Relay win caps remarkable Fort Lee comeback for first sectional title by Paul Schwartz of The Record
Two events into Saturday’s North 2, group 2 boys sectional championship, Fort Lee was a seemingly insurmountable 43 points behind defending champion Whippany Park at Madison High School.
But the Bridgemen chipped away at the lead, with a second place in the 4-x-100 relay, places from Emmanuel Montoya in the high jump and triple jump, and sixths in the high jump and discus and a second place in the triple jump by Michael Huertas. And after Tahj Martin and Huertas went 1-2 in the 200, Fort Lee coach Dan Cirone realized his team had closed to within five points with just the 4-x-400 relay left to run.
The Bridgeman needed a win and for Whippany Park to finish no higher than fourth in the relay to win the first boys sectional title in school history. And to make matters more difficult, Huertas, the usual anchor had competed in his maximum four events and had to be replaced.
Fort Lee managed to win comfortably anyway, with Jacob Im, Eric Cho, Wesley Weingord and Martin, going a solid 3:23.82. And when Hackettstown, Hanover Park and Englewood all overtook Whippany Park on the anchor leg, pushing the Wildcats to fifth, Fort Lee had its title, 91-88.
“I’m overjoyed with our first sectional title,’’ said Cirone. “This was truly a testament to our coaches and most importantly the athletes. We stayed up late so many nights trying to figure out how to best utilize our kids and every move we made turned out perfectly.
Clearly Michael and Tahj lead the team, but it really was a whole team victory. Other guys needed to step up and that’s exactly what they did.’’
Garfield’s Christian Torres added the triple jump to his Friday long jump title, jumping 44-10 ½ for his second win. Lodi junior Carlos Pepin became the first Bergen athlete over 6-6 this spring to win the high jump, Lyndhurst’s Caitlyn Blake won the javelin with a toss of 113-5 and the Golden Bears got a second from Alyssa Robalino in the long jump, a third from Kira Adams in the shot and a fourth from Giulia Pezzola in the 800 to help them take third in the girls meet, behind Mountain Lakes and Whippany Park.