Clifton boys, Ramsey girls win Ramsey Relays titles by Kevin T. Czerwinski special to The Record
RAMSEY – The Ramsey Relays isn’t one of Bergen County’s biggest meets – only 13 teams participated on Saturday – but it did prove to be exciting as both the girls’ and boys’ meets went to last and next-to-last event, respectively, before champions were crowned.
Clifton (80 points) edged out Pascack Valley (76) to claim the boys title while Ramsey (102) cemented its victory on the girls side with a fourth-place finish in the pole vault, the day’s final event, to squeak past Clifton (97).
“It’s all about performance,” said Clifton boys coach John Pontes after his team took first place in the 4-x-800, the Intermediate Hurdles and the pole vault while finishing second in the disc, shot, javelin and 4-x-400. “We improved most of our performances over last weekend [third-place finish] at the Passaic County Relays. We did a very good job today on the pole and with our throwers. The guys were tremendously consistent.
“We were focusing on team scores today and the team did a great job. They kept each other going and I am very proud of them.”
Pontes pointed to juniors Kevin Heredia, who anchored the 4-x-400 and 4-x-800 teams, and thrower Luis Zorrilla as two of the important cogs in Saturday’s effort.
“Zorrilla did a tremendous job,” Pontes said. “He’s a good leader for the rest of the throwers and he really listens to the throwing coach.”
Ramsey girls coach Matt Wynne, meanwhile, mixed and matched a bit trying new combinations and the tinkering paid off. The Rams took first in the javelin, 4-x-200, intermediate hurdles and 4-x-400 while taking second in the shuttle hurdles, the distance medley relay and the 4-x-1,600.
“I was trying out a lot of girls in different areas to get ready for next week’s [Bergen] County championship,” Wynne said. “I found out about our depth and a couple of girls stepped up.”
Two of the girls who stepped up were juniors Kristen Garone, who was part of the DMR team, and Samantha Sudol, who anchored the 4-x-200 squad.
Wynne also pointed out that Saturday’s victory should also serve as a jumping-off point for the county championships.
“It’s nice to battle Clifton,” Wynne said. “They are a great team and we don’t get to see them as much. This really tested out mettle and hopefully we can use that as a steppingstone [for next weekend]. It’s always nice to be able to come back [to school] on Monday and talk about this. It unifies the team.
“We have so many different groups [sprinters, throwers, etc.] that it’s nice to all come together like this. It shows that no one girl is more important than another. This will help us get amped up for Friday and Saturday.”
RAMSEY RELAYS
At Ramsey H.S.
Boys
Team Scores: Clifton 80, Pascack Valley 76, Ramsey 63, Kennedy 52, Indian Hills 40, Englewood 30, Paramus 23, Memorial 21, Ridgewood and Elmwood Park 18, Cliffside Park 15, Ramapo 10.
Shuttle Hurdles: 1. Ridgewood (Zach Stadulis, Max Bartlik, Alex Ruhl, Ray Harada), 1:03.4; 2. Indian Hills, 1:07.1; 3. Ramsey, 1:16.2; 4. Elmwood Park, 1:15.0; 5. Memorial 1:18.1. Triple jump: 1. Pascack Valley (Sage Shapiro, Christian Stremler, Jack Ward), 123-1; 2. Kennedy, 123.0; 3. Cliffside Park, 116-0; 4. Ramsey, 107-6; 5. Clifton, 99-11. 4-x-100: 1. Englewood (Kieran Hillary, George Garrison IV, Andrew Jones, Quanzie Lumsden), 43.6; 2. Ridgewood, 43.9; 3. Indian Hills, 46.1; 4. Memorial, 46.4; Ramsey, 46.9. 4-x-1600: 1. Pascack Valley (Roberts, Hayden, Lyle, McGrath), 19:12.8, 2. Ramsey, 19:28.5; 3. Clifton, 20:03.2; 4. Indian Hills, 20:09.9; 5. Paramus, 20:17.2. Discus: 1. Pascack Valley (Nicolo Spinelli, Troy Perrissini, Nick Battista), 397-8; 2. Clifton, 333-1; 3. Elmwood Park, 300-5; 4. Cliffside Park, 261-5; 5. Memorial, 256-9. 4-x-200: 1. Englewood (Cedric Martin, George Garrison IV, Andrew Jones, Quanzie Lumsden), 1:32.0; 2. Kennedy, 1:34.7; 3. Indian Hills, 1:36.0; 4. Clifton, 1:38.2; 5. Memorial, 1:38.9. Long Jump: 1. Kennedy (Jason Thobourne, Shane Swaby, Ronniel Johnson), 59-3; 2. Indian Hills, 53-5 1/2; 3. Ramsey, 53-1 ¼; 4. Pascack Valley, 52-3 ¼; 5. Paramus, 52-3. Pole Vault: 1. Clifton, 33-6; 2. Paramus, 33-0; 3. Pascack Valley, 30-6; 3. Ramsey, 18-0.; Shot put: 1. Kennedy (Shane Gee, Abraham Ramirez, Zymire Holton), 128-3; 2. Clifton, 123-6 ½; 3. Pascack Valley, 117-9 ¾; 4. Ramsey, 116-11 ½; 5. Paramus, 108-2 ¾. 4-x-800: 1. Clifton (Carlos Polanco, Tony Sanchez, Josh Szabo, Kevin Heredia), 8:28.1; 2. Memorial, 8:34.0; 3. Pascack Valley, 8:46.3; 4. Ramsey, 8:58.9; 5. Cliffside Park, 9:14.6. 3-x-400 IH: 1. Clifton (Max Dubac Takashi Yuasa, Randy Jimenez), 3:04.7; 2. Indian Hills, 3:08.0; 3. Kennedy, 3:12.3; 4. Ramsey, 3:17.1; 5. Elmwood Park, 3:19.9. Javelin – 1. Ramsey (Andrew Beltran, Jeff Krepper, Bryan Duncan), 371-5, 2. Clifton, 362-9; 3. Pascack Valley, 352-10; 4. Elmwood Park, 332-4; 5. Memorial, 331-11. Distance Medley: 1. Ramapo (Noah Kilday, Mike Petrazzulo, Tim Suchora, Ben Landel), 10:59.7; 2. Paramus, 11:51.6; 3. Clifton, 12:17.8; 4. Ramsey, 12:32.8. Sprint Medley Relay: 1. Pascack Valley (Peterman, Mizzoni, Lagudarn, Huerta), 4:15.6. 4-x-400: 1. Englewood (Cedric Martin, George Garrison IV, Quanzie Lumsden, Andrew Jones), 3:33.5; 2. Clifton, 3:33.8; 3. Ramsey, 3:46.2. High Jump – 1. Kennedy (Thobourne, Johnson, Swaby), 18-2; 2. Pascack Valley, 16-4.
