Hasbrouck Heights Boys and Girls 2020 NJIC Indoor Track & Field Champions
(Meet Result Link located on bottom of story page)
There’s a saying in sports that started out as a clever bit of word play when a dynastic team graduates a lot of seniors.
“They don’t rebuild, they reload.”
That saying has become overused but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s without value.
Monday night at the Armory Track Center in New York, the Hasbrouck Heights boys and girls team breathed new life into that old saying, when a largely new Aviator squad won both titles at the annual NJIC indoor track meet.
The Aviators returned several athletes from the 2019 team that won the boys meet easily but lost the girls meet by three points to Glen Rock. Heights had won both titles in the first meet in 2013 and again in 2016, and has now won six of the eight NJIC boys titles and five of the girls.
Just two scoring athletes returned from last year’s girls team and both Talia Ferguson and Zaira Jenkins played large roles Monday.
Ferguson had scored 28 points in last year’s meet, more than any other athlete in the meet and repeated that feat this year, repeating her win in the triple jump, taking fifth in the hurdles, third in the high jump and second in the long jump for 26 points. But it was Jenkins, who with fellow shot putter Odie Gomez who provided the decisive points in the girls 67-61 1/2 win over Rutherford.
The Aviators led throughout the meet and were 19 points ahead after the completely new 4-x-400 team, with freshman Natalie Kroncke and first year junior Christine Robertson, came within a quarter of a second of winning the race. Amber Barrios had contributed a win in the 400 and a second in the 800.
But Jenna Rogers won the high jump for Rutherford, Isabella Sing and Rogers went 1-4 in the long jump and after Rogers’ spectacular 38-5 1/2 throw in the trials of the shot put, the Bulldogs were actually 1/2 point ahead.
“Zaira and Odie were sixth and seventh going into finals, but they both threw indoor bests (Zaira 30-8 on her fifth throw and Odie 30-0 1/2 on her last) and they ended up fourth and fifth,” said Hasbrouck Heights coach Rob Brady.
Those six points turned a loss into the girls victory.
The boys meet was easier, with the Aviators scoring a 61-41 win over Manchester with Glen Rock and Emerson another point behind. It was the lowest score for a winning team in meet history.
Vincent Sedlmeir won the 55 hurdles for the second straight year and added a third in the high jump. But it was the Aviators’ distance depth and a surprise third place finish in the shot by first year varsity athlete Peter Garifalos that secured the win.
Hasbrouck Heights took three places in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, scoring 25 points from Evan Morrow, Nick Bua, Jake Porco, TK Kasper, John Sedlmeir and Damian Summers. The first four were part of Hasbrouck Heights’ first sectional cross country team in more than 40 years.
“It was a great team effort tonight,” said Brady, whose boys team won 61-41, over Manchester. “We had a long talk on Saturday, and we told the kids that having nerves is OK, but that they all had to believe that we were coming here, we had a shot.”
Tormo, Markman and Armstrong Score Double Wins
Robbie Tormo says last winter was his warm-up season.
“I did terrible,” said the New Milford sophomore, who couldn’t even place in the 55 and 400 at the league meet and finished 17th and 15th respectively in the same events at the North 1 sectional.
But Tormo had a terrific spring, finishing as the third best ninth-grader in Bergen County in the 200 and the sixth best freshman in the state at 400 and Monday night, showing that warm-ups were over.
Tormo became the first boy since 2013 to double the 55 and 400 at the meet, running 6.79 and a North Jersey leading 51.36, respectively.
“I was surprised to win the 55,” said Tormo. “I’m not really a quick starter, and I’m better the longer the race goes.”
Waldwick’s Rashawn Markman tied the meet record by clearing 6 feet in the high jump and also won the long jump with a leap of 20-11 1/2.
Pompton Lakes junior Nathan Armstrong matched PL alumnus Ramon Fantauzzi as the only 1,600-3,200 doubler in meet history and Armstrong took Fantauzzi’s meet record of 9:48.80 in the 3,200 in the process. He won the 1,600 easily running 4:37.92.
Isaiah Sparkes became the first three-time winner of an event, when he won the 800 meters and lowered his own meet record to 2:03.13. Other boy winners were: Emerson’s Nathan Storz in the triple jump (42-7), Dylan DeMagistris in the shot (46-0 1/4) and Matias Cortes of Eastern Christian in the pole vault (12-0).
Sing, Rogers, Tilp and Guignon Excel
Hasbrouck Heights may have won the girls meet but other teams dominated the individual events Monday night.
In addition to Roger’s big night — tying her own meet record in the high jump before stopping and adding more than a foot to the meet record in the shot, teammate Isabella Sing jumped a personal best 17-3 1/2 to win the long jump, took second in the 400 and set a meet record in the 55 hurdles in the trials of 8.75 seconds. Hawthorne’s Alexis Byfield won the hurdle final in 8.80.
Freshman Danielle Tilp of Cresskill made her track debut a successful one, coming from behind with a 37 second final lap to win the 1,600 in 5:44.11 and then running the second 400 of the 800 five seconds faster than the first to grab a sixth-place finish from the unseeded heat,
Grace Guingon not only became Hawthorne Christian’s first NJIC champ but she vaulted into eighth place in Passaic County history, when she cleared 10-6 for the win.
Other winners: Lauren Crossan of Waldwick won a blanket finish (eight runners within ,04) in the 55 in 7.88 seconds, Emma Petrolia of New Milford in the 800, and Elizabeth Szambel of St. Mary’s in the 3,200.
Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter at northjersey.com. Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com Twitter: @northnjtrack
