In its first challenge of the indoor season, the Livingston High School boys’ indoor track and field team won the Super Essex Conference, American Division Championship, at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York, on December 22. The squad bested ten other teams vying for the trophy and came away with three individual champions, meet records and two school records.
Starting off for the Lancers were Raalu Madubuko and Nick Siao in the 55 meter high hurdles. Madubuko ran a clean race and placed second overall with a competitive time of 7.96. Siao was fifth with a time of 8.24. Siao later placed third in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 10’6”.
Ricky Romero was next on the track, racing the 1,600 meter event. Romero ran a tactical race and kept pace with the lead pack for the eightlap event. He then out sprinted the leaders to place first with a time of 4:35.82, becoming a conference champion with aseason’s best performance. Also running their season’s best performances in the 1,600 were Sean Tesoriero (4:54.87) and Shane Lyons (4:59.05).
The 55 meter dash produced the next conference champion for Livingston. After the preliminary heats were completed, three LHS sprinters qualified for the final. Chase Kaufman was over the line first at 6.50 as the champion, followed closely by Chase Wade in second at 6.54. Brandon Dong, the third Lancer, finished fifth with a time of 6.71.
Luke Petryna had a school recordbreaking day, establishing two new marks in the 400 and 200 meter dashes. Up first for the senior was the 400 where he ran a tight race against two runners from East Orange. Petryna crossed the line in third with a fast time of 50.17. Also running for the Lancers were Corey Leavy (53.13) andNickGemellaro (55.63).
Petryna was back on the track for the 200 meter dash. He placed second overall with his second record time of the night of 22.16. Wade also raced well, running 22.62 for fourth place, with Dong in eighth with a time of 23.01.
Grayson Alpert set a personal record in the shot put competition with his throw of 40’ 10”. This was a three-foot improvement over his best outdoor performance and placed the junior in third overall. Karim Barakat(37’0.5”)andMaxFeldman (35 ’9.25”) also competed and threw their season’s best performances.
In the 800 meter run, Romero again turned in a season’s best performance with a time of2:07.08, for a seventh place finish. Daniel Wang (2:08.8) and Jake Ferrans (2:12.73) also competed.
Lyons (10:57.77), Liam Mc-Guirk (11:01.32), and Ryan Kropac (11:20.32) all competed in the grueling 16-lap 3,200 meter run. The trio ran well, and all turned in their season’s best performances.
Two novice relay squads competed during the meet. The sprint medley squad of Oliver Super, Matt Burt, Will Sun, and David Flores placed first overall. Alex Kasperski, Matt Burt, Flores, and John Harrell made up the distance medley team, which placed second.
The meet ended with the 4x400 meter relay team of Petryna, Leavy, Kaufman, and Wade. The squad lined up against some of the best in Essex County. Petryna immediately took the lead before passing to Leavy in a crowd at the passing zone. During the exchange, Leavy lost one of his racing shoes and ran his entire 400 with one spike. The gritty sophomore never lost his step before passing to Kaufman, who powered through his leg and then passed to Wade, who split the fastest time of the race to help the team finish in first with a time of 3:28.41.
The track andfieldteam continues to compete in invitationals around the state. The Lancers’ next big challenge will be on January 20 at the Essex County Relays, back in Staten Island at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.
