The Livingston High School boys’ indoor track and field team started the championship portion of its season at the Essex County Relays on Saturday, January 21. The event took place at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, where the team earned the second place trophy.
The Lancers started the meet with a first place performance with the shuttle relay squad of co-captain Matt Ho, Ray Oji, Raalu Madubuko and Nick Siao. They finished with a time of 32:45 and helped the team to an eight-point start.
Next up came the distance medley relay consisting of the 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600-meter distances. Cocaptain Kyle Viteri led the relay, running the 1,200-meter before handing off to Hank Klein, who sprinted the next 400 meters. Sophomore Danny Wang then ran the 800-meter leg before Shane Lyons finished off the relay with a personal best, 1,600 meters, and helped the team to a sixth-place finish with 11:39.90.
Will Sun, Chase Kaufman, Oji and Marc Lewin were the four members who made up the sprint medley team. Sun led the medley with a quick 200-meter before handing the baton to Kaufman who also sprinted a 200-meter. Oji continued the 400-meter leg before handing it to Lewin who finished out the race with an 800-meter run. The boys ran well against a competitive field finishing in eighth with a time of 3:54.76.
Ethan Wang started the 4x200meter relay before handing off to Chase Wade, who had maintained the third position. Chase Kaufman then took over, before switching with co-captain Luke Petryna, who began the chase on the lead runners. As he rounded the final curve, Petryna passed the East Orange racer to cross the finish line in second place. The team broke the school record by over one second with a time of 1:30.82.
Distance runners started the 4x800-meter with Max Israel in the lead before passing to Ming Ma. Ma ran a personal best time and put the team in a good position. Lyons maintained the place of the Lancer squad with D. Wang finishing off the last 800 meters. With their time of 8:49.99, the team placed third overall.
While the runners were busy on the track, John Ferrante and Jadiel Enchautegui were busy throwing shots at the end of the facility. Ferrante heaved the shot 43’5” with Enchautegui at 43’0” to earn the squad a fourth place finish overall.
With only one race to go, the Lancers were in third place behind Seton Hall Prep and Montclair. The final relay was the 4x400-meter, with Petryna, Ho, Oji and Wade ready to challenge the running for the Lancers. Petryna led the group before handing to Ho. Oji then took over to bring the team into the lead before Wade who then maintained the place for the team’s season best time overall of 3:29.32.
The Lancers then watched from the side as the last schools that were projected to be faster raced. In a surprise finish, the Lancers out-raced all other teams, and placed first overall. This finish also propelled the Lancers into the second place team title.
Next up for the Lancers is the Individual Essex County Championships on Sunday, January 29 at 4:00 p.m., where a team title is obtainable.
