On January 22nd, the Hawks visited the famous Armory in Washington Heights for the Bergen County Relays. Before going to the meet, each team was prepared to dominate; four teams did so. Head Coach, Mike Urso, made sure all athletes going were physically and mentally prepared to run their hardest and win.
Opening the meet, Juniors Jack Evancho, Dinesh Doobay, Dean Marucci, and Kevin Hart, sprinted to victory during their shuttle hurdle race. The young team ended up running 32.42 seconds which lead them to being Bergen County champions!
“It was super cool running with the boys. The best part was after the race when we all got to celebrate together.” Junior Dean Marucci said smiling.
Chris Baxter, Liam Schwabik, Lucas Lopez, and Aidan Grivas took over the boys 4×800 relay. This fast group of boys ended up winning the 4×800 and claiming the Bergen County Champions title, running 8:16.55.
Not only did they take the winning spot but ended up winning with a five second lead.
“It felt nice running hard and winning a county title for the first time. I felt content after the race and being told we were first in the county!” Junior Lucas Lopez said.
Another dominating team was the girls sprint medley relay. This relay is different than most others wherein each leg is not always equal. The race opens with a quarter mile (400m), followed by a pair of 200m legs while the anchor leg is an 800 meter sprint.
Freshman Samiya Bovell, Senior Morgan Levine, Senior Grace McQueeney and Senior Christina Allen ended up taking home the BCR champion titles. By demolishing the other teams, these four girls ran a 4:13.57. The second place team wasn’t close to these girls falling behind by a whole seven seconds.
“Though it was my second 200 of the season, I was satifisfied with our time and finishing first in the county… seven whole seconds is crazy.” said Quinnipiac-bound Grace McQueeny reminiscing about Monday night’s race.
While the races on the track were going on, on the infield sophomore Hailey Yihm and McQueeney jumped to victory in the long jump relay. With McQueeney jumping 18-05 and Yihm jumping 15-06, their combined jump was a staggering 33-08.
“It was so exciting to win, not only did we jump well, we placed well!” sophomore Hailey Yihm explains with a big smile.
