Since Millburn Relays last month, the Caldwell Chiefs’ track team has had a sensational championship season and seen a number of historic performances; from the 4×100 meter relay team of Rhyin Howard-Dixon (class of ‘25), Peter Hatzidoukas (class of ‘25), Kenneth Monroy (class of ‘26) and Kaelen Harper (class of ‘26) setting the school record at 43.29—nearly an entire second faster than the previous record—to the relay team of Summer Schlomann (class of ‘27), Fallon Fiore (class of ‘28), Tea Fiore (class of ‘26) and Elena Kearns (class of ‘28) placing 5th at Essex County Relay Championships and 2nd at Essex County Individual Championships in the 4x400m relay, the Chiefs set the bar high on both the boys’ and girls’ sides heading into the postseason, which commenced at a two-day meet last weekend. Looking back on the stellar performances from this past Friday and Saturday, it can confidently be said that they have continued to impress.
High Stakes
In New Jersey, public schools are segmented into Groups 1 to 4 depending on their size (Group 1 consisting of the smallest schools and Group 4 of the largest). These groups are then divided into sections—North I, North II, South and Central (one of each exists in every group)—which schools are placed in depending on their location. The postseason for NJ schools starts with Sectional Championships, then proceeds to Group Championships (all of the medalists from each section within a group compete against each other) and finally the Meet of Champions (all groups converge to have the most fearsome athletes from each contend for state titles). As the sole means by which an athlete or relay team could earn the priceless opportunity to compete at the MOC, the medals for the top 6 placements in each event are highly contested and could place one who hopes to attain a sectional medal against opponents who are among the most skilled competitors in the state.
For this reason, breaching the top 6 at a Sectional Championship is a monumental feat—and this feat was attained by a number of Chiefs at the North II Group II Sectional Championships this past weekend.
Placements
BOYS PLACEMENTS—arguably the team MVP, Kaelen Harper placed 1st in the Long Jump Friday covering a final distance of 21-8.75, in addition to placing 3rd in the 100m in 11.12 a few hours earlier and returning on Saturday to place 4th in the 200m with 22.51.
Raymond Robinson (class of ‘25) excelled on both days of the meet as well, placing 3rd in Triple Jump in 42-10.75 and 6th in Long Jump in 19-10.25.
GIRLS PLACEMENTS—Positioned against the most formidable opponents that they have faced up to this point, the girls’ 4x400m relay team placed 5th in a time of 4:10.19.
The girls’ team also saw staggering performances in the throwing events this past weekend, with Isabella Hatzidoukas placing 2nd in Javelin with 98-6 and Addelyn Cook placing 3rd in Javelin with a throw of 95-5 and 4th in Shot Put with a throw of 33-2.25.
Because of these outstanding showings, the chiefs named above are now preparing for Group 2 Championships, which will take place on May 30th and May 31st. This meet will be immeasurably more competitive than Sectional Championships, but there is still no doubt that these determined athletes will make statements in their respective events.
In addition to those who managed to score a place on the podium, there are a number of athletes on the boys’ and girls’ teams who had remarkable performances this past weekend that are worth recognizing which unfortunately did not earn a top 6 placement.
Noteworthy results
ON THE BOYS’ SIDE—in the sprints, the boys 4x100m relay team began the meet Friday, consisting of Dixon, Hatzidoukas, Harper and Freshman Diego Lopez (class of ‘28), putting forth a final time of 45.37. Hatzidoukas and other Seniors Christopher Salazar and Enzo Russomanno (class of ‘25) concluded their careers on a high note, with Hatzidoukas running personal records (PR’s) of 11.62 in the 100m and 23.27 in the 200m, Salazar running 25.91 in the 200m and Russomanno running 12.6 in the 100m.
Moving to mid-distance, Brendan Cunha (class of ‘26) and John Emery (class of ‘26) braved the 800m—Cunha broke the 2:10 barrier for the second time in his career, running 2:09.6, and Emery just missed this feat with 2:10.12. The 400m hurdle crew then took to the track, as Graham Betros (class of ‘25) ran 1:01.54, William Krusznis (class of ‘25) ran 1:02.17 and Ryan Anderson (class of ‘27) ran 1:02.62. Early the next morning in the 400m, Kenneth Monroy (class of ‘26) ran 53.19, Matthew Peralta (class of ‘27) ran 57.27, and Noah Toral (class of ‘26) ran 56.86. To conclude the day, Betros, Cunha, Toral and Monroy returned to run the 4x400m relay in a final time of 3:39.29 (individual splits were 55.15 for Betros, 55.45 for Cunha, 57.04 for Toral and a PR of 51.66 for Monroy).
In the throws, Julian Sahuto (class of ‘26) participated in Discus (throwing 97-6), Shot Put (throwing 34-4) and Javelin (128-1), Aiden Callery (class of ‘25) participated in Discus (throwing 105-9) and Shot Put (throwing 37-0.25), Izaya Ouckama (class of ‘26) participated in Javelin (throwing 101-1), Joseph Lupo (class of ‘25) participated in Javelin (throwing 92-3) and Sean Akersten (class of ‘26) participated in Discus (throwing 79-7).
ON THE GIRLS’ SIDE—Elena Kearns and Fallon Fiore tore up the track in the 200m Saturday, with Kearns running 27.53 and Fiore running 27.86. Rex Kearns (class of ‘25) ran 100m hurdles to conclude her career, closing strong with a time of 18.98.
In the realm of mid-distance, Summer Schlomann ran an astonishing 2:32.63 in the 800m, followed by Julia Enright (class of ‘26) in a time of 2:39.05. Schlomann and Enright doubled back to compete in the 4x800m relay with Megan Pac (class of ‘25) and Emily Glennon (class of ‘26), whose combined efforts led to a final time of 10:34.00. Competing in the 400m hurdles were Grace Hodgson (class of ‘28), Angelica Parathath (class of ‘27) and Kaitlyn Cabalu (class of ‘25), with Hodgson running 1:14.63, Parathath running 1:22.38 and Cabalu running 1:19.42.
Diving into the long-distance events, Megan Pac, Emily Glennon and Julia Enright stormed the 1600m (5:55.73 for Pac, 6:16.38 for Glennon and 6:16.61 for Enright). The night before this, Glennon ran an impressive 16-second PR of 13:01.24 in the gruesome 3200, only a few seconds short of breaking into the 12 minute threshold.
In the jumps, Nora Scheid (class of ‘26) narrowly missed a spot on the podium in the high jump, putting forth a jump of 4-6 to place 7th. Last but not least, Angelica Parathath and Ella Flanagan (class of ‘27) competed in long jump, with Flanagan jumping 14-4.25 and Parathath jumping 12-2.5.
The Final Stretch
With the season being over for all of the Seniors on the team except for Robinson, these athletes now look forward to their futures as college students, and, in some cases, as collegiate athletes. Regardless of where the future of these soon-to-be graduates may lie, I, as well as the rest of the Caldwell Track & Field team, am grateful to have gotten the opportunity to train and compete alongside such great teammates and friends. Although these Seniors may be preparing to leave the team, the impressive performances that they have racked up over the years and their indelible contributions to the team will always remain fresh in mind. Best of luck to the class of 2025, your work ethic and dedication to this sport have proven your ability to reach great heights in college and beyond!
