Roxbury girls claim long-awaited Morris County Relays title

MADISON – When the Roxbury girls' indoor track team loaded the bus and headed to the Morris County Relays at Drew University on Monday afternoon, head coach Laura Myers Schmidt made a proclamation to her team.

"We had just been on Christmas break and hadn't seen each other in a few days," Myers Schmidt said. "So I got on the bus and told them that we were going to be in the hunt, that we were shooting for the top three and we had a shot to win it all. I told them that there are teams that are going to be looking to beat Roxbury. I think that got them motivated."

The Gaels were atop the pack after securing two points for a fifth-place finish in the high jump relay.

"We knew going into the 4x400 (meter relay, the last event of the night) that we had to either win or take second to win," Myers Schmidt said.

The Gaels finished second in the last relay of the night, giving them 40 points, compared to 39 for Mendham and 36 for third-place Whippany Park. It was that close, but the underdog Gaels prevailed.

It marked the first time since 2001 that Roxbury won the Morris County Relays girls' title, when Myers Schmidt was a high school freshman.

It was a total team effort for the Gaels, led by their senior leader Olivia Viparina, who has been nothing short of brilliant throughout the current indoor season. Viparina ran the anchor leg on the sprint medley relay team that won in 4:23.03. Deanna Graziani, Nikki Alford and Emily Silfies also ran on that victorious relay squad.

It turned out to be the lone victory for the Gaels, other than the important team crown.

"What's amazing about it is that Olivia never ran indoors before," Myers Schmidt said. "So I think she's sort of surprised herself. I always knew she was talented. She just always took the indoor season off after cross country. The whole team has rallied behind her. ... Deanna and Nikki really stepped up. They really hate to lose. It's so great to see."

Viparina also ran the anchor leg on the Gaels' distance medley relay team that finished third, passing six girls to move up from ninth during that impressive final leg. Alex Palumbio, Leany Fernandez and Zoe Paxos ran the distance medley relay with Viparina, who is the lone senior among the contingent.

"It was incredible to watch," Myers Schmidt said. "Alexis Smith is a sophomore who ran in three relays. She's our best newcomer. She never ran track before in her life and now she helps us win a county championship."

Alford, Graziani, Smith and Daniella Carter who clinched the team title with their second-place finish in the 4x400-meter run. Mendham won that final race, so if the Gaels even finished third in the 4x400, the dreams of being a county champ would have vanished.

"It was a fun bus ride home," Myers Schmidt said. "The whole season has been a lot of fun. We put things in place three years ago and now it's finally materialized. Everything they worked hard for came together at the right time."

While Roxbury shocked everyone by winning the girls' title, Delbarton didn't surprise many by capturing its third straight Morris County Relays crown.

But there was an aspect to the victory that surprised head coach Dave Sulley, who won his second title in as many years as the Green Wave's coach after spending nearly 30 years at Mount Olive.

The Green Wave scored 60 points, compared to 40 for runner-up Chatham. Morris Hills was third and Morristown fourth.

"We were definitely more dominant than I thought we would be," Sulley said. "I tend to score a meet ahead of time and I tend to be on the conservative side. But we far exceeded the set total I had in mind."

Luke Mayer was part of three winning relays and was second in the fourth event, the 4x200-meter run, a race that the Green Wave almost stole thanks to an incredible anchor leg from speedster Brendan Kenny.

Peter Chan enjoyed a rare double, winning the 55-meter shuttle hurdles relay as well as the pole vault. Now that's diversity.

Jordan Earlywine showed some kick in winning the 1,600-meter run, along with Kenny, Mayer and Ian Lodge.

"It's Ian's first season of running indoors and he's coming into his own," Sulley said. "I think we have a group of six or seven guys who can run in any event from the 200 (meter run) to the 800 (meter). I think we scored in every event except one. We have the right group of guys. I'm really excited for this team."

RESULTS

BOYS

TEAMS: Delbarton 60, Chatham 40, Morris Hills 39, Morristown 32, Randolph 21, Montville 16, Mendham 14, Morris Knolls 13, Hanover Park 10, Roxbury 8, West Morris 7, Mount Olive and Madison 6, Parsippany 4, Parsippany Hills 2.

SHUTTLE HURDLES RELAY: 1. Delbarton (Peter Chan, Joseph Gambetta, Luke Mayer, Shawn Ohazurike) 31.66; 2. Roxbury 32.21; 3. Morris Knolls 32.72; 4. Morris Hills 32.83; 5. Randolph 32.99; 6. Mendham 33.22.

4x200 RELAY: 1. Randolph (James Lienhardt, Greg Stickle, Carlo Zarro, Endale Selishi) 1:36.72; 2. Delbarton 1:36.81; 3. Chatham 1:38.39; 4. Mendham 1:38.52; 5. Hanover Park 1:38.95; 6. Morris Hills 1:39.15.

