Leonia senior Jaden Marchan can finally rest easy.
The Leonia senior capped his scholastic track and field career with a Meet of Champions title, the first in school history.
Marchan ran 46.93 to best East Orange junior Jordaine Johnson (47.31) for the 400-meter title at the track and field complex at Pennsauken. Parsippany Hills senior Julio Tatis was third in 47.40.
“Today, it wasn’t about the time, it was about winning,” Marchan said. “We were coming out of here winning. To me that’s more important than anything else. I came out here because my family keeps supporting me. It feels great to finally be able to come home with state championship.”
Marchan finished second last year and eighth as a sophomore. Climbing that final mountain was the sweetest reward.
“It feels amazing,” Marchan said. “Last year, I missed it by point three seconds for second place. This year, I’m finally able to go home, finally and say I’m a state champion.”
The meet marked the final runs for Tatis, maybe ever. In his second sport, Tatis capped a scholastic career that included four straight appearances in the Meet of Champions 400 and, later, his second straight MOC 200. Tatis finished second in the 200.
“Ever since I was a freshman when I made the Meet of Champs, I set high standards for myself,” Tatis said. “I knew I should be there every year for the rest of my years in high school. I achieved that. My ultimate goal was to win it all. You know, over the past four years, I had a great time. It’s not even my main sport, I loved running track in this environment. Everything was great, finishing top three, number three in the state.”
Tatis will play Division 1 football at Wagner University.
Fittingly, Marchan and Tatis ended their career’s side by side. They battled in the same group, in the same section, practically every weekend for four years.
“Running four years against atop kid like that, he was always going to be pushing me,” Tatis said. “I’d see him every race. I’m always felt like I was going to beat him. He got me, but he is a great competitor, great runner, great kid. I feel like it was a great battle these past four years.”
Marchan couldn’t help but agree.
“It was amazing just to be able to have a competitor to be able to prepare myself for extreme races,” Marchan said. “With Jordaine and Julio surrounding me, I was comfortable having to chase somebody. Being at sectionals and groups with these guys made me comfortable coming down this backstretch.”
Marchan isn’t quite done for the spring. There are a few things left on his agenda.
“I‘m going to Georgetown next year,” Marchan said. My next step is just going out there to Nationals. Then, I’m going down to Trinidad for the Olympic trials. I just want to see where it takes me for the rest of the summer.”
“I want to go out there try to do my best. Hopefully I can make either the U-20 World team, or hopefully the (Trinidad and Tobago) Olympic Team for the Olympics in Paris.”
