MORRIS COUNTY REWIND
Keturah Orji of Mount Olive made history, and the Randolph girls and Morristown and Mendham boys relays teams, and Kylene Cochrane of West Morris and Mackenzie Barry of Mendham all had strong showings at the 120th Penn Relays last week at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
But that wasn't all. There were also several great performances turned in by Morris County teams and athletes at Saturday's 35th Randolph Relays.
Here is a look at some of the highlights from the past week.
AIR ORJI SOARS TO A PAIR OF AWARDS AT THE PENN RELAYS
Keturah Orji had won just about every triple jump title possible during her remarkable career at Mount Olive, except for one.
But the Georgia-bound star took care of that missing championship in grand fashion when she soared 43-10 1/4 on her second attempt to finish first last Thursday at the Penn Relays.
Orji's 43-10 1/4 is the best jump in meet history, but will not go down as a meet record because it was wind-aided. The wind reading during Orji's 43-10 1/4 was 2.5 meters per second. Anything 2.0 or greater is considered wind-aided.
Orji, who finished more than two feet ahead of runner-up Javonne Antoine of Elizabeth Seton in Maryland (41-7 3/4), is the first New Jersey winner of the girls triple jump since Carlene Cummings of Englewood in 1998.
For her great accomplishment, Orji was named the High School Girls Athlete of the Meet for Individual Event.
With Olivia Baker of Columbia being named the Athlete of the meet for Relay events for the second straight year, New Jersey swept both awards for the second time in Penn Relays history.
New Jersey also swept the girls awards in 1998 when distance runner Dara Crocker of Columbia (relay events) and triple jumper Carlene Cummings of Englewood (individual events) accomplished the feat. No other state has ever done it swept the girls Outstanding Athlete of the Meet awards.
Orji, who fouled on her first attempt and also had jumps of 43-3, 43-3, 42-5, 41-9 in her series, was happy with her victory, but not entirely satisfied.
``I'm happy,'' said Orji, a three time national champion in the triple jump (two indoors and one outdoors). ``I really didn't think about the fact that I had never won here until I saw the preview the other day. It's nice to win it after being second, but I really didn't have the competition I was hoping for to push me to some better jumps. The better the competition, the better I jump.''
Orji said the wind was a factor.
``I kind of changed my approach a little because of the wind,'' Orji said. ``But I tried not to let it bother me.''
Orji's big target this season is the national record of 44-11 3/4 set in 2004 by Brittany Daniels of Tracy, Calif..
Last spring, Orji just missed it when he soared 44-11, tied for No. 2 in U.S. history.
``When I saw how close I was to breaking the national record, it became my biggest goal to break it this year and feel like I have a real good chance of doing it.''
We were looking all the records on the way home and wondering if it was a possibility," Orji said. "It's great to be a part of such a long history and to have my name there with the other athletes that came before me and to know that I'll be in that book long after this year is amazing."
GOING THE DISTANCE
The Randolph girls made its distance medley debut at the Penn Relays a memorable one with a very impressive fourth place finish in the Championship of America race last Thursday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia
The four runners for the Rams were Carole Harsch (3:44.24), Margaret Thomson (1:03.00), Nora May McSorley (2:15.35), Liz Wellamn (5:00.49), who combined to
run 12:03.07. West Springfield of Virginia won in 11:53.07. Haddonfield was second in 12:02.37 and Northern Highlands was third in 12:02.79.
Full results of the Penn Relays are here
Two days after its DM race in Philly, Harsch (5:13), McSorley (a huge PR of 5:04.9), Thomson (5:29) and Wellman (5:15) teamed up to win the 4x1,600 at the Randolph Relays in 21:03.83..
The 5:04.9 by McSorley is a drop of 28 seconds off her previous personal best. McSorley is rapidly becoming a big star!
Randolph wound up second to Ridge, 76-44 in the team standings in the Division 1 competition.
DELBARTON AND WHIPPANY PARK WIN AT RANDOLPH RELAYS
The Whippany Park girls and Delbarton boys each came away with team titles at the 35th Randolph Relays last Saturday.
Whippany Park outscored a very strong Bernards team, 100-68, to win the girls Division 2 championship, and Delbarton edged Non Public rival and Union County powerhouse Union Catholic, 77-76, for the boys Division 1 title.
For Delbarton, the Green Wave won the shuttle hurdles (65.36), the 4x800 (8:24.44), and Tommy Rhodes had the top throws of the meet in both the shot put (54-8) and discus (153-4) to lead the team victory in both events.
On the girls side, Whippany Park won the shuttles (67.96), the 4x1,600 (23:49.92), the pole vault (26-6), the triple jump (93-11 ¼), the discus (266-2) and the shot put (95-6). Nickolette Dunbar had the top throw of the meet in the shot (41-0) and added a 118-3 in the discus for Whippany Park.
