The Irvington High School girls' track and field team poses with their medals from the Bulldog Relays this past season.
IRVINGTON, NJ – The Irvington High School girls’ track and field team enjoyed a successful season, much to the delight of girls’ track and field head coach Barnes Reid.
The Lady Blue Knights finished with a 5-3 record this spring, a nice improvement from last year’s 2-6 mark.
The future, indeed, is bright for the program.
“We have a young team, graduating only three seniors,” said Barnes. “We have seven freshmen, five sophomores and seven juniors returning next year.”
Other highlights this season included winning the team title at the Jimmy Smalls Track and Field Invitational Meet in Hillside and placing fourth as a team at the Bulldog Relays at Shabazz Stadium in Newark out of 17 teams entered.
Despite not faring well at the county, conference and state sectionals, the team received outstanding performances from several individuals this season. At the Jimmy Smalls meet, the sprint medley team of rising sophomores Taliyah Hayes and Cathiana Jean, rising senior Vicky Molokwu and graduated senior La-Shanna James, and the 4-x-400-meter relay team of rising sophomore Cathiana Jean, James, rising junior Andrea Jackson and graduated senior Anathalie Thelemaque placed first.
At the Bulldog relays, the 400-meter hurdle relay team of Thelemaque, Moloku and Jackson placed first. At the Super Essex Conference meet, Jackson and Molokwu placed fourth and fifth respectively in the 100-meter hurdles. Jackson also placed sixth in the triple jump. Jackson and Molokwu made honorable mention on the all-conference team.
Leading the promising athletes for next year are the distance team (rising sophomores Oyeleke Adijats and Berline Julien, rising seniors Jada Bozeman and Khadeeja Hughes and Jean), the sprint and hurdle team (rising junior Deja Bethea, rising sophomores Erica Richards and Neissa Vilius, Hayes, Molokwu and Jackson) and the field team (rising sophomores Shamara Southerland and Briona Bonds, rising juniors Rayna Smith and Jennifer Corielan, and rising seniors Richele De Los Santos and Naomi Guinyard).
All three graduated seniors will be attending college this fall. Thelemaque will attend New Jersey City University. James will attend Bridgeport University in Connecticut. Radji Mayanan will attend NJIT.
“Our returnees gained valued track and competitive experience and we are looking forward to a prolific season next year,” said Barnes.
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