18 had been set by Morris Hills in 2012, before some of the current runners were even in elementary school.
“We put our best group of guys together and put emphasis on running a best time,” Petitjean said. “We knew there would be good competition here. We all had the mental pressure to do well.”
Daley had been thinking about the race all day, with “a gut feeling” Chatham would make it to nationals.
“We knew it was our last opportunity,” he said. “We had a good group of guys, and we were capable of running the time. We were nervous, but we knew we had it.”
∎ Villa Walsh broke its school record while winning the distance medley. The quartet of senior Ines Lemee, junior Ava Seaman, senior Maggie Boler and junior Blythe Dudley finished in 12:31.03, 22 seconds clear of the field. All but Seaman, who ran the 400-meter leg, were part of the Vikings’ Morris County cross country title in the fall.
∎ The Morris Knolls quartet of juniors Aaryan Pethe and Sean Wemmlinger, senior Devin Gaglione and sophomore Richard Corcoran sliced six seconds off the school record while winning the 4×800 in 8:21.6 on Tuesday night. Pethe, Wemmlinger and Gaglione teamed with sophomore Aleksander Rzemienicki as the Golden Eagles improved their distance medley record (10:42.64) while placing third.
Girls results
Team scores: Morris Hills 52; Villa Walsh 36; Roxbury 33; Morris Knolls 32; Chatham 20; West Morris 14; Madison and Morristown 12; Randolph and Montville 11; Butler and Mount Olive 9; Morristown Beard, Parsippany Hills, and Hanover Park 4; Mendham 2; Whippany Park 1.
4×200: 1. Chatham (Daryn Foertsch, Abigail Dowling, Olivia Matter, Sarah Nacinovich) 1:51.68; 2. West Morris 1:51.84; 3. Morristown 1:52.11; 4. Montville 1:53.34; 5. Morris Knolls 1:53.49; 6. Mount Olive 1:53.49.
4×400: 1. Chatham (Daryn Foertsch, Emily Piskadlo, Olivia Matter, Sarah Nacinovich) 4:12.15; 2. Morris Hills 4:18.62; 3. Montville 4:19.95; 4. Roxbury 4:23.08; 5. Mount Olive 4:24.15; 6. Morris Knolls 4:24.94.
4×800: 1. Morris Knolls (Rehanna Syed, Cassandra Graham, Ella Mikolay, Olivia Capala) 10:16.65; 2. Villa Walsh 10:24.36; 3. Morristown 10:25.4; 4. Randolph 10:30.81; 5. Morris Hills 10:33.61; 6. Roxbury 10:37.52.
Sprint medley: 1. Morris Hills (Shreya Sathiyan, Zoe Turner, Ivory Piskula, Isabella Meija) 4:21.32; 2. Villa Walsh 3:25.39; 3. Morris Knolls 4:33.28; 4. Roxbury 4:33.46; 5. Parsippany Hills 4:36.44; 6. Randolph 4:38.47.
Distance medley: 1. Villa Walsh (Ines Lemee, Ava Seaman, Maggie Boler, Blythe Dudley) 12:31.03; 2. Roxbury 12:53.2; 3. Madison 12:55.85; 4. Morris Hills 13:20.91; 5. Mendham 13:29.86; 6. Morris Knolls 13:36.43.
Shuttle hurdles: 1. Morris Knolls (Emily O’Dell, Wendy Graziani, Elena Ramos, Alicia Ramos) 36.03; 2. Morris Hills 36.65; 3. Randolph 37.23; 4. Morristown Beard 37.54; 5. Parsippany Hills 37.72; 6. Butler 37.78;
High jump: 1. Villa Walsh (Amalia Hronides, Azariah Andrews) 10-0; 2. Butler 9-8; 3. Madison 9-2; 4. Mount Olive 9-1; 5. Morris Knolls, Whippany Park and Montville 8-11.
Pole vault: 1. Morris Hills (Shreya Sathiyan, Gianna Ledford) 20-6; 2. Roxbury 16-6.
Shot put: 1. Morris Hills (Kimberly Gambrell, Taylor Salazar) 64-7.25; 2. Roxbury 64-6; 3. West Morris 61-8; 4. Hanover Park 59-4.5; 5. Mount Olive 56-11.75; 6. Morris Knolls 54-8.75.
Boys results
Team scores: Morris Hills 49; Delbarton 37; Chatham 33; Morris Knolls 31; West Morris and Randolph 26; Mount Olive 18; Montville 17.5; Morristown and Whippany Park 13; Hanover Park and Roxbury 12; Kinnelon 10; Madison 7; Morristown Beard 2; Mountain Lakes 0.5.
4×200: 1. Kinnelon (Harrison Cornett, Joseph Mendy, Jaival Kang, Mohammad Almosbeh) 1:37.58; 2. Morris Hills 1:38.03; 3. Montville 1:38.05; 4. Mount Olive 1:38.26; 5. Roxbury 1:38.9; 6. Morris Knolls 1:39.81.
4×400: 1. Morris Hills (Colin Fisher, Anish Mahapatra, Alexander Ortiz, Cristian Cruz) 3:34.08; 2. Delbarton 3:41.66; 3. Mount Olive 3:42.25; 4. Morris Knolls 3:45; 5. Roxbury 3:46.67; 6. Chatham 3:47.55.
4×800: 1. Morris Knolls (Aaryan Pethe, Sean Wemmlinger, Devin Gaglione, Richard Corcoran) 8:21.6; 2. Delbarton 8:25.26; 3. Randolph 8:25.86; 4. Morris Hills 8:32.46; 5. Chatham 8:36.24; 6. Montville 8:48.91.
Sprint medley: 1. Chatham (Braeden Tierney, Kyle Wickham, Colin Daley, Adam Petitjean) 3:39.67* (old record: 3:42.18, Morris Hills, 2012); 2. Montville 3:42.46; 3. Morris Hills 3:44.18; 4. Hanover Park 3:48.56; 5. Morristown Beard 3:50.51; 6. Delbarton 3:52.68.
Distance medley: 1. Randolph (Kennan Byers, Preston Gumann, Thomas Damiano, Jacob Conti) 10:30.8; 2. Chatham 10:31.69; 3. Morris Knolls 10:42.64; 4. Morris Hills 10:45.68; 5. Montville 10:49.11; 6. Delbarton 11:07.19.
Shuttle hurdles: 1. Morris Knolls (Bennett Zollers, Anthony Fiore, Lex Montanez, Aquinas Clancy) 32.18; 2. Randolph 32.38; 3. Morris Hills 33.94; 4. Delbarton 34.07; 5. Chatham 34.37; 6. Whippany Park 35.25.
High jump: 1. Chatham (Kevin Grundy, Leo Straka) 12-0; 2. Mount Olive 11-10; 3. Morristown 11-8; 4. Whippany Park 11-1; 5. Randolph 11-0; 6. Mountain Lakes and Montville 10-9.
Pole vault: 1. West Morris (Cade Zeolla, Emerson Jania) 26-0; 2. Whippany Park 19-6; 3. Madison and Delbarton 19-0.
Shot put: 1. Delbarton (Peter Donini, Trevor Wyso) 104-9; 2. West Morris 100-6.5; 3. Morristown 88-1.75; 4. Roxbury 87-6.5; 5. Hanover Park 84-11; 6. Morris Hills 82-5.75.
