Ridge Track & Field Off to Fast Start
On Monday, January 2 nd , the Ridge High School Track & Field team traveled to the Ocean Breeze Complex on Staten Island to compete in the Somerset County Winter Relay Championship. The boys put on a dominating display, winning six of the nine scoring events on the way to their fourth consecutive title, with the girls finishing third.
The boys got off to a fast start on the track by setting three new meet records. The team of Matthew Fukushima, Leo Kovatch, Jon Wey and Brenden McMahon won the distance medley relay with a time of 10:53.33. They were followed by the 4×200 relay of Aryan Malik, Edward Condolon, Patrick Doran and Patrick McCaffrey who crossed the line in 1:35.47. The 4×800 relay of Wey, Dmitry Cole, Tarun Kanda and Fukushima finished in 8:21.22 for the third meet record.
The sprint medley relay of Owen Mays, Will Deady, McCaffrey and Doran won in a time of 3:39.58, eclipsing a 25 year old school record. The team of Joseph Dachnowicz, Kanda, Kovatch and Doran won the 4×400 relay in a time of 3:31.66 and the shuttle hurdles relay of Mays, Condolon, Dachnowicz and Will Surett finished 2 nd in a time of 35.45.
In the field events the high jump relay of McCaffrey and Jake Zangara won with a combined height of 10”6”, the pole vault relay of Chris Kirkwood and Jack Donnelly finished 2 nd with a combined height of 19”6” and the shot put relay of Lokaditya Hariharan and Dawson Deng finished 3 rd with a combined distance of 82 feet.
On the girls side second place finishes were secured by the distance medley relay of Annika Svensson, Katie Koleto, Elayna Douglas and Rachel Biondo in a time 13:18.47 and the 4×800 relay of Biondo, Alyssa Laird, Jane LaCapra and Katharine Frank in a time of 10:50.31. The shuttle hurdles relay of Sam Rao, Sarah Shepard, Laird and Ryan Ireland finished 3 rd in a time of 37.61. Fourth place finishes were secured by the sprint medley relay of Ireland, Victoria Otash, Laird and Svensson in a time of 4:34.73, the shot put relay of Shepard and Otash with a combined distance of 50’9” and the high jump relay of Koleto and Shepard with a combined height of 8 feet. The 4×400 of Otash, Shepard, Grace Tan and Lina Randriatsimialona rounded out the scoring with a 6 th place finish in a time of 4:33.95.
Next up for the varsity team is the Skyland Conference Championship at Ocean Breeze on Sunday, January 8 th .
