Boys Winter Track and Field Wins State Relays Championship Title

Sarah Loew, Writer

The John Bennett Indoor Sports complex was packed on January 21. There were sixty-one teams crowded inside, all with the same goal in mind: winning the State Relays Championship title. The meet started off with a bang for the Hunterdon Central boys with an exciting 4×55 meter shuttle hurdle relay. The team finished in 30.43 seconds, which secured both a first place finish and a new school record. This win was exactly the start the boys needed to spark an overall outstanding meet.

“I always expect to be competitive,” said Coach Delisle discussing his expectations for the meet. “Typically in the past when we’ve had good teams we finish somewhere in the top 5. I just wasn’t sure we were balanced enough to score in enough events.”

Overall, though, the boys teams finished in the top 6 (and therefore scored points) in a total of 6 events. Another first place victory was claimed by the pole vaulters, who won with an impressive combined height of 25 feet between the two athletes. When the 4×800 meter relay team took 3rd and the 4×200 meter relay team and high jump team took 5th and 6th respectively, Central knew they had a serious shot at winning the title. That win, however, would not come easily. Going into the 4×400 meter relay, the final event of the day, three teams were separated by only one point. Central led with a score of 29, with Rancocas Valley and Trenton (both with a score of 28) hot on their heels. In order to claim the victory, Central would need to beat out both of these teams in the relay. The three schools took 3-4-5 in the event with Hunterdon Central narrowly edging out Rancocas Valley by 0.08 seconds to claim third place in the relay and first place overall.

“I was very nervous going into the 4×400 meter relay, but I was confident in all the hard work and time we put in for this race,” said David Scheier, a key member of the 4×4 team. “Once we knew we secured the victory, it just felt amazing and was one of the most memorable moments for our team.” The boys win marks the first time in program history that the team has won the state relays.

“I was super excited, especially the way the meet ended,” said Coach Delisle. “The 4×4 is the most dramatic race in track. It seems more often than not, meets come down to the 4×4 and I’ve learned to keep something there in order to win with that event.” Regardless of the freezing cold, the boys team has trained hard all winter in order to reach this point, and their hard work clearly paid off with this exciting victory.

The track team followed up their State Relays win by winning the Skyland Conference title just one week later.