Track: Highlights from the Bergen County group girls championships

OLD TAPPAN -- Ridgewood has won 7 straight girls championships in the A division of the Red Littler Bergen County group championships, largely on the strength of its sensational distance team. And make no mistake, the Maroons dominated the four distance events en route to a 150-114 win over a young and up-and-coming Ramapo team, scoring 63 points from the four distance events to 30 for the Green Raiders.

But in a year where most of the team's points came from non-seniors, even in the distance races, senior Charlotte Papin stood out, joining freshman sensation Katherine Keating as Ridgewood's only double winners.

Old Tappan finally caught rival Demarest to win what amounted to a dual meet in the B division, edging the top-ranked Norsewomen, 156-150, on the strength of its non-superstars.

Ramsey dominated the running events and got surprising results in the discus and pole vault to beat Hasbrouck Heights for the second time this year, 162 1/4-133 1/4 for its first division C title since 2018.

Emerson got a fifth place finish in the 4-x-400 to tie Midland Park, 90-90 for the second straight year in division D, while IHA won its fourth straight E division crown, nearly outscoring the rest of the division.

Papin steps up and stands out for Ridgewood

Charlotte Papin is not afraid to try something new. The Ridgewood cheerleader turned field star originally went out for the sport as a freshman, because she thought she was fast.

"But I quickly found out I was fast, only fast enough for track,'' she said. "So I started trying new events.''

The high hurdles, the high jump, the triple jump and last spring mid season, she came to the javelin.

"The coaches originally didn't want me to do it because I was already in so many events, but I thought I would be good at it,'' she said. "I'm a cheerleader, I'm a base and I'm pretty strong so I can throw the girls really high in the air. thought that if I can throw a full human, I can probably throw a javelin.''

Good call.

Papin was good enough to make the Bergen Meet of Champions in the event last year and Saturday chucked the spear a personal best 114-11 to win the event by six feet, with the third longest throw in Bergen County this year. The win came hours after she had won one of her first events, the triple jump, jumping 33-10 1/2.

"I was always good at that event but something clicked in my brain the last few weeks and now I can do what I always hoped I'd do in the triple jump.''

Papin's adventuresome self extends to her college choice. Born in Spain to parents from France and Spain, the family moved to Ridgewood when she was nine and Charlotte speaks Spanish, French and English fluently. So she'll head to Mont Saint Aignan, France (a Paris suburb) to study business at the Neoma Business School next fall.

"It's a little scary because it's so far away, and I've never seen the school,'' she admits. "But my brother is in cschool 20 miles away so I'm sure I'll be fine.''

Old Tappan is more than just its All-Americans

When you think Old Tappan girls track, the first thought goes to the All-American pair of Layla Giordano and Abby Dennis. And at the Division B meet, the Ivy League-bound duo combined for six wins and 62 points as the Golden Knights reversed three earlier losses and defeated Demarest to win its second title in three years after a 38-year drought.

But Coach Dave Burns wanted to talk about his other veterans and his newcomers when he discussed the tight win over its Northern Valley Regional rivals.

"You look at our team and see three All-Americans, but there are 18 events in this meet and when you're going against a well coached and talented team like Demarest, you need a lot of other pieces and we finally got those pieces this weekend,'' he said.

One of those is senior Maya Giordano, Layla's twin and fellow three-sport athlete, who is headed to the University of Delaware to throw. Maya had a pair of personal bests to take second to her more heralded sibling in both the shot (37-5 1/2) and discus (116-7).

"Those were two huge second finishes for us and Maya has been great for us during her career,'' said Burns. "Having a great meet like this was way overdue.''

Old Tappan scored in every event but the triple jump and got big finishes from freshmen Nora Lee and Emme Fermin and sophomore Angie Kelley on the track. Freshman Caroline Ognibene had a terrific Friday, winning the high jump on her last jump and taking fifth in the long jump.

The biggest boost of all may have come in the first event of the second day of the meet, when junior Sophia Katechis had a strong second place finish in the 3,200 to start the Golden Knights' comeback from 18 points behind.

"Those were points we didn't expect,'' said Burns. "It changed the tone of the meet. Sophia had run incredibly well from the beginning of winter season but after a great race at sectionals, she couldn't run for nearly two months. When the coaching staff saw how well she ran, we said to the team 'let's go' and the kids did the rest.

