If there’s one section of a track and field team that would know a thing or to about heavy lifting, it’s the throwing team. Hasbrouck Heights’ girls throwing team did quite a bit of heavy lifting this Saturday at the Group 1 championships at Franklin. In fact, the Aviators’ throwers lifted the girls team to its first outdoor Group title.
Lead by a series of strong performances by its field team, Hasbrouck Heights edged out Clayton to take first place in the Group 1 team race at Franklin.
The win snapped the Clippers’ three-year run at the top of the group.
The Aviator throwers racked up 35 of the team’s 77.40 points. Hasbrouck Height’s javelin throwers showed up in a big way, as the Aviators took three of the top four spots in the Group 1 girls javelin behind Maria Manis’ gold-medal winning throw of 110-5. Jenna O’Malley got second place in the event with a 105-0, and Meghan Stellhorn came behind Florence Township’s Gabrielle Loftin with a fourth-place s securing101-1. Hasbrouck Heights won 22 points off of javelin alone. Elliot Eddy earned some key team points by securing a second-place finish in the shot put, while Stellhorn took sixth in the event. Eddy also took a fourth-place finish in the discus.
“When we got twenty-two points out of jav early, it kind of took the pressure off us for the rest of the day,” said Rob Brady, the head coach of the Aviators. “It was kind of like ‘hey we’re in it now’. We got some points and we kept adding to it. I really tip my cap to all the kids throwing and their coach John Valenti. He’s done a great job.”
While the team expected to get major points out of the javelin, the points weren’t scored exactly as they anticipated. O’Malley had been the team’s standout thrower all year, but shoulder issues in the past few weeks prevented her from entering the group meet at 100%. Manis stepped up and added over five feet to her personal best to ensure that the Aviators would take home javelin gold. Not too shabby for a girl in only her second year of competing.
“Maria came out for spring track last year because a bunch of her friends were on the team,” Brady explained. “She’s best friends with Jenna, so she knew exactly what was going on with Jenna’s shoulder injury. (Manis) said she was gonna go out there and have fun. She’s always smiling and she’s always the girl who breaks all the tension on the bus after the meet. So to see her step up and that moment and become a group champion was just awesome.”
Gaea DePass gave the Aviators another gold by taking the top spot in the triple jump with a 35-3.75. Alexandra Samperi added on points by taking second in the long jump with a 17-4.50.
The team’s 4×800 relay squad also contributed by taking with a second-place finish. Brady also spoke highly of senior Dea Jera. Despite having to compete in several events in one day due to the short-notice format of the championships, Jera was a major contributor and helped the 4×100 team earn a fourth-place finish with a season-best run. Jera was also a part of the 4×400 team that ended the day by adding on another gold medal for the team, alongside Morgan Gagliano, Sarah Vinas, and Natalia Kroncke.
Winning its first outdoor group title was a major accomplishment for the team, but being able to also take down Clayton was in itself a major source of pride for the Aviators. Led by the now-graduated Sharpe triplets Amirah, Arianna and Ariel, the Clippers had a stranglehold on the group for the past three years. Even without the talented triplets, Clayton still put forth a formidable team that earned multiple golds and 47 team points.
“Clayton is a great team, and they say iron sharpens iron, and they really have made us better the past few years,” Brady said. “We’ve seen the Sharpe sisters and how great they are, andnd Clayton was very good this year, with (Alanna Woolfolk) in the high jump and their shotput and discus being excellent. So we’re two very similar teams in terms of having a little bit of star power and depth to go with it.
“It feels great (to win the team title), and I’m very proud of the girls and how they came through.”
