Last Tuesday, May 21, the Ridge Track and Field Team returned to Hillsborough for the Skyland Conference Championship. Maintaining momentum from last week’s Somerset County Championship win, the boys won the meet for the second year in a row.
The boys also captured the division title, making this the first time in school history that the Ridge boys have won both the overall and division championships in the same year. With another great display of versatility and dominance, the boys defeated Franklin 81-55 for the overall scoring and 148-99 in the division scoring.
Like last week, the boys were off to a strong start on the track. First up was the 400 hurdles: Owen Mays won the event in 55.70, and Joseph Dachnowicz came in fifth with a time of 58.45. Right after the 400 hurdles was the 1600, with Brenden McMahon and Dev Patel placing first and second. With an impressive 2:03 split for the last 800 meters, Brenden took the win with a time of 4:18.00. Dev Patel was close behind in 4:20.06.
The next scoring event for the boys was the 110 hurdles. Owen Mays set a new personal best of 14.84 to win, and Joseph Dachnowciz placed fifth with a time of 15.65. Following the 110 hurdles was the 400. Ryan Schmolze placed fifth in 51.99, with Chase Fritz right behind him in 52.32.
Brenden McMahon then returned from the 1600 to also win the 3200 with a time of 9:28.78. Mitya Cole placed 6th in the 3200, running 9:41.08. To wrap up the track events, the boys 4×400 of Jason Wiatroski, Joseph Dachnowicz, Chase Fritz, and Edward Condolon placed 2nd with a time of 3:26.93.
In the field, Jared Rascio and Owen Mays placed 3rd and 6th in the triple jump. Jared jumped 42-02.00, and Owen jumped 41-08.00. Jared also placed 4th in long jump, with a mark of 21-03.00. Lok Hariharan placed 3rd in shot put with a throw of 46-07.50.
With scorers in sprints, distance, throws, and jumps, the Ridge boys are back-to-back champions of the Skyland Conference. After completing the sweep of the Somerset County Championships in Cross Country, Winter, and Spring Track, this team of boys is the first to win both the overall conference championship and the division title.
Coming up next for the boys is the NJSIAA North II Group 4 state Sectional Championship. The Sectional Championship will be hosted at Ridge on May 31 and June 1, where the top 6 finishers in each event will advance to the Group 4 State Championship.
— Written by Brenden McMahon
