The New Jersey Track & Field State Sectional Championships took place this past Saturday, February 15, 2025, and it saw several remarkable performances from members of the Caldwell Chiefs’ boys’ and girls’ Winter Track teams; from Junior Nora Scheid placing 4th in the High Jump in 4-10 to Freshman Kyle Brown clocking in a 1600 meter (1 mile) time of 4:56—an exceptional time for his age—and ultimately placing 7th to fall short of a medal by less than a second, the team’s small size is clearly not a sign of a lack of talent.
Among these accomplished athletes is Senior Peter Hatzidoukas, who placed 5th in the 55 meter dash finals with a time of 6.92. This achievement marked both a pivotal moment in his Winter season and a major milestone in his high school career as a whole—though it certainly did not come easily.
Ambitions, trials and tribulations
Throughout the past four years, Peter has been a key player on the Chiefs’ Winter and Spring track teams, running times among the fastest in school history in the 55 meter, 100 meter and 200 meter and having participated in the 4×100 meter relay which set the school record last Spring. He stepped into the Winter season this year with his sights set on various goals, most notably to medal at Sectional Championships in the 55m: a highly competitive event at a highly competitive meet.
“Yes I did have the goal of going to sectionals [and medaling],” Peter shared, in addition to aiming to run “sub 7” in the 55m and “getting a chance to break or come close to Rhyin’s school record.” Senior Rhyin Howard-Dixon currently holds the 55m school record with a time of 6.87 seconds, and running below 7 seconds in the first place is no easy feat.
Last month, Peter encountered adversity in the form of a mild injury. He explained that “the injury came from over sprinting indoors in the halls,” since the poor weather forced the team to practice by running in the school halls on a surface that is bound to cause leg issues if one is not careful. As a result, he had to take time off from practice during a period in the season that is crucial to preparing for the competition ahead. However, he stated that he “wasn’t too worried about it,” and that “I knew I probably just overdid it and I didn’t need to worry about it as long as I rested like I was instructed by Scott [the JCHS Athletic Trainer]”.
While Peter experienced “[a] little worry at first” with regards to missing out on crucial practices and meets, he quickly rebounded from this setback by committing himself to recovery; in his own words, “the worry went away quick once I started resting and icing and conferences [which would have been the first meet] ended up getting rescheduled so it all worked out”.
Since his return from injury, Peter has attained multiple noteworthy feats, one of them being his spectacular 200 meter time of 22.47 which he ran in the Sprint Medley Relay at Essex County Championships. This time attracted the attention of a recruiting scout from the Rutgers Newark Campus who attended the meet, and he approached Peter following the race.
Looking back, Peter shared that this was “definitely a run to remember,” as he was “in shock” when he discovered that he had ran this time and that “meeting with the Rutgers Newark coach was fun. He was super nice and easy to talk to about college track and what it’s like at [the] next level of this sport.”
To be or not to be
This stellar performance was followed by Sectional Championships, where he would have to accomplish his goal of placing in the 55m (top 6) as well as breaking the 7.00 barrier (which he would have to do in order to land within the top 6). “I wasn’t…sure what to expect but I knew going in that if I ran my best and got a sub 7…it could definitely send me to finals,” Peter stated. In all sprinting events up to the 100m, runners will first race in prelims and may compete again in the finals for placement later in the meet if they qualify. Peter placed 5th in the prelims with a time of 6.98, achieving the first of his two goals and moving on. Peter set aside no time to celebrate, though, as “I went into finals…not being satisfied till I got this medal,” and he resolved that “I was going to walk away with a medal no matter what.”
What made the following race even more momentous was the poor luck that he had experienced in past years of making it to the finals in the 55m and 100m and not medaling. “After back to back 100 finals losses,” Peter stated, “I was sick of losing in the finals”.
This streak finally came to an end with his fifth place finish in the finals, making the second of his two major goals a reality. “Securing the medal felt amazing,” Peter shared, “because it was like redeeming myself for past finals failures”.
The road ahead
As a result of his placement, Peter has proceeded to Group 1 State Championships (which are essentially equal to State semi-finals) in the 55m which will take place this Sunday. With this meet on the horizon, he shares that he is “feeling good,” and that he is “excited to get to compete against some of the best sprinters in Group 1 and the state.”
“The goal as always,” he states, “is to just try to run my best and see what happens from there.”
However, Peter did say that the 55m school record “will definitely be on my mind” this weekend. With his time from finals of 6.92, he is only 0.05 seconds behind Rhyin’s record. In four days (as of writing), Peter could run the fastest 55m in JCHS’ 115-year history.
“As for this bizarre rollercoaster season,” he ultimately states in reflection of the obstacles he has faced this Winter, “I think it’s just part of track cause this sport is just unpredictable and you gotta learn to adjust and take it day by day.”
Works Cited