Girls
Team Scores: Ramsey, 102; Clifton, 97; Holy Angels, 79; Pascack Valley, 34; Paramus, 32; Kennedy, 31; Ridgewood, 30; Fair Lawn, 22; Englewood, 13; Indian Hills, 9; Cliffside Park, 5.
Shuttle Hurdles: 1. Ridgewood (Virginia Morley, Victoria Purritano, Rhea Vha, Anna Schoff) 1:11.6; 2. Ramsey, 1:14.3. Javelin: 1. Ramsey (Jenny Zavalla, Myranda Sims, Amanda Kaczorowski), 241-7; 2. Clifton, 232-3; 3. Holy Angels, 218-1; 4. Pascack Valley, 181-2. 4-x-1600: 1. Clifton (Meghan Jozefczyk, Hadeel Alshujaieh, Mollie Slanina, Anisah Khandakar), 22:51.0; 2. Ramsey, 23:09.4; 3. Holy Angels, 23:32.4; 4. Paramus, 23:59.2. Long jump: 1. Fair Lawn (Britney DelMundo, Mya Drayton, Jessica Ippolito), 46-9 3/4; 2. Paramus, 45-1 3/4; 3. Englewood, 43-10; 4. Ramsey, 43-6; 5. Clifton, 40-2 3/4. 4-x-100: 1. Ridgewood (Victoria Purritano, Ciara Emmanuel, Virginia Morley, Katherine Muccio), 51.8; 2. Fair Lawn, 52.0; 3. tie between Clifton, and Englewood, 52.2; 5. Ramsey, 52.3. Triple Jump: 1. Kennedy (Johnson, Williamson, Adams), 91-8; 2. Paramus, 89-11; 3. Ramsey, 87-8; 4; Clifton, 80-9. High Jump: 1. Ramsey (Victoria Clinton, Sophia DePaulo, Coletti), 13-6; 2. Holy Angels, 9-4; 3. Pascack Valley, 8-8; 4. Clifton, 8-4; 5. Paramus, 4-10. 4-x-200: 1. Ramsey (Rawdon, Webb, Johnson, Sudol), 1:49.3; 2. Clifton, 1:49.7; 3. Holy Angels, 1:49.9; 4. Fair Lawn, 1:51.8; 5. Englewood, 1:51.9; 4-x-800: 1. Holy Angels (Tara Lyons, Christine Bagin, Mackenzie Hughes, Abby Sheehan), 10:04.7; 2. Clifton, 10:25.9; 3. Ramsey, 10:29.6; 4. Pascack Valley, 10:51.8; 5. Paramus, 10:52.3. Discus: 1. Holy Angels, 248-4; 2. Clifton, 226-6; 3. Ramsey, 221-5; 4. Cliffside Park, 166-5; 5.Pascack Valley, 160-8. Shot put: 1. Clifton (Catherine Davey, Zakiyah Balbonet, Janice Owusu), 99-3; 2. Holy Angels, 98-7 ½; 3. Kennedy, 85-9; 4. Ramsey, 80-4 1/2.; 400IH: 1. Ramsey (Sudol, Lao, Clinton), 3:38.5; 2. Clifton, 3:38.8; 3. Kennedy, 3:42.7; 4. Pascack Valley, 3:52.5. Distance Medley: 1. Clifton (Mollie Slanina, Brianna Morrison, Andrea Dubbels, Meghan Jozefezyk), 13:50.9; 2. Ramsey, 14:08.9; 3. Holy Angels, 15:00.7. Sprint Medley: 1. Clifton (Melanie Ibarra, Antoinette Muir, Stepahnie Peppers, Sarah Adams), 4:32.5; 2. Indian Hills, 4:35.9; 3. Ramsey, 4:41.4; 4. Holy Angels, 4:50.3; 5. Pascack Valley, 5:04.4. 4-x-400: 1. Ramsey (Rawdon, Clinton, Garone, Webb), 4:14.5; 2. Kennedy, 4:19.7; 3. Holy Angels, 4:20.1; 4. Clifton, 4:23.9; 5. Pascack Valley, 4:25.0; Pole Vault: 1. Pascack Valley; 2. Paramus; 3. Holy Angels; 4. Ramsey.