Against all odds, the winter track and field team is the North 2, Group 2 sectional champions. On the frigid morning of February 4th, the team made their way down to Toms River for the morning session of the Sectional Championships. They entered Bennett Athletic Center at about 7:30 in the morning. Seven hours later, the Mountaineers found out that their 49 points were enough to defeat Parsippany (47 points) for a sectional title.
The first two events of the meet occurred simultaneously, as the 400 meter dash and high jump were both happening for the Group 2 boys. The meet itself was filled with teams from both North 2, Group 2 and North 2, Group 3. High jumper Trevor Sardis debuted at the event, and gave a much-needed spark to the squad, as he cleared the height of 5-foot 8-inches, good for 3rd place and 6 points. During this entire competition, some spots were not filled in the field events. Only one of three hurdle spots was filled, one of three pole vault entries, two of three shot putters, and two of three athletes in the high jump.
Following the first round of 55 meter dashes, 1600 meter (just short of a mile) races began for the boys side. Freshman star Brody Watt jumped out to the lead and nearly held it the entire way! Voorhees senior William Keiser just edged Watt at the line and celebrated when doing so. The freshman ran an incredible time of 4:25.52, just 0.4 seconds off of the win. Watt’s time is good for US #1 for the freshman class and an NJ top 50 at the time of publication. Sophomore John Richardson ran the race of his life, but had to settle for 7th place, just one spot off scoring and a group qualification. He ran 4:33 for the 1600 meter race.
At this point, Sardis and Watt combined for 14 points, which put the team into a surprisingly good spot. As mentioned earlier, only one of the three hurdle spots were filled. That one hurdler, Aidan Klaiss, was able to qualify into the 55 meter hurdle finals. Klaiss achieved two new personal bests during the qualifications and finals. He placed sixth in the finals, which earned one point and a spot at the group championships. Klaiss ran a time of 8.69 seconds for the finals.
A short while after Watt lit up the track in the 1600, 800 meter specialist Pat Griffin got on the line. The favorite going into the race did not disappoint. The senior ran a blistering time of 2:01.51 to hold off Parsippany sophomore Arya Garg, who ran 2:01.99. This season, Griffin ranks in the New Jersey top 30 for the event, and in one of his final winter track meets, brought his team 10 points. In the field, pole vaulter Zach Barral tied his personal best vault of 10 feet even. This performance was good for 3rd place, and six points for the team. “I was happy that I made it into groups,” Barral said.
Barral has been able to improve his pole vault by an entire foot during this winter season. The penultimate event of the meet was the 3200 meter (just shy of 2 miles) run. Many of the 1600 meter runners took the line for this one, including Keiser and Watt. Brody Watt got his revenge on the Voorhees distance runner, winning the section with an incredible 9:49! “His celebration motivated me to run faster because I don’t like being taunted,” Watt said. Keiser was less than a second behind, but it was Watt earning ten more points for his team.
At this point, Parsipanny and Bernards were neck-and-neck, with the latter holding a slight four point advantage. The final event of the day was the 4×400 meter relay, which heavily favored Parsippany. In order to win the section, the 4×400 meter team had to get third in the event. The team made up of juniors Danny Nathans and Carson Crain, along with seniors Ty Stauffer and Pat Griffin got the job done and placed second, scoring eight points. Nathans split 54.9 on opening leg, which Crain followed up with an impressive 54.0. “It feels good. I’m glad to be part of this team and I’m ready for groups,” Crain said.
Stauffer kept the team in position with a 57.7, and Griffin hammered a 50.1 to anchor. Stauffer, who gave up his spot in the 55 dash to be fresh for this race, said that it “Feels amazing. I love being able to help and give other athletes opportunities to improve the events they want to run and also it helped me to have fresh legs before the race.”
Fellow senior Pat Griffin said “I was just thinking…my teammates really stepped up” and that “All I was thinking about was getting that sectional title. It’s something I’ve dreamed of for a while.” A season that had an undermanned squad from the start could not have ended any better.
Coach Luke LaChac also commented on his team’s remarkable day. “Going into this year, I had no expectation that we would accomplish something so big because our team was so small…Going into this meet…it was not mathematically possible that we would be sectional champions. However, when you reach for what you can not, you can achieve what you think is impossible”.
The qualifiers will head back to the Bennett Athletic Complex on Saturday, February 18th for the Group Championships.
