Historic night as records fall at Morris County Track and Field Championships

NEW YORK — This is only Aaliyah Murphy’s first indoor track season, after a lifetime of basketball. The Morristown senior is determined to make the most of it.

She teamed up with classmates Nia Ali, Claire Annuik and Ester Kirk to send the Colonials off with a Morris County track and field title. The Morristown boys also came out on top, as both teams swept for the first time since 1984.

Rewriting history was a bit of a theme at the Morris County Championships on Monday night.

“That’s what we were going for today: a Morristown sweep,” Annuik said. “Everything fell into place perfectly. We said it needed to be a perfect storm for both teams to win, and that storm came. I think I saw lighting on the track when (Ali) was running.”

The Colonials girls ended the meet by breaking both the event and indoor county record. The quartet had already captured the outdoor county record in the spring.

Murphy lowered her own Morris County record in the 300 meters to 40.33. She also broke the meet record, which had been set by Celeste Holder of Parsippany in 2004 – two years before she was born.

“I came in here with a lot of pressure, so it was good to run as well as I did,” said Murphy, who originally broke the county record on Dec. 28 at the Armory in New York City. “It’s (put) on myself, trying to push myself. But learning to run through things is good.”

Jason Meza of Morristown left Ocean Breeze with three gold medals and one silver. The Colonials senior was first in the 55-meter hurdles, 300 meters and 600 meters. He also anchored Morristown’s 4x400, which finished second to Morris Knolls – which broke the meet record.

Though not a record, the hurdles turned out to be the closest race of the night. Meza and Morris Knolls senior Elijah Bastos both crossed the line in 7.72 seconds. The timers had to go to the thousandths to find out that Meza had finished .004 ahead of Bastos.

The time was a personal best for each runner.

“It’s amazing,” said Meza, who has committed to Cornell University. “I don’t think either team was the favorite coming in, but we pulled together and ran for each other.”

Beware of falling records!

∎ After Natasha Redmond broke the Morris County meet record in the 55 meters, she hugged her mom. Then she FaceTimed the person who had set the record back in 1995, former Morris Catholic runner and Mount Olive coach Vanessa (Lewis) Benfatti.

Redmond asked Benfatti, “What do you think I just ran in my 55?” Then she proceeded to give her the time, 7.17 seconds.

Benfatti, who was driving at the time, started screaming. Her record had stood for nearly 30 years, and she’s particularly pleased it’s staying in the Mount Olive family. Benfatti had coached Redmond, who has verbally committed to Cornell University, for a couple of seasons.

“That was very exciting. I was definitely really proud,” Redmond said. “I saw the record book prior to the race, so I had an idea of what I wanted to run in my mind.”

∎ Alex Pelov didn’t even know the Morris County Championships record in the 1,600 meters until Sunday night. His mom looked it up – 4:17.3 by Steve Slattery of Mount Olive – and Pelov realized his own personal best was even faster.

The Montville junior created a race plan to beat the record, which was set in 1997 – 10 years before he was born. Pelov crossed the line in 4:17.18 to earn his first county title.

“I had to get this time, these splits. I hit all of them, and I broke it,” said Pelov, who doubled back to win the 3,200. “I was prioritizing the win over the record, but the record is a bonus.”

More: Morris Knolls boys, girls claim Morris County Relays team titles

Triple threat

Morris Hills junior Ivory Piskula won a trio of middle-distance golds on Monday.

Piskula defended her title in the 1,600 meters in 5:10.81, using a solid kick to finish more than three seconds ahead of the field. About 40 minutes later, Piskula narrowly won the 600 meters. She finished 13 hundredths ahead of Morris Knolls junior Olivia Capala, and they were 36 hundredths up on Morristown senior Claire Annuik in third.

She wrapped up the day with the 1,000, again successfully using the same race plan: “sit and wait until the last lap or so, and then just kick.”

Added Piskula, “I thought I could get one (gold), hopefully two. I didn’t think I was going to get three.”

Girls results

Team scores: Morristown 60; Morris Hills 49; Morris Knolls 43; Mount Olive 40; Mendham 29; Roxbury 20; Villa Walsh 17; Hanover Park 16; Morristown Beard 14; Chatham 13; Randolph 12; Montville 11; Butler 6; Whippany Park 4

55 meters: 1. Natasha Redmond (Mount Olive) 7.17* (old meet record: 7.18, Vanessa Lewis, Morris Catholic, 1995); 2. Nia Freeman (Morristown) 7.51; 3. Raidah Karriem (Morristown Beard) 7.52; 4. Alicia Ramos (Morris Knolls) 7.57; 5. Paulina Dolinsky (Mountain Lakes) 7.59; 6. Jacqueline Reid (Parsippany) 7.61.

