WF BOYS – DISC, JAV, 4X16; SPF GIRLS JAV; CR – 4X4, HJ

Numerous meet records were broken by the Union Catholic High School girls and boys, who easily claimed both team titles at the Union County Relays held on May 2-3 at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield. The Viking girls finished with a total of 105, followed by Westfield at 63, Cranford at 50 and Scotch Plains-Fanwood (SPF) at 47. The Viking boys totaled 113, followed by Elizabeth at 85, Westfield at 78, Rahway at 52, SPF at 30 and Cranford at 27.

For the girls on Day 1, the Vikings broke three meet records and held a stern lead with 53 points, followed by the Blue Devils at 28, while Union and Cranford were tied for third at 20. The first record broken by the Vikings was in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) when Paige Sheppard, SadieThompson, Emmy O’Hearn and Sophia Thompson crossed the line in 11:57.1. Blue Devils Anna Kylish, Emma Pranke, Lina Wright andAnna Youssef finished fifth with a time of 13:05.

Vikings Sydney Chadwick, Leah Gould, Natalia Thompson and Taylor Aska broke the meet record in the 4×100 at 46.06 and Blue Devils Gabby Demeter, Darcy Scheiner, Maura Hyland and Sean O’Brien finished second with a time of 47.87. SPF Raiders Natalia Lambert, Keira Kelly, Keziah Acedieu and Delaney Farley finished sixth at 49.45.

The meet record in the Sprint Medley Relay (SMR) also belonged to the Vikings when Isabella Murray, Sinclair Powell, Jimmiea King and Peyton Hollis crossed in 3:58.12. Cranford Cougars Clover Halaby, Maddy Lionetti, Mikayla Sinclair and Courtney Toy finished third at 4:17.16. Raiders Savannah Hudson, Farley, Kelly and Abi Elliott finished sixth at 4:26.65.

Although coming up just shy of the meet record, Vikings Chadwick, Abriyah Thompson and Kiara Fleming won the 400-hurdles in 3:13.1. Cougars Ellie Semple, Isabella Alvarez-Gomez and Lilly Costello finished second at 3:21.86. Raiders Zoe Hopkins, Stephanie Agwu and Acedieu finished fourth at 3:33.78, followed by Blue Devils Lilly Petrie, Victoria Gee and Sofia Gesser at 3:34.84.

Top honors in the long jump belonged to the Vikings with a total distance of 50-1.25 but Blue Devils Cheyenne Blackwell (16-8.75), Demeter (16-3) and Grace Kim (152.25) placed second with a distance of 48-2. Raiders Kelly (3rd best – 175.75), Farley and Danielle Kramer placed fourth with a distance of 476.25, followed by CougarsAlexa Nofi, Sanaa Wright and Damara Barnes at 46-8.5.

In the pole vault, Raiders Sarah Sicoli (10-0) and Eva Pereira (8-6) placed second with a height of 18-6. Blue Devils Lina Wright and Kyra Lentzer placed third at 16-6 and Cougars Alexa McCoy and Semple placed fourth at 15-0. In the shot put, Blue Devils Adison Marshall, Livia Reyes and Ashley Cunningham placed fifth with a distance of 89-8.25. Cougar Kristen Fries had the second-best throw in the event at 35-5.75.

Day 2 had the Blue Devils chasing the Vikings once again. The Vikings crossed first with a time of 1:40.3, followed in order by Scheiner, Demeter, Alexis Ray and O’Brien on the anchor, who beat their seed time to finish second at 1:42.23. “You’re chasing people. You chase the fastest people, eventually you get up there,” Demeter commented.

Raiders Elliott, Savannah Hudson, Kelly and Farley also beat their seed time and finished fourth at 1:44.92.

As to the flow of her team’s performance in the event, Demeter recalled, “The handoff to me, I think it could have been better but for the first 4×2 of the season, I think it was pretty smooth. She (Scheiner) came in flying. She had a great first leg. Coming off the curve, I felt strong and then handing off to my girl Alexis, she’s a fast girl. It came off pretty well. Of course you have Sean! You can always trust her to anchor.” A few weeks ago, Demeter cleared a personal-best 5-6 to record the best height in the high jump at the Blue Devil Classic Relays.

“Last year at the Blue Devil, I couldn’t even clear 5-2. Honestly, it was really crushing to me because I was really going for it. This summer, this fall, I worked so hard. I went to every extra session I could get. Then when I finally cleared 5-6 at the Blue Devil, it was such an amazing feeling. All my hard work paying off! It was a great feeling,” Demeter expressed just before competing in the high jump at the UC Relays.

Her footwork, takeoff and form clearing the bar had to go smoothly. Demeter described, “It felt so smooth. Like it was the first time everything fell together. I kept working on my form every week. Over the bar, it felt like I was flying. I felt the most calm.”

Demeter did have the best jump in the event at 5-4 and along with Jordan Hadel and Laura Oliveira placed third with a height of 14-1. Cougars Francesca Germano, Wright and Barnes won the event at 14-4.

CougarsAlvarez-Gomez, Costello, Leonetti and Kristen Ledford finished first in the 4×400 at 4:03.09. Ray, Anna Kylish, Hyland and Maya Nair took fourth at 4:15.11. RaidersAgwu, Acedieu, Agosto-Smith and Zoe Hopkins finished second in the shuttle hurdles at 1:05.28. Cougars Alvarez-Gomez, Barnes, Ivy Bruton and Costello finished fourth at 1:06.9.

