MHS’ Paladino shines in biggest meet
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Fiona Paladino has built a reputation as a big-meet performer, and she added to her legacy at the indoor Meet of Champions on Saturday at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
The Montgomery High School senior entered the MOC as a favorite in the girls high jump, which she had won at the outdoor MOC last spring. She was also going to compete in her second-best event, the 55-meter hurdles, which is where she delivered a big surprise.
”It started out really well because of the hurdles, which was such a surprise for me,” Paladino said. “I was not expecting that at all.”
Paladino followed up one personal best in the preliminary trials by running another to win her second-best event in 8.20 seconds. When she came to her top event, she tied her personal best with a 5-foot-10 clearance to finish second on misses in the girls high jump to friendly rival Alexa Williams of Dayton.
”I’m still having trouble getting over it,” said the Notre Dame-bound Paladino. “I was trying to get third in the hurdles.”
Her gold and silver medals were nothing new to Montgomery, which has seen her time and time again respond to challengers.
”It was surprising, but you always know she has a chance because she’s such a competitor,” said MHS coach Tim Bartholomew. “She ran a personal best in the trials, then even bested that by .16 in the finals. She ran a ridiculous time. The hurdles was a surprise, but a good surprise.
”She’s one of those athletes, the better the athletes, the better she’ll perform. She just doesn’t want to lose. She missed twice at 5-6, so if she misses again, she loses. She got it, then she got 5-8, then she cleared 5-10 on her last attempt. And the Dayton girl had to make it. She put a lot of pressure on her. It was just great competition.”
Fiona Paladino is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
Stiff competition in both events aided Paladino. She got a terrific start and leaned to hold off Newark Tech’s Iana Amsterdam by four-hundredths of a second for the photo finish win.
”For the hurdles, I think it was that there were really fast girls next to me,” Paladino said. “When there’s someone nipping at your heels the whole way, you’re going to go faster. I had a good start in that one. Usually I’m catching up. Tonight, I got the lead in the beginning.”
In high jump, she wasn’t as clean on the way to 5-10 as Williams, but she made it there to force Williams to make the height.
”We just wanted to jump 5-10,” Paladino said. “Once I made 5-10, I always want to win, I was happy I got that height.”
Tied for third last year, they both equaled the 5-10 reached by last year’s winner Emily Kianka of Hopewell Valley.
”I’ve been jumping consistently at 5-6 and then 5-8,” Paladino said. “I think what I really needed was someone there to push me. I’ve gone against pretty good jumpers, but not jumpers jumping to get 5-10 and 6-feet to win. She’s like the new Emily Kianka for me.
”I think this puts us in a good place for the spring,” she added. “I think we’ll push each other to 6-feet. I was happy with today.”
Paladino was the lone Cougar athlete to earn a medal, but her two made it a special day for the MOC veteran.
”For high jump, it made me feel a lot better about the season,” Paladino said. “It’s not like I was jumping poorly, but I was doing one thing wrong every meet. The hurdles, I was getting faster every time I ran it, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. The last race (last year) was 8.36 so I wanted to go faster than that.”
Bartholomew has seen Paladino raise her standards every year. That’s part of why it wasn’t surprising that she produced her best at the MOC to get to a goal.
”She’s been flirting with 5-10 all year, taking good jumps,” Bartholomew said. “We knew she could do it. The opportunities weren’t there though. It shows she’s ready for spring. She was much more consistent with her jumps this year. She was winning with 5-4 last year. If she didn’t get 5-6 (this year), it wasn’t a good meet for her.”
Paladino enjoyed plenty of good meets in her past, but Saturday’s was a truly great one for her with a surprise win and personal best.
”I needed to win something,” Paladino said. “I just thought it was going to be high jump. That’s always my goal now for the Meet of Champs.”
Paladino will take off this week while participating in Montgomery’s senior trip, but will go to nationals where she plans to compete in the same high jump and hurdles as she heads into the spring season. She will be trying to build on a state final that will be hard to top.
”It’s a great way to go out,” Bartholomew said. “She wins an event she wasn’t expected to win, then jumps a height that no one else jumped higher than. It’s a great way to go out. I don’t think anyone could be disappointed with that.”