HHS track teams sweep county titles

Dennis triple powers boys

By: Nick Vaccaro
   
   The Hillsborough boys and girls dominated the competition at the Somerset County Track and Field Championships, held Dec. 28 at Lehigh University.
   The HHS boys won the meet with 84 points, beating out county and conference rival Franklin (74) and the rest of the field. The Raider girls completed the sweep with 75 points, topping the Franklin girls by 19 points.
   Hillsborough’s boys’ squad was led by three outstanding performances by Brian Dennis, as he swept all three major distance events scoring 30 points for his team. He won the 3,200 (10:19), 1,600 (4:45) and 800 (2:03).
   "I figured I’d be able to win the mile and two mile, but the 800 was questionable," Dennis said.
   Dennis kicked off his hat trick in the 3,200 meters, doing only what he had to, knowing that he had to run the 800 immediately after the race and the 1600 toward the end of the meet.
   "I was saving my energy for the last event," Dennis said.
   Going into the 1,600-meter run, the Raider boys were only up by six points, but the trio of Dennis, Andrew Rath (3rd, 4:47) and Fredy Irizarry (4th, 4:50) solidified the win for the boys as they scored 20 points in the event.
   The high jumpers also came up big by giving HHS the first lead of the meet over Franklin by scoring 13 unanswered points. Anthony Visicaro (2nd, 5-8) led the squad with David Eilbacher (4th, 5-6) and Brandon Lane (6th, 5-6) also placing.
   Chris Berezansky made his presence felt as he won the shot put with a mark of 52 feet, while teammate Tim Ultee was fourth with a distance of 43 feet, 6 inches.
   Matt Bitten (5th in 55 hurdles, 8.6, 4th in 400, 54.3), Tyler Szwarc (2nd in 55 hurdles, 8.0), Ryan Schofield (4th in 55 dash, 6.7) and Paul Bernardo (6th in 3,200, 10:32) also contributed.
   On the girls’ side, young shot putters Taryn O’Connor and Ingrid Berrio stole the show, coming up with a huge 1-2 finish, respectively. O’Connor (36-3.75) and Berrio (34-0) both set personal records. O’Connor bested her previous marks by two feet, while Berrio made a three-foot improvement. Both girls have only been throwing for about a month, and they went up against and defeated girls who have been throwing for four years now. _
   "Taryn and Ingrid coming in 1-2 was huge. That was amazing," HHS head coach Rich Refi said. "A lot of people think field events don’t count. We scored 18 points. They count just as much as any event."
   Going into the meet, both girls wanted to make sure that they would place, but they had no idea they’d finish as high and as well as they did.
   "I actually had the worst headache ever, but we (O’Connor and I ) were talking and started doing warm-ups and thought we were going to do pretty well," Berrio said.
   "I definitely wanted to place," O’Connor added. "I saw the competition and knew I’d have to fight for it."
   The battle for the county title turned into a friendly inner squad competition as both O’Connor and Berrio had solidified the 1-2 spots.
   Lauren Watts had a big day for the Raiders as she scored in three events including the 55 hurdles (1st, 8.9), 55 dash (6th, 7.8) and high jump (2nd, 4-10).
   In the trials of the 55 dash, Yeneisha Warrick tied the Somerset County record. She also aided the Raiders in their winning efforts by going on to score in both the 55 dash (5th, 7.7) and 400 (3rd, 64.1).
   The HHS girls added to their lead by scoring a few points here and there in every event. Allison Marcsisin placed fifth in the 800 (2:36) and sixth in the 1,600 (5:44). Eileen Cafferty added some points by placing fourth in the 800 (2:35), while classmate Ingrid Mellor placed fourth in the 3,200 (12:59)
   Both the boys and girls teams would have scored even more points had there been a pole vault event at the county meet. Robin Friedman attended a meet the very next day, which was also held at Lehigh University, and set a new Somerset County record with a height of 11 feet. The pole vault is one of the many special tools that both teams have at their disposal and will make them tougher to beat in meets where the event is scored.
   In the 55 hurdles, Melissa Arango (4th, 9.4) and Sylwia Tyksinski (6th, 9.6) combined for seven points. Cassandra Steel (5th in 3200, 13:11) and Melanie Gingras (3rd in high jump, 4-10) also contributed points.
   The strong performance that both the boys and girls teams showed at this county battle was just what they needed to help propel them into the even bigger meets coming up in January and February. Being able to beat out the competition on little training this early in the season is a huge advantage for both of these teams, and they will only get better as the season goes on.