300 meters: 1. Aaliyah Murphy (Morristown) 40.33* (old Morris County record: 40.62, Murphy, 2023; old meet record: 40.64, Celeste Holder, Parsippany, 2004); 2. Natasha Redmond (Mount Olive) 40.92; 3. Nia Freeman (Morristown) 41.81; 4. Chloe Higgins (Morristown Beard) 42.79; 4. Shreya Sathiyan (Morris Hills) 43.13; 6. Seannah Parsons (Randolph) 44.05.4

600 meters: 1. Ivory Piskula (Morris Hills) 1:37.14; 2. Olivia Capala (Morris Knolls) 1:37.37; 3. Claire Annuik (Morristown) 1:37.73; 4. Halye Greene (Roxbury) 1:39.57; 5. Faith Dressel (Mount Olive) 1:41.09; 6. Carlie Wysocki (Randolph) 1:41.82.

1,000 meters: 1. Ivory Piskula (Morris Hills) 3:04.71; 2. Anna Shaw (Mendham) 3:06.91; 3. Ester Kirk (Morristown) 3:07.04; 4. Maggie Boler (Villa Walsh) 3:10.22; 5. Claire Annuik (Morristown) 3:11.48; 6. Olivia Capala (Morris Knolls) 3:11.49.

1,600 meters: 1. Ivory Piskula (Morris Hills) 5:10.81; 2. Kate Shaw (Mendham) 5:14.41; 3. Blythe Dudley (Villa Walsh) 5:14.69; 4. Ester Kirk (Morristown) 5:16.59; 5. Anna Shaw (Mendham) 5:16.7; 6. Lindsay Portland (Mendham) 5:27.58.

3,200 meters: 1. Caroline Himstreet (Chatham) 11:16.79; 2. Kate Shaw (Mendham) 11:39.34; 3. Ines Lemee (Villa Walsh) 11:45.37; 4. Emma Bradley (St. Elizabeth) 11:53.42; 5. Lindsay Portland (Mendham) 11:53.87; 6. Nicole Molter (Mount Olive) 12:03.88.

4x400: 1. Morristown 4:00.72* (old Morris County record: 4:00.91, Mendham, 2010; old meet record: 4:03.54, Roxbury, 2017); 2. Mount Olive 4:05.92; 3. Randolph 4:11.59; Montville 4:12.34; 5. Morris Hills 4:14.42; 6. Morris Knolls 4:15.07.

55-meter hurdles: 1. Morgan Ryerson (Mount Olive) 8.22* (old meet record: 8.27, Tymia Joseph, Morris Knolls, 2016); 2. Aaliyah Murphy (Morristown) 8.24; 3. Alicia Ramos (Morris Knolls) 8.66; 3. Raidah Karriem (Morristown Beard) 8.68; 5. Julia McCarron (Chatham) 9.03; 6. Emily O’Dell (Morris Knolls) 9.19.

High jump: 1. Emily O’Dell (Morris Knolls) 5-2; 2. Nikki Ditta (Hanover Park) 5-0; 3. Taylor Peters (Butler) 5-0; 4. Jackie Sheldon (Morris Hills) 4-8; 5. Isabel Russo (Chatham), Amalia Hronides (Villa Walsh) and Morgan Ryerson (Mount Olive) 4-8.

Pole vault: 1. Shreya Sathiyan (Morris Hills) 12-0.5* (old meet record: 12-0, Nicole Pompei, Hanover Park, 2009); 2. Jordan Sheldon (Roxbury) 9-0; 3. Daria Skrzypczak (Montville) 8-6; 4. Emma Guerard (Whippany Park) 8-6; 5. Kaitlyn Duras (Roxbury) 8-0; 6. Sofia Modrak (Montville) 7-6.

Shot put: 1. Erica Saladino (Morris Knolls) 36-5.5; 2. Juliana Behringer (Hanover Park) 35-2; 3. Marie Torode (Roxbury) 34-8.5; 4. Isabella Crosson (Randolph) 34-4; 5. Gretchen King (Morris Knolls) 33-4.5; 6. Kimberly Gambrell (Morris Hills) 32-1.

