NUTLEY – Nutley High School junior Matt Dasilva successfully battled the excessive heat and humidity and came away from the opening round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field North Jersey Section 1, Group 3 Championships with four medals at River Dell HS in Oradell, May 27-28.
On Friday night, May 27, Dasilva placed sixth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 57.99, then came back at the end of the night and anchored the 4×800-meter relay team to a fifth-place finish in a time of 8:20.89. The other legs of the 4×800 team were Eric Vogler, Gerard Dimayuga and Luke Michels. Michels held off two runners in the final 200 meters of his leg, turning in 2:03 split. Senior Giancarlo Padilla turned in his fastest time of the year in the 100 meters (11.46), which qualified him for the finals. In the finals, he ran an 11.56, which earned him fifth-place and a ticket to the NJSIAA Group 3 meet.
On Saturday, May 28, the boys picked up where they left off Friday night. Dasilva, running in a very deep field in the 800 meters, was able to stay in the lead pack and held on for third place in a lifetime best of 1:59.08. Sophomore Jimmy Quinn, fresh off his strong showing in the Essex County 3,200 race, battled the heat and a crowded start line to finish in the top 6 to advance to the NJSIAA Group 3 Championships. In order to move the meet along in the oppressive heat and humidity, meet officials put more than 30 runners in one heat of the 3,200 meters. It wasn’t until about 1,200 meters into the race that there was separation enough for Quinn to move into the lead pack of runners. He finished with a time of 9:52.65.
In the last event of the day, Dasilva anchored the boys’ 4×400 team. The team of Gerard Dimayuga, Tarring Goldberg, Mike Conca and Dasilva ran a seasonal best time of 3:29.81. They finished in fifth place, earning Dasilva his fourth medal.
Matt Roser ran his fastest 100 meters of the season at 11.71, however, he did not advance. Gerard Dimayuga continued to cut down his time in the 800 meters, clocking a 2:04.76. Sean Bartley turned in Personal Records in two different races: 1,600 (4:48.55) and the 3,200 (10:39.84). Senior Lou Long just missed qualifying in the pole vault, losing out on misses after clearing 11 feet even. Giancarlo Padilla just missed out on qualifying in the high jump as well after clearing 5 feet-10 inches.
All the boys who placed at this past weekend’s sectional meet will compete in the NJSIAA Group 3 Meet this coming Friday and Saturday, June 3-4, down at Northern Burlington Regional HS in Columbus. The action starts at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.
On the girls’ side, many of the girls had great performances. However, none were able to advance to the next round of states. Senior captain Danielle Mannino ran two lifetime bests in the hurdles. On Friday, she recorded a time of 73.96 in the 400 IH and then on Saturday ran a 17.91 in the 100 hurdles. Fellow senior captain Chloe Jelley just missed out of the scoring in the 3,200, turning in a time of 12:20.40. Sophomore Jaela Small had a PR in the 400 meters (63.68) and the long jump (15-8 inches), however did not advance. Maddie Huelbig ran a PR in the 800 meters at 2:37.03. Samia Sabeil threw a PR in the discus at 82-6.
Matt Dasilva keys Nutley HS boys’ track and field team to a strong showing at North Jersey Section 1, Group 3 Championships added by Editor on
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