Penn Relays 2024: Parsippany Hills girls bring home wagon wheel trophy
The Parsippany Hills 4x400 team had very clear goals heading to Penn Relays on Thursday afternoon. The girls wanted to surpass their season best 4:16, which they ran just a couple of days earlier.
The Vikings certainly achieved their goal. The quartet – junior Kira Chebishev, sophomore Sahar Naematullah, and seniors Kaia San Martin and Anya Sadowski – ran 4:07.07 to win their heat.
Parsippany Hills was presented with a miniature "wagon wheel" trophy, an unexpected surprise in recognition of their heat victory. It is the third year in a row a Morris County school has brought a Penn Relays trophy home.
"When I crossed the finish line, my jaw was on the floor for a few minutes," Sadowski said. "I don't know how we took off that much time that quickly. We're like, 'How fast can we go now?'"
Edwin Allen of Clarendon, Jamaica had the fastest qualifying time of the more than 560 schools: 3:41.33.
Union Catholic (3:41.11) was the quickest team from New Jersey. Morristown, which had won 4x400 heats back-to-back years, crossed the line in 4:00.25, the best time of any Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference school and 59th overall.
Chebishev got out well (59.35), and the Vikings led the heat from end to end. The runners could hear the school name booming over Franklin Field.
Naematullah (1:03.98) and San Martin (1:03.73), both Penn Relays newcomers, posted personal bests on Thursday.
"I've never experienced being the star of attention at a track meet before," said San Martin, who spotted a camera trailing her beside the track. "I was like, 'Let me get done with this.' My legs were heating up, and I felt my spikes getting hot. ... I saw our anchor leg come in at 4:07, and I got a second wind to sprint and find my teammates to make sure I wasn't seeing things."
Flashback! Chatham boys 4x800 wins Championship of America
Outstanding in their fields
∎ Sparta junior Isabella Frattura didn't waste much time in the Penn Relays Championship of America javelin. Frattura threw 139-11 on her second attempt, a huge personal best that broke the school record.
Frattura wound up sixth.
She was particularly excited to get a call from her perhaps biggest fan, older brother Austen Frattura. Now a sophomore quarterback at Holy Cross, Austen Frattura is No. 3 in passing yards in New Jersey.
"That runway is so fast. It definitely feels different from anything I’ve competed on in New Jersey," she said. "Building off the competition, the atmosphere affected me that way. You’re surrounded by all those great throwers, and you want to be better and throw farther. That’s what put me over the edge and sent me toward the PR."
∎ Morris Hills junior Shreya Sathiyan cleared 11-9 to finish fifth in the pole vault Championship of America.
College corner
∎ Princeton freshman Brian Boler, a Delbarton graduate from Chatham, competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
∎ TCNJ junior Eliza Bruncaj, a Hanover Park alumna, competed in the 400-meter hurdles Championship of America.
Finish lines
∎ Mount Olive posted the top 4x100 time of any NJAC school, 50.08 seconds. The Marauders finished 94th out of the almost 600 squads. Hydel of Jamaica was No. 1 in 45.99. Union Catholic was the top New Jersey team, placing ninth in 47.07.
Penn Relays continues Friday and Saturday on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Check back for more updates from Morris and Sussex county athletes and teams.
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Penn Relays 2024