Boys results

Team scores: Morristown 68; Delbarton 57; Morris Knolls 52.5; Mount Olive 29; Montville 26; Roxbury 22; West Morris 16; Morris Hills and Randolph 15; Hanover Park 10; Chatham 9.5; Pequannock and Morristown Beard 6; Mountain Lakes 4; Mendham 3; Jefferson and Madison 1

55 meters: 1. Ryan Johnson (Delbarton) 6.41* (old record 6.50, Jack Ahart, Kinnelon, 2023); 2. Shayne Spiteri (Roxbury) 6.52; 3. Spencer Anderson (Morristown Beard) 6.59; 4. Michael Delgallego-Fico (Mount Olive) 6.6; 5. Gregory Palma (Morris Knolls) 6.66; 6. Ryan Harper (Delbarton) 6.69.

300 meters: 1. Jason Meza (Morristown) 35.17; 2. Michael Delgallego-Fico (Mount Olive) 35.49; 3. Cristian Cruz (Morris Hills) 35.56; 4. Ryan Harper (Delbarton) 35.89; 5. Ryan Johnson (Delbarton) 35.98; 6. Ryan Trocolar (Pequannock) 35.98.

600 meters: 1. Jason Meza (Morristown) 1:20.35; 2. Luke Schagelin (Morris Knolls) 1:20.94; 3. Adam Petitjean (Chatham) 1:22.72; 4. Divyesh Narravula (Mount Olive) 1:23.87; 5. Devin Gaglione (Morris Knolls) 1:23.93; 6. Nathanael Crefeld (Pequannock) 1:24.9.

1,000 meters: 1. Luke Schagelin (Morris Knolls) 2:34.47; 2. Ryan Foley (Mount Olive) 2:38.39; 3. Everett Jania (Delbarton) 2:38.67; 4. Sean Dooley (Delbarton) 2:38.93; 5. Preston Gumann (Randolph) 2:38.95; 6. Kenneth Allway (Mendham) 2:40.99.

1,600 meters: 1. Alex Pelov (Montville) 4:17.18* (old meet record: 4:17.3, Steve Slattery, Mount Olive, 1997); 2. Kennan Byers (Randolph) 4:21.75; 3. John Cuzzocrea (Delbarton) 4:22.34; 4. Jared Weiss (Roxbury) 4:23.85; 5. Tommy Jendryka (Mendham) 4:24.1; 6. Preston Gumann (Randolph) 4:27.85.

3,200 meters: 1. Alex Pelov (Montville) 9:30.32; 2. Nicholas Falcone (Morris Hills) 9:38.23; 3. Krish Bhaskaran (Montville) 9:40.13; 4. Thomas Amato (Randolph) 9:42.92; 5. Marcus Valenzuela (Chatham) 9:56.37; 6. Jacob Nolan (Madison) 10:01.17.

4x400: 1. Morris Knolls 3:25.56* (old meet record: 3:26.71, Chatham, 2016); 2. Morristown 3:27.89; 3. Delbarton 3:29.92; 4. Mount Olive 3:31.1; 5. Pequannock 3:31.93; 6. Morris Hills 3:36.57.

55-meter hurdles: 1. Jason Meza (Morristown) 7.712; 2. Elijah Bastos (Morris Knolls) 7.716; 3. Ethan Stallone (Morristown) 7.89; 4. Bennett Zollers (Morris Knolls) 8.1; 5. Derek Luttenberger (Pequannock) 8.21; 6. Cole Morris (Chatham) 8.24.

High jump: 1. Karl Williams (Morristown) 6-0; 2. Elijah Bastos (Morris Knolls) 5-10; 3. Jeremiah Moreau (Morristown) 5-8; 4. Stephen Sun (Mountain Lakes) 5-8; 5. Jack Paguirigan (Delbarton) 5-8; 6. Owen Browne (Morris Knolls) and Leo Straka (Chatham) 5-6.

Pole vault: 1. Cade Zeolla (West Morris) 14-0; 2. Paul Quense (Delbarton) 12-0; 3. Shawn Keenan (Roxbury) 12-0; 4. Zachary Kosinski (Roxbury) 11-6; 5. Thomas Flynn (Morristown) 11-6; 6. Christian Arturi (Mount Olive) 11-6.

Shot put: 1. Luke Riordan (Hanover Park) 55-5.25; 2. Peter Donini (Delbarton) 54-1.25; 3. Capp Desheplo (West Morris) 53-2.25; 4. Ronald Morgan (Morristown) 52-4; 5. Conor Richardson (Morristown) 47-10.25; 6. Mike Nwankwo (Jefferson) 46-0.25.

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ track and field: 2024 Morris County Championships