As usual, the pole vault was stellar. The Golden Knights went 1-2-3 in the event for the maximum 24 points, and grabbed the lead to stay when Demarest could manage only three points in the same event. Senior Allie Tuite, who has been a stalwart number two vaulter for most of her career, continued her breakthrough spring, clearing 11 feet for the win. Junior Jamie Kim was second at 10-6 and Salome Sanchez finished third.

And of course, two huge performances by Layla Giordano in the shot and disc and a quad win by Dennis, including a personal best and North Jersey leading 62.55 in the 400 hurdles is hard for any team to stay with, even though Demarest has its own big point getter in junior Kailey Attali, who won both jumps and scored 30 points herself.

"Abby and Layla are two oustanding leaders who work really hard,'' said Burns. "Layla is the last one to leave the track each night and Abby is constantly trying to get better. When the young kids these talented kids and how hard they work, it's hard for it not to have an impact.''

Ramsey rides versatility and depth to win over Hasbrouck Heights

Kate Marie Monaco came to Ramsey as a sprinter and her first year and a half showed her as one of North Jersey's top 200/400 runners. But Ramsey head coach Matt Wynne thought there was a bigger role for Monaco in longer events and his faith paid off when Monaco won the 800 meters at the Bergen Meet of Champions last year in just her second race at the distance and went on to run well at the state group 2 championships.

Wynne was looking for more and kept hinting that Monaco was ready to run the longer 1,600 race and run it well. A freak injury while getting changed for last week's Big North Patriot meet, kept her from making her outdoor debut in the longer event.

But Monaco made that debut Friday,, running a strong 5:13.03 to win the C division race. Saturday, she was back at it in the 800, running 2:24.17 to lead a 1-2-4 finish in the event with teammates Jamie Gorman and Emmy Bender to grab the lead from its great rival, Hasbrouck Heights and earn its first division title since 2018.

Monaco had plenty of help. The Rams put three girls in the 100 medals, Makayla Newman and Julia Costa went 1-2 in the 200, Costa, Newman and Monaco went 1-3-4 in the 400 and the Rams won the 4-x-100 and 4-x-800 relays to dominate the Aviators by 26 points in the 11 running events. Ramsey also went 1-3 in the discus, a Heights strength with Vaughnicia Cox (115-8) and Delia Mannion (105-3) both throwing huge PRs. The Rams also took three places in the pole vault.

"It's a great rivalry with a great team and a great coaching staff and our kids stepped up when they needed to,'' said Wynne. "We have a team with a lot of talent and a lot of depth.''

Encore tie between Midland Park and Emerson is historic

Prior to 2023, there had only been there had only been two total team championship ties since the girls meet expanded to three divisions in 1978, to four in 1981 and five in 2016, 175 total meets

Somehow Emerson and Midland Park have tied for the D division title each of the last two seasons, 130-130 in 2023 and 90-90 in 2024.

Last year the Cavos edged Bogota for second place in the final event, the 4-x-400 overcoming a seven point deficit as Midland Park finished sixth.

This time, in a much more balanced division, with five teams scoring more than 60 points and two more over 40, it was the Panthers turn to come from behind, taking fifth in the final event and coming within 10 meters of finishing fourth and earning their first ever undisputed title.

Emerson senior Olyvia Burrell, along with Ridgefield's Kylie Castillo were the individual stars of the meet. The versatile Rider-bound Burrell won the high jump, long jump and shot put on Friday and then had an easy competitive Saturday, anchoring her 4-x-100 team to a win in her fourth event and then sat back, hoping her teammates could hold on.

"It's a little hard for me to sit back and watch and just root for my teammates instead of running around competing,'' said Burrell, who won the 2023 indoor pentathlon. "I know they're doing their best, but whatever happens happens.''

Burrell's Friday triple highlighted by a season's best 17-2 in the long jump, put the Cavos ahead of Park Ridge after the first day, 41-39, with Midland Park sixth with 25 points.

But the Panthers grabbed the lead with a 1-2 finish from Riley Butler and Kelly Ballen in the discus to grab the lead on Saturday morning, beginning a day where nearly every event brought a lead change.

Bogota led twice, after wins by sisters Ana Michel (3,200) and Isabel Michel (800) and with just five events remaining just nine points separated fourth place Midland Park from the first place Bucs with Saddle Brook also in the mix.

Midland Park appeared to take command when Lindsey Kontos, Butler and Lilah Thompson went 1-2-3 in the javelin with Emerson falling 22 points off the pace. The Cavos cut the lead to 10 with a 1-2 finish in the pole vault while Cienna Thimme took third for the Panthers before Alexa Hermanns' fourth place finish in the 200 opened the lead back to 14.