4X400 RELAY: 1. Delbarton (Ian Lodge, Teryon Lowery, Luke Mayer, Shawn Ohazurike) 3:34.62; 2. Mendham 3:35.16; 3. Mount Olive 3:39.28; 4. Chatham 3:40.15; 5. Morris Hills 3:40.83; 6. Randolph 3:40.88.

4X800 RELAY: 1. Morris Hills (John Dennehy, Michael Gosden, Ian McNally, Jason Schweizer) 8:29.84; 2. Morristown 8:33.38; 3. Chatham 8:42.84; 4. Madison 8:50.14; 5. Parsippany Hills 8:58.06; 6. Delbarton 9:00.04.

DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Morris Hills (John Dennehy, Michael Gosden, Ian McNally, Jason Schweizer) 10:52.52; 2. Morristown 10:53.83; 3. West Morris 10:59.27; 4. Chatham 11:03.44; 5. Delbarton 11:11.59; 6. Mendham 11:17.49.

SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Delbarton (Jordan Earlywine, Ian Lodge, Luke Mayer, Brendan Kenny) 3:43.63; 2. Hanover Park 3:35.70; 3. Montville 3:47.33; 4. Chatham 3:47.46; 5. Randolph 3:49.84; 6. West Morris 3:51.72.

SHOT PUT RELAY: 1. Montville (Alex Rodgers, Joosung Lee) 96-5 ¼; 2. Morristown 90-9 ½; 3. Chatham 86-0 ¼. 4. Parsippany 84-11 ¾. 5. Morris Hills 79-6 ¼. 6. Delbarton 78-3 ¼.

HIGH JUMP RELAY: 1. Morris Hills (Isaiah Turner, Kyle Gaeb) 11-8; 2. Delbarton 11-2; 3. Chatham and Morris Knolls 10-6; 5. Madison 10-6; 6. Randolph 10-3.

POLE VAULT RELAY: 1. Delbarton (Peter Chan, Chris Beute) 23-6; 2. Morristown 22-0; 3. tie between Chatham and Randolph 19-0; 5. Morris Knolls 19-0.

GIRLS

TEAMS: Roxbury 40, Mendham 39, Whippany Park 36, Randolph 30, Chatham 28, Morris Hills 18, Mount Olive 17, Butler 12, Parsippany and Madison 10, Montville 7, Hanover Park, Villa Walsh and West Morris 6, Morristown 5, Morris Knolls 2.

SHUTTLE HURDLES RELAY: 1. Chatham (Rashida Haye, Simone Kirton, Phoebe Nichols, Sarah Prill) 34.20; 2. Roxbury 34.65; 3. Randolph 34.67. 4. Morris Hills 35.25; 5. Butler 35.25; 6. Whippany Park 35.83.

4x200 RELAY: 1. Mendham (Audrey O'Neill, Emma Schacht, Sierra Tonnesen, Maggie Wadley) 1:52.33; 2. Chatham 1:53.03; 3. Roxbury 1:53.26; 4. Montville 1:54.84; 5. Morris Knolls 1:55.78; 6. Whippany Park 1:56.62.

4x400 RELAY: 1. Mendham (Audrey O'Neill, Emma Schacht, Sierra Tonnesen, Olivia Williams) 4:15.52; 2. Roxbury 4:16.86; 3. Whippany Park 4:21.15; 4. Parsippany 4:26.59; 5. Butler 4:29.46; 6. Chatham 4:30.05.

4x800 RELAY: 1. Randolph (Courtney Darakjy, Liz Lansing, Brooke Olson, Margaret Thomson) 10:00.61; 2. Mount Olive 10:03.48; 3. Chatham 10:09.07; 4. Mendham 10:10.64; 5. Madison 10:21.75; 6. Morristown 10:37.05.

DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Randolph (Liz Lansing, Stephanie Robinson, Nora May McSorley, Margaret Thomson) 12:45.01; 2. Mount Olive 12:48.24; 3. Roxbury 12:57.02; 4. Morristown 13:07.80; 5. Chatham 13:11.00; 6. Mendham 13:16.67.

SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Roxbury (Deanna Graziani, Emily Silfies, Nikki Alford, Olivia Viparina) 4:23.03; 2. Morris Hills 4:30.71; 3. Parsippany 4:32.47; 4. Randolph 4:32.61; 5. Montville 4:33.43; 6. Chatham 4:36.32.

SHOT PUT RELAY: 1. Whippany Park (Nickolette Dunbar, Kathryn Matrisciano) 77-7 ¼; 2. Madison 71-7; 3. Morris Hills 64-3 ¼; 4. Mendham 62-9 ¾; 5. Hanover Park 62-2; 6. Mount Olive 60-9.

HIGH JUMP RELAY: 1. Whippany Park (Kristen Hall, Gina Dello Russo) 9-10; 2. Butler 9-8; 3. West Morris 9-6; 4. Hanover Park 9-6; 5. Roxbury 9-4; 6. Montville 9-2.

POLE VAULT RELAY: 1. Mendham (Julia Mszanski, Olivia Williams) 18-6; 2. Whippany Park 17-6; 3. Villa Walsh 17-0.