On Saturday, April 20, the Ridge Track and Field team hosted the Somerset County Relays. The Boys team won the meet, winning 7 events and scoring in 13 of the 16 events. There were also several new entries into the Ridge top 10 all-time list.

On the Track, the boys team set the tone by winning the 4×1600 meter race. Continuing the strong start, the boys won the 3×400 hurdle relay, with Owen Mays and Joseph Dachnowicz placing 1st and 2nd, and Jason Wiatroski breaking 60. Jason Wiatroski also set the school record in the 300m hurdles this past Thursday, running 41.09. Owen’s winning time of 55.78 is the 8th fastest in school history.

The boys then won the Shuttle Hurdle relay, with Owen Mays making a huge comeback on the last leg to take first place. The relay of Joseph Dachnowicz, Jared Rascio, Jason Wiatroski and Owen Mays also set a new school record with a time of 1:04.84!

Following the wins in the 4×1600, 400H, and Shuttle Hurdle relays, the boys placed 3rd in the 4×200 with a time of 1:33.47. This time from Jason Wiatroski, Joseph Dachnowicz, Jared Rascio, and Edward Condolon is the 5th fastest in school history. The boys also placed 3rd in the Sprint Medley Relay.

The team of Kenji Hou, Chase Fritz, Ryan Schmolze, and Kaleb Huang ran 3:39.42, 10th in school history. Ryan Schmolze set a big personal best in this race, splitting a speedy 51 on his 400 leg.

The boys team of Mitya Cole, Dev Patel, Edward Condolon and Brenden McMahon also won the 4×800 in 8:04.76, and then the DMR team placed 1st with 10:28.87. Brenden McMahon started his anchor leg a few seconds behind Bernards, but closed the gap and took over the lead to ultimately win the race.

This time from Dev Patel, Nate Schneider, Matthew Fukushima, and Brenden is the 8th fastest in school history. To close out the track events, the boys won the 4×400 relay.

Lots of points were also secured in the field events.

The shot put squad of Lok Hariharan, Evan James and Sam Ginn placed first. This was one of Sam’s first times competing in the shot put, and his throw of 34-04.00 puts him on track to play a huge role for Ridge.

The throwers also placed 6th in Discus. Jared Rascio set a new PR of 21-06.50 in the Long Jump, and he and Jacob Medenilla placed 4th in the event. Jared Rascio and Owen Mays also placed 3rd in the Triple Jump. Last but certainly not least, Will Ligos and Nick Pfennig cleared 5-6 and 5-4 respectively to place 6th in High Jump.

The girls 4×800 of Rachel Biondo, Elayna Douglas, Elena Nicholson and Ryan Ireland won the 4×800 in 9:46.73, winning by over 15 seconds. The girls team of Ryan Ireland, Elayna Douglas, Elena Nicholson and Allie Chen also placed 3rd in the 4×400.

This coming weekend the team will compete at the prestigious Penn Relays, sending a boys DMR team, a 4×100 team and a 4×400 team. The girls will race in the 4×800, 4×100, and 4×400.

— Written by Brenden McMahon