Then Alexandra Palladino had a 15 inch PR to win the triple jump for Emerson and teammate Angelina Brunelle added a second silver medal in the event to put Emerson back ahead by two before Midland Park's 4-x-400 took fifth to clinch the well-earned tie for both teams.

IHA dominates the E division for a fourth straight time

First place at a major track meet earns 10 points. IHA didn't win 16 of the 18 events in the E division but the Blue Eagles got at least 10 points in every individual event and won the 4-x-800 relay for good measure to come within eight points of outscoring the combined efforts of Holy Angels, Paramus Catholic and Dwight-Englewood, the other teams in the division.

Holy Angels junior Gina Certo easily had the best meet in the division, winning the 200 (24.81) and 400 (56.24) in overall meet leading times. she also led off the Angels 4-x-400 in 56.14, before Ella Buoncuore's fabulous 57.69 brought Holy Angels to the win in 3:59.31, tops in North Jersey this year.

Otherwise it was the Blue Eagle show. Piper Portacio won the 100, Elizabeth Burgess led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 400 hurdles, and Marcelle Seckin won both the 800 and 1,600 on the track, while Julia Sobilo took the shot and discus, Evelyn Roman the pole vault and javelin, and Abby Romero the long and triple jump in the field.

"Except for the Bergen Meet of Champions, we don't have a meet until the state meet (June 7-8), unless I can find one for us to compete in,'' said IHA coach Matt Joyce. "We're doing so well, I'd like to get another one in.''

Team scores and Top performers

DIVISION A: Ridgewood (RW) 150, Ramapo (RPO) 114, Northern Highlands (NH) 99, Bergen Tech (BT) 63, Hackensack (H) 43, Teaneck (TEA) 33, Tenafly (TEN) 22, Cliffside Park (CP) 12, Fair Lawn (FRLN) 9, Bergenfield (B) 8, Garfield (G) 2.

DIVISION B: Old Tappan (OT) 156, Demarest (DEM) 150, Leonia (LEON) 62, River Dell (RD) 44, Paramus (P) 43, Westwood (W) 38, Mahwah (MAH) 37, Fort Lee (FTL) 16, Pascack Valley (PV) 6, Ridgefield Park (4), Lodi (LO) 2.

DIVISION C: Ramsey (RAMS) 162 1/4, Hasbrouck Heights (HH) 133 1/4, Lyndhurst (LYN) 52 1/4, Becton (BEC) 51, Dumont (DUM) 50, Rutherford (RUTH) 41, Glen Rock (GR) 22, Pascack Hills (PH) 20, Indian Hills (IH) 17 1/4, New Milford (NM) 6, North Arlington (NA) 2, Elmwood Park (EP) 1.

DIVISION D: Emerson (EM) and Midland Park (MP) 90, Park Ridge (PR) 67, Bogota (BOG) 64, Saddle Brook (SB) 60, Ridgefield (RF) 42, Wallington (WAL) 40, Waldwick (WALD) 30, Cresskill (CRES) 28, Palisades Park (PP) 26, Wood-Ridge (WR) 18.

DIVISION E: IHA 264, Paramus Catholic (PC) 111, Holy Angels (AHA) 91, Dwight-Englewood (DE) 70.

Winners in Bold

100: Abby Dennis (OT), 12.41; Jenna Monaco (DUM), 12.62; Piper Portacio (IHA), 12.63; Lexy Samperi (HH), 12.66; Ayanna Chape (H), 12.73. Also: Kylie Castillo (RF), 12.95.

200: Gina Certo (HA), 24.81; Dennis, 24.99; Castillo, 25.04; Chape, 25.42; Kennedy Lubkemann (RW), 25.84. Also: Makayla Newman (RAMS), 26.24.

400: Certo, 56.24; Chape, 56.99; Castillo, 59.18; Bridget Cannon (RPO), 59.54; Ella Buoncuore (HA), 59.87. Also: Gabrielle Rothstein (DEM), 60.07; Julio Costa (RAMS), 60.14.

800: Christina Allen (RD), 2:17.72; Cannon, 2:18.18; Cellina Rabolli (RW), 2:21.01; Peyton Wennersten (RW), 2:21.18; Sophee Estrems (DEM), 2:22.05. Also: Isabel Michel (BOG), 2:23.58; Marcelle Seckin (IHA), 2:24.01; Kate Marie Monaco (RAMS), 2:24.17.

