Girls Track – Paramus Catholic holds off Pope John, wins Non-Public A North title

Paramus Catholic holds off Pope John, wins Non-Public A North title by Brian Marron of The Record

BASKING RIDGE – It all came down to the last event.

With the Paramus Catholic girls up two points over six-time defending sectional champion Pope John, the Paladins won the 4-x-400 meter relay in 4:01.64 to clinch the Non-Public A North title with 144.5 points at Ridge High School on Saturday afternoon.

The anticipation built up leading up to the race, but after Paramus Catholic sped out to a sizable lead, the reality of the accomplishment started to percolate around the Paladins girls and staff as anchor Lindsey Desir crossed the finish line.

“I just wanted to keep the lead,” an exciting and relieved Desir said. “I felt like the [next] girl was right behind me, but she wasn’t and I was just trying to finish the race and push through.”

The opportunity was there for Paramus Catholic to end Pope John’s streak coming into the meet, but head coach Bryan Durango knew it would take a strong effort from his team to take down the Lions. Crediting his group’s work ethic and the work of his coaching staff, Durango felt his relay team would come through in the clutch.

“We knew everything had to place just right to win,” Durango said. “I left my [4-x-400 team] on purpose intact because I knew it would come down to this. I knew my four girls, they were going to be competitors, and they [beat their personal record] by six seconds. I knew that this the type of kids they are and they were going to go all out.

“This is just great, this is a very young class. These girls worked so hard this off-season and took it very seriously.”

Everything certainly fell in place for Paramus Catholic, which trailed by 4.5 heading into the day.

After winning the high jump and triple jump titles on Friday, sophomore Tiffany Bautista was the star her team needed her to be on Saturday. She won the long jump by a foot at 17-8, but she still was not totally satisfied with her weekend results despite her three wins.

“I felt pretty good today,” Bautista said. “I didn’t PR or anything. I thought I was going to jump a lot farther than I did, but I’m happy that I won.”

The Paladins received contributions from all over the board. Faith Sutton ran in the final relay in addition to taking second in the high jump on Saturday while winning the 400 hurdles on Friday. Brianna Hayes also won the shot put at 36-0 3/4 to give Paramus Catholic its late and final lead.

Pope John made it interesting, as it placed two girls in the top three of the 3,200, the day’s second-to-last event, to move within striking distance.

Holy Angels, arguably the sectional’s biggest surprise, continued its strong Friday by placing third overall with 132.66 points. The Angels received personal records from most of their team, highlighted by Caroline McGann.

The junior set the sectional record with an 11-6 pole vault, easily clearing the previous mark of 11-0. McGann knew she had a great chance to set the meet record due to her past numbers, but she was unaware of what she was aiming for until after the results came in.

“I wasn’t sure what the record was [before she competed] to be honest, but I had PR’d before so I felt confident,” McGann said, citing her previous mark. “My last score was an 11-9.”

On the boys side, Bergen Catholic was in prime position to win it first sectional title, but a tumble down the stretch landed the Crusaders in fourth place with 88 points.

The 4-x-100 relay was the back-breaker. The Crusaders were atop the standings heading into the race, but a botched hand-off resulted in a non-finish. St. Peter’s Prep, who eventually won the meet, took first place.

“In a championship meet, you can’t blame any one person or any one event, but that put us, statistically, a little bit out of it,” Bergen Catholic head coach Joe Lee said.

Still, the Crusaders are a young bunch led by star sophomore sprinter Rahmir Johnson, who swept the 100 and 200 on the weekend. Lee felt the team let the moment get too big at times, but the meet should be an experience-boost to greater things in the future.

“It was mostly a hard time with the big stage and having to perform naturally, but it was a good meet,” Lee said. “We were in it until the end.”

None of the North 2, Group 1 schools contended on the weekend, but hurler Gregory Anderson was a bright spot. The senior easily won the discus, 147-0, and the shot put, 49-0 1/4 as Becton lost out to New Providence.