Team brings home first track title ever
By: Kyle Moylan
It took a long time, but the Allentown High School boys’ track team has a championship.
With its wins over Ewing, Hopewell Valley and Princeton, Allentown swept away the competition to win the Patriot Division of the Colonial Valley Conference.
The final win came last week against Princeton, 77-63.
"It’s the first time in the history of the school there has ever been a track title," noted Allentown Coach Mike Gaeta. "I suspected that, but I didn’t know for certain until I got a call the next morning from the old athletic director (Dan Venet)."
Allentown’s victory included Brett Taft setting a school mark in the triple jump at 39-8.
As he has all season, Tian Schackelford played a big part in Allentown’s success. Schackelford won the 100 and 400, placed second in the 200 and third in the long jump.
Schackelford’s effort in the 400 led to an Allentown sweep in that event. Drew Byrnes (second in triple jump) placed second in the 400 and Matt Henderson was third.
"(Princeton) thought they would sweep the 400 and we ended up sweeping it," Gaeta noted. "We were always pretty confident we’d get the top two spots, but then our freshman took third for us. He showed a lot of heart."
Jarett Huneke won both hurdling events. Rob Bruins added seconds in both hurdling events. Steve Cox added a second in the 100 and a third in the 200.
Sadiki White placed first in the 800, Antonio Trappanese won the pole vault and Nick Sancilio was first in the javelin.
Rounding out the results, Garth DeBlasio was second in the 800, Mike Bartoli third in the 100, John Solewin third in the 1600 and Steve Gries third in the high jump.
"The kids, as you can imagine, were absolutely thrilled (about winning the division)," Gaeta said. "We had a lot of guys really step up."
White continued to step up in the Freshman/Sophomore meet this past weekend, setting a meet record in the 800 with a time of 2:00. The old record was 2:04.
"He broke the meet record by four seconds and that’s not even his personal best," Gaeta noted. "He’s run a 1:59."
Gaeta believes White is one of the athletes that could place in the top six spots in his event in the Central Jersey Group II meet this weekend at Monmouth Regional and keep their season alive. Schackelford in the 400, Taft in the triple jump, Trappanese in the pole vault and Sancilio in the javelin are other Allentown athletes that could advance.
"I’m pretty confident we can make some noise," Gaeta said. "When we go up against Group II schools, we do very well. Going off the results in the Long Branch Relays, we’re competitive with most of the Group II schools. Our guys can go top six. A lot of them can go top three."
That’s this coming week, though. Regardless what happens, the season has already been a success.
"The division championship was just huge," Gaeta said.
NEHS
The New Egypt High School boys’ track team is going into the Group I sectionals this weekend with a lot of momentum. Not only did it win its division regular season and tournament title, it also recently recorded a dominating 101-37 win over Point Pleasant Beach.
New Egypt had the winner in most events, including Justino Roman, Davion Clanton, Wes Bolton and Jim Bolton combining to win the 4×400 in a time of 4:15.3.
Brian Whiteley was a double winner, taking first in both the 200 (23.7) and 1600 (4:45.1). Matt van Norman also won both the pole vault (10-8) and long jump (18-1).
Other winners for New Egypt were Jamel Turner (11.5 in the 100), Langston Lacroix (54.4 in the 400), Sean Vazquez (11:32.6 in the 3200), Nick Markee (35-11 in the shot), Justin Conklin (105-8 in the discus) and Wes Bolton (5-4 in the high jump).
AHS GIRLS
The Allentown High School girls’ track team had a good showing in the CVC Freshman/Sophomore meet this past Saturday at Steinert High School. Allentown came away with a total of 19 medals.
Quiana Volney, Kaitlyn McGinn, Mary Sancilio, Beatrice Pesciotta, Hayley Odell and Rachel Scheuerman were all multiple medal winners.
Volney was second in the 400 hurdles, second in the 400 meters and sixth in the triple jump.
McGinn was second in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump.
Pesciotta was first in the javelin and second in the discus.
Sancilio was second in the high jump and third in the javelin.
Odell was second in the 100, fourth in the 400 and fifth in the 200.
Scheuerman was second in the 100 and 200.
Rounding out the results, Dawn Taylor was fifth in the high jump, Denise Winkle was second in the javelin, Brittany O’Brien sixth in the discus, Angel Canzano fifth in the 100 and Grace Marie Jackson fifth in the 3200.

