East Orange Campus HS boys’ track and field team captures third straight Essex County meet title

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The Jaguars pose at the County meet at Montclair.

AST ORANGE, NJ – The East Orange Campus High School boys’ track and field team once again proved to be the best in Essex County.

For the third straight season, the Jaguars captured the team title at the Essex County Championships, May 19-20, at Woodman Field in Montclair.

The Jaguars simply were dominant with 103 points among the 23 scoring teams. Seton Hall Prep was a distant second with 62 points.

Senior Cory Poole, arguably the best track and field athlete in the state, won three events: the 400-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter intermediate hurdles. The Jaguars went 1-2-3 in the 110 hurdles with Poole, Al-Tariq Dunson in second place and Akeem Lindo in third place.

Lindo won both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. The 4-x-400-meter relay team also took first place. The runners on the 4-x-400 were Fayeson Carney, Willesley Lindo, Immyouri Etienne, and Kishaun Richardson.

EOCHS boys’ head coach Lance Wigfall was thrilled for his team.

“The three-peat means a lot because it is showing that what we say and believe at practice can happen at meets, which is ‘consistency breeds greatness,’ “ Wigfall said. “That is one thing we have been trying to do here in East Orange and that is just be consistent and so that the athletes to have faith in the training.”

On the girls’ side, EOCHS finished an impressive fourth in the team standings among the 21 scoring teams. Montclair was first, followed by West Essex and Columbia.

Mellica Gordon took second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 100-meter dash, while Kevaray Gilette was second in the 400 intermediate hurdles to lead EOCHS.

The following are EOCHS’ top-six results:

Boys:

100-meter dash: 1. Akeem Lindo, 10.92.

200-meter dash: 1. Lindo, 22.11.

400-meter dash: 1. Cory Poole, 48.02. 2. Immyouri Etienne, 48.43.

800-meter run: 5. Kishaun Richardson, 1:58.66; 6. Etienne, 1:59.37.

110-meter high hurdles: 1. Poole, 13.64; 2. Al-Tariq Dunson, 14.14; 3. Lindo, 14.17.

400-meter intermediate hurdles: 1. Poole, 51.79; 2. Lindo, 54.16.

4-x-400-meter relay: 1. East Orange Campus HS, 3:21.93.

Shot put: 3. Treymont Carter, 48 feet-0 ½ inch.

Girls:

100-meter dash: 3. Mellica Gordon, 12.74.

200-meter dash: 2. Gordon, 25.81.

400-meter dash: 3. Iris Eliot, 59.45.

100-meter high hurdles: 3. Kevaray Gilette, 15.35.

400-meter intermediate hurdles: 2. Gilette, 1:05.67.

4-x-400-meter relay: 3. East Orange Campus HS, 4:03.97.

NOTES: On May 15, Poole set the state record in the 110 hurdles in 13.46 at the Super Essex Conference-American Division Championships at Schools Stadium in Newark, helping the Jaguars to the team title for the second straight year.

Next meet: The EOCHS teams will gear up for the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 Championships at Ridge High School, May 26-27. Last spring, the EOCHS boys’ team tied with Elizabeth for the team title.

“Going into the States at Ridge this coming weekend, we are looking to just perform at a high level of competition and just have fun,” Wigfall said.