Union Catholic broke the meet record in the 4×1600 with a time of 21:34.11, while RaidersAli Bejarano, Alissa Stumpf, Maddie Marcovecchio and Mia Savare finished sixth at 24:47.11. In the 4×800, Raiders Lily Friedman, Shae Trenery, Emily Laudman and Malissa Morabito finished fourth at 10:18.61. Blue Devils Sofia Panora, Emily Kapuscinksi, Grace Lisnock and Emma Pranke finished sixth at 10:26.82.

In the field, Raiders Mackenzie Virgil (121-9 – meet best throw), Maggie McNulty and Isabella Licata won the javelin with a distance of 312-2. Blue Devils Priscilla Dayon, Emma Sullivan and Sienna Schael placed third at 275-3. AL Johnson Crusaders Kaileigh Netland, Julia Lettini and Jordan Tarentino placed sixth at 266-8.

Blue Devils Petrie, Grace Kim and Morgan Samet took third in the triple jump with a distance of 100-4, followed by Cougars Alexa Nofi, Barnes and Sydney Kessler at 100-0.75 and Raiders Kramer, Agwu and Agosto-Smith at 92-1.25. Blue Devils Marshall, Livia Reyes and Schael took fourth in the discus with a distance of 268-9, followed by Cougars Fries, Liz Wallin and Kendall Meixner at 253-11.

On Day 1, the Viking boys led the team totals with 59 points, followed by the Blue Devils at 45, while the Raiders were fourth at 20. Vikings Avery Atexide, Marcus McCoy, Al-Qamar Rojas and Dylan Williams broke the meet record in the 4×100 with a time of 42.02. Blue Devils Neil Weiss, Noah Petrassi Dwayne Magno and Rowan McMahill finished fourth at 43.77.

Vikings Alex Saldana, Garth Naar, Quinton Clemons and Jimmy Wischusen finished first in the DMR with a time of 10:24.24. Oratory Prep was a distant second after Wischusen separated the field, and Blue Devils Brody Toriello, Charles Prieto, Kaleb Stoeckmann and Eamon Mason finished third at 10:38.45.

Vikings Williams, Naar, Atexide and Keandre Kelly finished first in the SMR at 3:29.35, followed by Blue Devils Neil Weiss, Sebastian Magherini, Petrassi andAlex Valencia at 3:34.16. AL Johnson Crusaders Ken Cruz, Josh Maltez, Carlos Pina and Kyle Gunsiorowski finished sixth at 3:45.16. Vikings Rojas, McCoy and Justice Hicks won the 400-hurdles in 2:47.96 but Blue Devil Gayanilo recorded the fastest time at 53.55 and along with Dave Moreland and Tyler Pietrewicz took third at 2:58.06 (WHS record). Raiders Ameen Zubair, Justice Larkin and Carter Stephens finished fifth at 3:04.73, followed by Cougars Connor Perez, Charlie Otten and Kylan Medard at 3:08.92.

The Blue Devils picked up a lot of points in the field events beginning with Noah Rubenstein (129-4), Sam Luzunaga and Brenton Hatch taking first in the discus with a distance of 375-9. Raiders Zuriel Battle (145-7 2nd-best throw), Noah Ricca and Tristan Huber placed third at 359-2. Blue Devils Jeremy Cruz (159-8 best throw), Lincoln Meyers (155-5 2nd) and Max Cho won the javelin with a distance of 466-11 (WHS record). Cougars Alex Kessler, Will O’Keefe and Charles Wallin placed third at 397-11, followed by Raiders Ricca (153-0), Tyler Sklarin and Tony Diaco at 391-6.

In the high jump, Raiders Ian Hopkins (6-0), Beckham Quinn and Isaiah Williams placed fourth with a height of 16-9, followed by Cougars Chris Moroses, Aidan Corlett and Art Hrycak at 16-8. Moroses had the second- best leap in the long jump at 22-6 but Raiders Williams (20-6.5) Chase Hagler and Nick Hawkins placed fourth with a distance of 58-6. Blue Devils Niko Lukis, Charles Vanecek and Ethan Zhu placed sixth at 57-10.5.

Day 2 had Blue Devils Graham Korins,Avery Keith, Cole Varner and Eamon Mason crossing first in the 4×1600 with a time of 18:09.95. Raiders Zubair, Chase Hagler, Larkin and Ian Hopkins finished second in the shuttle hurdles at 1:01.59. The Vikings won the event in 1:00.8. Union Catholic and Oratory Prep finished 1–2 in the 4×800, followed by Blue Devils James Hamilton, Jim Gildea, Chris Buonopane and Ryan Daly at 8:02.72. Blue Devils Prieto, Daly, Mason and Weiss finished third in the 4×400 at 3:27.42.

Cranford’s Will O’Keefe and Alex Muller took top honors in the pole vault with a height of 21-0. Blue Devils Liam Morris and Andrew Geocos placed fourth at 20-0. Cougars Ben Fossella, Christiano Pinto and Art Hrycak took second in the shot put with a distance of 133-10, while Blue Devils Max Reissman, Rubenstein and Hatch placed third at 133-8.5. The Vikings broke the meet record in the triple jump with a distance of 133-3.5 and Raiders Hagler, Larkin and Hawkins placed fifth at 116-3.