1,600: Allen, 5:08.31; Katherine Keating (RW), 5:09.45; Monaco, 5:13.03; Avery Sheridan (RW), 5:14.57; Allie Courtney (NH), 5:15.25. Also: Seckin, 5:28.25; Michel, 5:28.49.

3,200: Keating, 11:10.37; Brianna Potaki (RPO), 11:22.07; Dominque Cameron (LEON), 11:22.55; Ayla Cooke (RW), 11:23.71; Amelia Keogh (RPO), 11:30.46. Also: Mika Tampadong (BEC), 11:35.14; Razil Fernandes (DE), 12:33.10; Ana Michel (BOG), 12:46.21.

110 HH: Dennis, 14.30; Monaco, 15.14; Kailey Attali (DEM), 15.33; Leila Shamash (NH), 15.37; Iza Samu (GR), 15.47. Also: Sydney Dungey (PC), 15.53; Kamila Zuba (WAL), 17.54.

400 IH: Dennis, 1:02.55; Anna Bryan-Jones (NH), 1:05.10; Lubkemann, 1:06.33; Sandra Vitolo, 1:07.53; Elizabeth Burgess (IHA), 1:07.85.Also: Gina Minichiello (HH), 1:09.27; Nicole Freiler (PR),, 1:12.29.

Shot put: Layla Giordano (OT), 45-0; Maya Giordano (OT), 37-5 1/2; Afua Anyadike (BT), 36-9 1/2; Elliot Eddy (HH), 36-5 1/4; Samantha Russo (HH), 35-1 3/4. Also: Olyvia Burrell (EM), 31-10 1/2; Julia Sobilo (IHA), 30-6 1/2.

Discus: L. Giordano, 164-4; Sobilo, 124-5; M. Giordano, 116-7; Vaughnicia Cox, 115-8; Eddy, 112-7. Also: Anyadike, 108-4; Riley Butler, Midland Park, 96-4.

Javelin: Claudia Guerrero (W), 122-6; Charlotte Papin (RW), 114-11; Eddy, 111-6; Analise Feliz (BEC), 109-8; Olivia Russo (W), 109-3. Also: Evelyn Roman (IHA), 105-0; Lindsey Kontos (MP), 100-0.

High jump: Caroline Ognibene (OT), 5-2; Feliz, O. Burrell and Brooke Wichmann (W) 5-0; Brianna Burrell (PC) and three others, 4-10. Also: Delia van der Heide (NH), 4-8.

Long jump: Julia Tozduman (LYN), 18-8; Samperi, 17-9 1/2; Monaco, 17-8; Attali, 17-6 3/4; Grace McQueeney (RD), 17-6 1/4. Also: O. Burrell, 17-2; Abby Romero (IHA), 17-1 1/2; Kaitlyn Shelley (CP), 16-8 1/4.

Triple jump: Attali, 37-10; Romero, 36-10 1/2; Tozduman, 36-7 1/2; Jordan Myers (PAR), 35-11; Gracie Taylor (BEC), 35-4 1/2. Also: Papin, 33-11 1/2; Alexandra Palladino (EM), 33-5 1/2.

Pole vault: Isabella Formoso (BT) and Allie Tuite (OT), 11-0; Monaco, Emai Hanada (RW) and Jamie Kim (OT), 10-6. Also: Leigha Messick (EM) and Roman, 8-6.

4-x-100 relay: Holy Angels, and Paramus Catholic, 49.34; Ramapo, 49.49; IHA, 49.65; River Dell, 49.89; Also: Ramsey, 49.95; Emerson, 53.33.

4-x-400 relay: Holy Angels, 3:59.31; IHA, 3:59.76; Northern Highlands, 4:02.84; Ramapo, 4:03.88; Demarest, 4:08.72; Also: Rutherford, 4:11.68; Park Ridge, 4:24.43.

4-x-800 relay: Ridgewood, 9:50.17; Northern Highlands, 10:09.16; Ramsey, 10:10.70; Leonia, 10:13.72; Demarest, 10:14.24. Also: Saddle Brook, 10:38.63; IHA, 10:44.48.

How'd he do?

As he does every year, Paul Schwartz picks the winner in every event in the Gene Littler Bergen County group meet as well as the team champions.

Here is how he did division by division:

While he did well in the individual, he only picked two of the five team winners, Ridgewood and IHA. Midland Park shared its title so he went 50% on the teams.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ track: Highlights from the Bergen County group girls championships