The Nutley High School boys’ and girls’ track and field team enjoyed impressive performances at the Essex County Relays held at LIvingston HS on Friday, May 4.
The boys’ 4×800-meter relay team earned the gold medal. Sophomore Nick Duca led off for the Raiders and clocked a 2:01 split, while taking the lead in the race. Freshman rising star Aiden Hamlin turned in a 2:06 and kept the Raiders near the lead in a tight battle with West Essex, Montclair and Livingston. Senior Jimmy Quinn held off all challengers and kept the Raiders at the front of the pack with his 2:04 split. Senior Gerard Dimayuga pulled away from the other teams and was able to ice the race for the Raiders with a big kick to finish the race. The Raiders’ overall time was a 8:14.15.
The Raiders also scored well in the field events, coming home with a pair of silver medals and a sixth-place medal. Junior sensation Eli Acosta was a double medalist again for the Raiders clearing 6-0 in the high jump with teammate Matt Durham, who cleared 5-9 as they combined for an 11-9 clearance and claimed second place overall. Acosta then came back in the javelin throw and tossed the spear 145-4, while senior teammate John McAloon stretched the tape out to a PR 152-0. Their 297-4 claimed silver for the Raiders.
In the pole vault, junior Dom Raffaelli matched his PR of 10-0 and senior John Hickey cleared 8-6 which earned the duo the sixth-place medal.
With 27 team points the Raiders finished eighth overall. The 27 team points were the most for the boys’ team this century.
The Raiders also had most of their relays turn in their fastest performances of the season despite finishing out of the medals. The 4×100 team of Anthony Gola, Anthony Depersio, Dom Raffaelli and Nick Mainiero clocked a 46.41, and the 4×200 team of Gola, Mainiero, Sean MacDonald and Matt Durham turned in a 1:37.71.
On the girls’ side of the meet, they were plagued by a trio of seventh-place finishes. The girls’ javelin team of Rachel Caruso (85-7) and Danielle Lohf (76-0) just missed scoring coming in seventh place by mere inches. The 4×800 team of Sam Gabrielle, Tiffany Miruelo, Jaela Small and Ellie McCreesh ran their fastest time of the season at 10:32.74, however just missed scoring as they finished in seventh place. The 4×400 relay team of Anna Contini, Kate Contini, Danielle Lohf and Maisie Jelley turned in the fastest time of the year at 4:11.29, however they also finished in seventh place. The same quartet ran in the 4×200 relay and clocked their fastest time of the season at 1:51.41. The 3×400 intermediate hurdles team of Shannon Grannelli (1:17.30), Olivia VanShoick (1:19.69) and Kaitlyn Gavaida (1:19.70) turned in their fastest time of the season. The shuttle hurdle team of Olivia Van Shoick, Sabrina Kuo, Kaitlyn Gavaida and Sahnnon Granelli clocked a 1:20.34, which was their fastest time of the year. In the triple jump, Jaela Small bounded out to a PR 32-4, while relay partner Emely Chavez got out to 29-10. Fellow field eventers, Gabbi Bieksha (25-6) and Malena Ugliarolo (25-3.75) both recorded outdoor PRs in the shot put. Emily McIntytre flipped the discus out to 68-0 and Gabbi Bieksha tossed a 67-2. Julia Yang cleared 9-0 in the pole vault.
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