BERNARDS TWP. -- The Ridge High School girls track team edged out North Hunterdon, 112-100 points, to claim the sectional championship in the 20-team meet held this past Friday and Saturday at Ridge High School behind eight gold-medal performances.
Jessica Creedon led the way with three gold medals in the 400mH, 100mH and high jump, and a fourth-place finish in the triple jump. Brooke Fazio also captured three gold medals in the 400m, 800m and as anchor of the winning 4×400m Relay.
Fazio’s 800m time (2:10.32), a new Ridge record, is the fastest time in all of New Jersey this entire season (NJ#1). While her time in the open 400m (56.01) was impressive (NJ#8), it was her anchor performance in the 4x400m Relay (54.8) that was truly astonishing, considering that the fastest time in New Jersey this season (52.89) was posted by New Jersey’s High School Olympian Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic.
Cathy Jin got an upset gold medal in shot put and second place in the discus. The gold-medal winning 4x400m Relay team of Olivia Cicchetti, Meghan Convery, Kaitlyn Van Baalen and Fazio (3:54.21) was the fifth-fastest time in New Jersey this season (NJ#5). The 4x800m Relay team of Cicchetti, Emily Hirsch, Shaila Saifee and Van Baalen took second place.
Other girls scoring and qualifying for next weekend’s Group championships held June 2-3 in Egg Harbor include: Van Baalen (3rd in 1600), Convery (3rd in the 800 and 6th in 400), Catherine Giuseffi (4th in 1600), Shayna Bains (5th in 3200), Amanda Passman (6th in 3200), Rachel Walker (6th in pole vault) and Jennifer Kozlowski (6th in shot put).
On the boys side, Ridge took third place in the 20-team field. The 4x800m Relay squad of Brett Asay, Ryan Orr, Tommy Martinson and Patrick Bayeux captured gold in dominating fashion (7:59.49) over second-place Piscataway (8:07.96), moving the Ridge quartet into NJ#14 without their top runner Will Phinney. Phinney took second place in the 800m (1:53.89) while breaking his own school record set last season and moving him into NJ#4 in the event.
Tim Youtkus took fifth place in the triple jump (44-7.5) and lowered his own school record. Youtkus also captured sixth place in the 110mH in a race that featured New Jersey standout Cory Poole of East Orange, who holds NJ#1s in both the 100mH and 400mH.
Other boys scoring and qualifying for Groups next weekend include: Bayeux (3rd in 1600), Ben Cambria (4th in javelin, 6th in discus), Chris Conroy and Alex Petric (tied for 4th in pole vault), Sam Khasnavis (4th in discus) and Jason Steinberg (5th in javelin).