In the boys Large School competition, Morris Hills picked up wins in the pole vault (34-6), the 4x800 (8:13.30), and the javelin on the way to a runner-up finish with 51 points. Passaic Tech finished first with 51. Conor McClain threw a meet best 177-9 to lead the javelin team to victory for Morris Hills.
For full results of the Randolph Relays, go here MORRISTOWN AND MENDHAM RUN STRONG 4X800'S AT PENN
Running in the same heat in the 4x800-meter relay trials at the Penn Relays last Friday at Franklin Field in Phildelphia, Morristown and Mendham both ran very impressive races.
Morristown came agonizingly close to advancing to the Championship of America race with its time of 7:56.14, which placed it fourth in its heat and was 14th fastest time among the 70 teams that competed.
Morristown missed the final by two places, finishing just .57 out of the final qualifying spot. Mendham was eighth in its heat and in 7:58.76 , the 21st fastest time of the trials.
Morristown's splits were - Greg Arabagian (1:59.63), John Vallacchi (1:58.54), Rudy Torres (2:00.17), Sean Lyons (1:57.81).
For Mendham-Tyler Pressl (2:00.35), Phil St. Jacques (2:02.05), Christian Kildal-Brandt (1:57.73), Paul Ehmann (1:58.65).
Mendham also finished sixth in its 4x400 heat in 3:22.94, the top Morris County time of the day, as it edged Randolph, seventh in the same heat as Mendham in 3:25.03.
Mendham's four runenrs were Kildal-Brandt (49.86), Ian Graham (50.03), Malcolm Montilius (52.42), Dylan Heraghty (50.64).
Randolph's foursome consisted of Stephen Nalbach (51.55), Collin McAlmont (52.39), Greg Stickle (49.85), Dan Leaza (51.25).
Stickle, in his first year of spring track after giving up lacrosse, has emerged as one of the top 400/800 runners in the county.
DOVER THROWERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
When Dover placed second to Whippany Park in the team shot put at the Randolph Relays last Saturday with a combined total of 91-11, it shattered the school record of 88-1 ¼ set 27 years ago.
The trio of Dover throwers consisted of freshman Jayann Johnson (30-11) and seniors Luis Gomez (30-9) and Andrea Morales (30-3).
The 91-11 broke the school record of 88-1 ¼ that was set by Cathy Magliochetti, Barbara Cloughley and Dania Morales when they won the Morris County Relays shot title in 1987.
Morales, usually the best shot and discus thrower for Dover, is one of the best all-around athletes ever at Dover. She will graduate with 12 varsity letters. She was the soccer goalie for 4 years, a 1,000 point scorer in basketball, and a four-year shot and discus leader for the Tigerettes, advancing last year to the state group championships.
The discus is a better event for Morales. On Saturday, she threw the discus 98-1, the 3rd best throw of the meet behind Leah Wis of Montville (large school winner) and Nickolette Dunbar of Whippany Park (small schools winner). Dover placed fourth in the small schools division of the event with 227-10.
Dover was throwing without senior Eileen Anderson, usually one of the top three discus athletes on the team, who had another commitment.
Not only is Johnson one of the top throwers for Dover, but she's the best sprinter we have had in almost 2 decades, having a dual meet mark of 12.9 in the 100 and under 28 in the 200.
Gomez was Dover's best athlete in winter track, placing 7th or 8th in the shot in all the championship meets including the state sectionals. Gomez is a twin and both she and her sister Julia are outstanding swimmers, but since Dover does not have a swim team they both participate in winter track.
PARISPPANY BOYS MAKES HISTORY
The Parsippany boys team made school history by placing first in its 4x400 heat at the Penn Relays last Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. It's the first time ever that Parsippany won a 4x400 at Penn.
Junior Christian Hulse ran a tremendous lead off leg in 52.7 handing off to Malik Frances who ran 51.9, which left the team in second place. Senior Peter Hernandez ran a great race with a 52.3, giving Josh Crawford the chance to win. Crawford did so by running 51.8 as the team finished with a time of 3:28.73 for the win. That time was the 148th fastest time in the trials among the 535 teams that finished.
RECORD BREAKER
Senior Morgan Maltby broke the Chatham school record when she unloaded the javelin 109-2, the top throw of the day at the Millburn Relays last Saturday. That broke the school record of 108-1 set in 2010 by Hali Deters. For full results of the Millburn Relays, go here
KEEPING TRACK
Kylene Cochrane of West Morris placed sixth in the girls mile at the Penn Relays in a personal best 4:55.30. Mackenzie Barry of Mendham was 11th in the 3,00 at Penn in
10:00.94.
COMING UP The relay portion of the season reaches its conclusion this Friday and Saturday with the Morris County Relays at Morris Knolls High School. Action is scheduled to start on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Mendham swept the team titles at the county relays last year. Can the Minutemen do it again? For more information on the Morris County Relays , including an order of events, go here The NJAC Championships are scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday at Morris Hills at 4 p.m. each day.