WF’S DEMETER, HYLAND, O’BRIEN, SCHEINER MAKE NATIONALS IN 4X100; DEMETER WINS HIGH JUMP AT 5-6

The Union Catholic boys broke a meet record in the triple jump and the Viking girls shattered the meet record in the shuttle hurdles and the 4×100 at the Blue Devil Classic Relays at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield on April 20. The Blue Devil boys grabbed top honors in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR), the Sprint Medley Relay (SMR) and the javelin event. The Blue Devil girls qualified for Nationals in the 4×100 and Gabby Demeter won the high jump event, while the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raider girls won the SMR.

Blue Devils Eamon Mason (1,200), Noah Petrassi (400), Chris Buonopane (800) and Graham Korins (1,600) topped the rest in the Irwin Bernstein DMR with a time of 10:43.67. Mason led off and recorded a time of 3:10.2 as he handed off the baton to Petrassi who burned his 400 leg in 50.2. Buonopane completed his 800 leg in 2:05.2 well ahead of the challengers when he handed off to Korins, who finished his 1,600 in 4:37.3.

“Going into this race we were confident we were going to win. Eamon in our first leg, is a really solid runner. He was confident in his abilities from the start. He ran 3:10 I think, which is really solid first time ever ran that leg for him. Noah Petrassi! He just gets it done,” Korins said.

When Buonopane gave a smooth handoff to Korins, it was just cruise control from there. “Christian Buonopane is a sophomore. He’s young. He reached the Nationals in the winter. He’s really up and coming. He’s good! You can always depend on him for a solid race. I got the baton with a pretty big lead. I was kind of holding on and not doing anything special. When I got the baton, all I had to do was not make any surges, just stay calm and hold the lead until the end.And that’s what I did,” Korins explained.

The SMR also belonged to the Blue Devils. Rowan McMahill (400 – 49.1), Neil Weiss (200 – 23.7), Sebastian Magherini (200 – 23.7) and Jim Hamilton (800 – 2:01.3) crossed the finish line first with a time of 3:38.46. SPF Raiders Blake Jackson, Mike Sylvester, Isaiah Williams and Cole Darmarajah finished third in the SMR at 3:45.22.

The Blue Devils were also tough in the field events, especially the javelin when Lincoln Meyers at 158-4 (2nd best throw), Max Cho (156-4) and Nate Reynders (138-0) took top honors with a distance of 464-4. Noah Rubenstein (45-11 – 2nd best throw), Max Reissman and Brenton Hatch combined to take second in the shot put with a total of 131-6. Rubenstein, Sam Luzuiga and Hatch took third in the discus with a distance of 351-4. Raider Zuriel Battle had the thirdbest throw in the discus at 138-8.

In the Jack Martin Mile, Blue Devil Avery Keith finished second with a personal-best time of 4:16.2 behind winner Rob Poplau (Cherokee) at 4:15.12. Blue Devil Alex Valencia finished sixth at 4:22.62. The Blue Devils also took second in the 400hurdles with a time of 2:58.94 with Manny Gayanilo (meet’s best time of 54.48, personal best), Tyler Pietrewicz and Dave Moreland. Raiders Ameen Zubair, Carter Stephens and Justice Larkin finished fifth at 3:07.54. Westfield’s Alex Davlouros, Jeff Lie, Noah Ferry and Brian Polito finished third in the 4×800 with a time of 8:37.09.

Vikings Kevin Philistin Noah Cooper and Ron Ingleton broke the meet record in the triple jump with a distance of 128-2.5. Blue Devils Charles Vanecek (38-11.5), Niko Lukis (388) and Dwayne Magno took fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 1130.5. Raiders Larkin (39-7) Hagler and Ian Hopkins took fifth at 111-6. Lukis also had a leap of 20-4.5 in the long jump. Raiders Jackson, Beckham Quinn, Sylvester and Zubair finished sixth in the 4×200 at 1:34.56. Raiders Zubair, Chase Hagler, Larkin and Hopkins finished fourth in the 4×110 hurdles at 1:03.96.

For the girls, competing in one of the toughest events of the afternoon, Blue Devils Gabby Demeter, Darcy Scheiner, Maura Highland and anchor Sean O’Brien qualified for the Nationals when they finished third in the 4×100 with a WHS best time of 48.38. The UC Vikings finished first with a sparkling meet record time of 46.07 (3rd in state history), followed by Haddonfield Memorial at 48.18.

“Gabby started to Darcy to Maura to me and we had really good handoffs. The competition is great this year, like very fast teams to run against. It’s very good because our times will get faster, so all of our handoffs will have to mean a lot. They are going to be really smooth. We got to keep it up, gain more speed at practice. But I think our team chemistry and our handoffs are really going to get us through,” O’Brien said.

The Viking foursome of Taylor Aska, Taylor Cox, Leah Gould and Natalie Thompson have definitely raised the bar in that event. On the strength of the Union Catholic foursome, O’Brien commented, “It’s kind of nice to have a team that fast because it pushes us to go.”

Moments later when they were told that their time qualified them for Nationals, there were hugs and cheers.

Scheiner, O’Brien and Hyland would also compete in the open 400 later in the afternoon.

“It’s a great day! The conditions are great,” O’Brien expressed. “It was windy last week but no wind or anything so we ran a good time. I am anxious to see what we ran. We run faster in warm conditions.”

Also later in the afternoon, Demeter was really on fire and cleared 5-6 to win the high jump (presently tied for the best height this season). The high jump relay was won by the Vikings but Demeter, Laura Oliveira and Ava Gaspard placed second. When the open 400 was over, Scheiner finished third at 58.23.

Raiders Keira Kelly, Savannah Hudson, Delaney Farley and Abi Elliott finished first in the SMR with a time of 4:28.7. Hudson, Danielle Kramer, Kelly and Farley also finished third in the 4×200 at 1:40.05. Agwu, Aliyah Agosto-Smith, Keziah Acedieu and Zoe Hopkins finished third in the shuttle hurdles at 1:06.72.

Blue Devils Lilly Petrie, Victoria Gee and Sofia Gesser finished third in the 400-hurdles at 3:33.72, while the Raiders crossed fifth at 3:44.3. Sofia Panora, Emily Kapuscinski, Olivia Thornton and Vanessa Larkin finished fourth in the 4×800 at 10:32.54. Grace Kim (33-1.5), Petrie (32-8) and Gesser (31-6) placed third in the triple jump with a distance of 97-3.5 and Raiders Danielle Kramer (34-1 – 3rd best), Agwu and Agosto-Smith placed fifth at 91-5.

Blue Devils Juliet Pitta and Lina Wright combined to place third in the pole vault with a height of 17-0 and Raider Sarah Sicoli had the third-best height at 9-6. Raiders Kelly, Kramer and Farley placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 46-8.5, followed by Blue Devils Cheyenne Blackwell, Kim and Oliveira at 457.25.

Blue Devils Addison Marshall, Sienna Schael and Livia Reyes placed fourth in the discus with a distance of 247-9. Reyes, Marshall and Ashley Cunningham took sixth in the shot put at 89-9.5. Priscilla Dayon (1015), Emma Sullivan and Schael placed fourth in the javelin at 256-2, followed by Raiders Mackenzie Virgil (108-5 – 3rd best), Maggie McNulty and Kourtney Most at 255-2.