The Livingston High School boys’ track and field team challenged 38 other teams from Essex County and placed second in the Essex County Relays in their home stadium on Friday, May 5. On the way, the boys performed many of their personal bests of the season and broke three school records.
First up on the track was the 4x1,600 meter run. Leading off for the LHS squad was junior Shane Lyons, followed by senior captain Kyle Viteri. Each ran a solid leg before passing to senior Ryan Wu. Tenth grader Ricky Romero, with the fastest split of the team, brought the baton home in a total time of 20:22.78 and a thirdplace finish earning the first points of the night.
Matt Ho, Ray Oji, and Raalu Madubuku next prepared themselves for the 400 meter intermediate hurdles race. Each boy would run his individual race with their times then tallied and then compared to the other three-men squads. Oji placed second overall with a time of 57.71. Not far behind was Ho at 58.64. Madubuku, who recovered from a fall over one of the last hurdles, finished off the squad at 64.44. Their efforts produced two first place finish overall and earned big points for the team.
Next on the track was the 4x100 meter relay. The squad was made up of Ethan Wang, Chase Wade, Chase Kaufman, and Luke Petryna. The boys, who had already broken the school record once this season, challenged the nationally ranked team from Seton Hall to a close race and placed second overall with a time of 42.42, re-breaking their own school record.
The 4x800 meter race was next. Danny Wang was given the task of leading off the Lancers. Ming Ma was next to receive the baton running a personal best time for the season before handing off to Shane Lyons. The team was anchored home by Romero, running his second race of the evening. The LHS team finished just out of the medal hunt in 7th place with a time of 8:39.44.
The track was next prepared for the exciting 110 meter shuttle hurdle race, during which squads of four raced back and forth on the track. The Lancers were set to race in the fastest heat. Running first was Ho, followed by sophomores Madubuko and Nick Siao, then anchor runner Ray Oji. Ho set the squad up nicely with Madubuko and Siao racing their best in a talented field. Oji then finished with a blistering leg to finish first in the heat and second overall with a time of 63.11 to add to the team’s growing total.
It was Oji who made the next fast turnaround to prepare for the 4x400 meter relay. Racing with Petryna, ninth grader Corey Leavy and Wade, the boys faced serious competition from the Essex County teams. Petryna turned in a sub-50 first leg before handing to Leavy, who stepped up and held his own before handing the baton to Oji. It was Wade who anchored the team home with another sub-50 leg crossing the line at 3:24.01, a new school record and a fourth-place finish.
Racing next was the distance medley relay, which is made up of 1,200, 400, 800, and 1,600 meter distances. Danny Wang ran the first leg, followed by Varun Sohal as the 400 meter runner. Ma ran his second 800 meter of the day before handing it off to Romero, who would bring the race home in the 1,600 with an impressive performance to place the team in second at 11:15.91.
Hank Klein, Will Sun, Tugra Ovul, and David Flores were the members of the sprint medley relay squad. Klein and Sun each ran fast 200 meter legs to start the team off. Ovul then ran the 400 meter portion. Flores, a ninth grader, followed with the longest leg of the medley, 800 meters. The LHS team ran a season’s best time of 3:39.85 and finished eighth overall.
The last race on the track was the 2x200 meter relay. Ethan Wang started the race, and handed off to Wade. Kaufman next took the baton and battled for position before giving it to Petryna, who raced down the final stretch. He closed in on the lead team to put the team in second place overall with a new school record for the squad at 1:29.27.
While the runners were busy earning points on the track, the field athletes were amassing their own totals. Chase Spiegler and Joseph Jean-Marie combined in the javelin, throwing 145’0” and 101’1”, respectively, to earn a fifth place finish overall. In the shot put, Jean-Marie had a personal best 39’6” and was paired with sophomore Grayson Alpert, who also delivered his season’s best performance of 36’0.5”.
The LHS jump squad also added critical points to the total for the Lancers. Ho and Siao pole vaulted for the squad. Both soared over the bar at 10’6” to place third overall. Ho also secured a second place win in the high jump with sophomore George Carr. Ho cleared the bar at 5’6” and Carr, a personal best 5’3”. In the triple jump, ninth grader Gabe Lopez-Simpson and Kaufman faced some talented athletes. Lopez-Simpson jumped 37’11”, setting a new freshman record. Kaufman had a solid 37’3”. In the long jump, Wade and Sun each had personal best jumps of 19’1.25” and 18’10.25”, respectively, to finish fourth overall.
At the end of the night, the boys had accumulated 68 points for the second place overall finish.
Next up for the Lancers is the Super Essex Conference Championship on Friday, May 12, at School Stadium in Newark, where the team will compete in the American Division.
