WEST ORANGE, NJ – The West Orange High School boys’ and girls’ indoor track and field teams gave great efforts at the NJSIAA State Group 4 Relays on Jan. 18-19 at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
On the girls’ side, senior Daniella Hull finished fourth overall with a personal record of 38 feet-5 inches and sophomore Danae Hill threw 30-9 ½ in the girls’ shot put relay. They both finished sixth as a team..
The 4×400-meter relay team of sophomore Abigail Vital, junior Christy St. Hilaire, freshman Tiara Wilson and junior Kayla Robe took fifth.
“This was an improvement from last year where we didn’t score any points at all,” said WOHS first-year head coach Jason Jackson. “We had some relays where I thought we could have performed better, but we have a young girls’ team, and I’m very excited for their future.”
The boys had solid performances, led by a third-place finish from the sprint medley relay team of sophomore Jefferson Cajuste, who ran the 400-meter leg, senior, Elijah McLaren, 200-meter leg, sophomore Keith Lakeman, 200, and senior, Ebizie Anaumadi, 800, with a time of 3:38.46. This time was one second off of the National Qualifying time.
“I’m pleased with the direction of the boys’ program,” said Jackson. “We have a mix of youth and experience and it’s working well together. Our expectations coming into the meet were to get out and compete in every event we registered and we did just that.”
The Essex County Championships will be held Monday, Jan. 22, at the Ocean Breeze Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.