Whippany Park girls track hungry for more competition

Pick on someone your own size? Whippany Park will finally get a chance to do just that when the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Championships begin today. But the Wildcats have already proven themselves against Morris County's biggest and best teams.

The Whippany Park girls won their first Morris County Relays team title, sharing with Mendham. Yet they left Caruso Stadium with only the small-schools plaque – again. Just in case the Wildcats needed any more motivation.

Senior Danielle Cozzarelli earned four gold medals and Gina Dello Russo three, teaming up in the high jump, long jump and pole vault relays. In addition to dividing by size – American, National and United Divisions at Morris Hills; smaller Independence, Liberty, Colonial and Freedom at Wallkill Valley – NJACs is the first outdoor invitational when everyone can compete as individuals instead of a multi-athlete relay.

The Parsippany girls and Hopatcong boys are defending small-school champions. Pope John's girls and Randolph's boys claimed the large-school titles last year.

But graduation losses have hurt all those teams, so there could be plenty of change at the top. Mendham claimed both Morris County Relays titles.

Minutemen senior Christian Kildal-Brandt and Randolph senior Greg Stickle will be able to reprise their friendly rivalry with individual medals – and quite possibly a team title – on the line. Mendham broke the meet record in the 4x200 (1:29.66) en route to its boys team title. Not long afterward, Minutemen senior Spenser Clouse cleared a personal-best 6-5.25 in the high jump, and quieted that end of the field by attempting a school-record 6-8.25.

"Coach (Dave Quinn) has an idea, pretty much, what (the score) is, and told us certain races are very important, stuff like that," said Mendham senior Alex Tafro, who led off the 4x2. "We try to do our best, and see what happens. It gives me a lot of confidence, knowing he puts it in our hands to do the high jump or 4x2 or whatever it is. It shows he's confident in us. There's a little bit of pressure, but for me, I focus and try to do what needs to be done for the team."

Boys vs. girls in the circle

Alex Rodgers keeps a close eye on his Montville teammate, Leah Wis. They both throw discus, and they're both very competitive – particularly with each other. Their friendly rivalry – as well as Rodgers' natural matchup with Chatham senior Ed Dennerlein and Jaylon Jorge of Morristown – has pushed them both. Rodgers had a new PR in the discus (142-10) at Morris County Relays on Friday afternoon, improving a mark that had been only about a foot farther than Wis' best last spring.

"If he beats me, he'll come up to me and say, 'You're slacking,'" Wis said. "If A-Rod doesn't do that, (Montville coach Keith Runne) will say, 'Are you going to let a girl beat you?' Last year, I beat him every once in a while. This year, he's looking very good, but I'm not giving up yet."

Rodgers is also watching his club teammate, Whippany Park junior Nickolette Dunbar. Dunbar threw 50-8 to win the Penn Relays Championship of America shot put, breaking the Morris County, New Jersey and Penn Relays records. She's less than three feet from the national junior-class record (53-3.75). But Rodgers' shot put PR (53-6.75) is still a wee bit better.

"I'd love to see her beat me," he said. "She just needs to come around and catch a good one. … If I see her, I'm mentally taking notes of where it lands, and trying to throw it farther. I always do."

Rewriting records

Morris Knolls' shuttle hurdles team – juniors Krista Evans and Tymia Joseph, senior Kayla Kroll and sophomore Amanda Risberg – broke a 20-year-old school record (1:06.59) at Morris County Relays by more than two seconds. Roxbury's boys – juniors Marc Ruglio, Daniel Giuliano and William Suitt, and senior Brandon Rizzo – broke their school shuttle hurdles record (1:02.41) while winning the event. Distance medley champ Chatham – Stephen Bondurich, Grant Hauck, Will Mitchell and Pat Mortensen – also broke a school record (10:29.1) on Saturday.

Staff Writer Jane Havsy: 973-428-6682; jhavsy@gannettnj.com; www.dailyrecord.com/writerjane/

Top Girls Performances

4x100: Mendham (Audrey O'Neill, Emma Schacht, Sierra Tonnesen, Maggie Wadley) 50.4 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x200: Mendham (Kylie Cooper, Audrey O'Neill, Emma Schacht, Sierra Tonnesen) 1:45.6 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x400: Mendham (Kylie Cooper, Audrey O'Neill, Emma Schacht, Sierra Tonnesen) 4:00.67 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x800: Randolph (Nora May McSorley, Margaret Thomson, Carole Harsch, Liz Lansing) 9:27.05 – April 11 at Cougar Classic

4x1,600: Randolph (Carole Harsch, Liz Lansing, Nora May McSorley, Margaret Thomson) 21:04.84 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Sprint medley: Randolph (Elly Scherer, Aimee Mehta, Liz Lansing, Nora May McSorley) 4:10.85 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Distance medley: West Morris (Emma Alai, Brittany Carratura, Sierra Castaneda, Mikayla Cochrane) 12:24.18 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

High jump: Leah Wis (Montville) 5-4 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays

Long jump: Tymia Joseph (Morris Knolls) 18-0 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays

Triple jump: Tymia Joseph (Morris Knolls) 37-7.75 – April 4 at Raider Relays

Pole vault: Katlyn Rymarzow (Pope John) 11-6 – April 25 at Randolph Relays

Shot put: Nickolette Dunbar (Whippany Park) 50-8 – April 23 at Penn Relays

Discus: Nickolette Dunbar (Whippany Park) 138-9 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Javelin: Kathryn Campbell (Parsippany) 118-8 – April 4 at Summit Relays

Top Boys Performances

4x100: Randolph (John Daddario, James Lienhardt, Endale Selishi, Greg Stickle) 43.76 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x200: Mendham (Alex Tafro, Julian Montilus, Dylan Heraghty, Christian Kildal-Brandt) 1:29.66 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x400: Morris Hills (Rey Almodovar, Ian McNally, Michael Gosden, Jason Schweizer) 3:26.31 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x800: Morris Hills (Ian McNally, Jason Schweizer, Alex Pai, John Dennehy) 7:55.53 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays

4x1,600: Morris Hills (John Dennehy, Jason Schweizer, Ian McNally, Alexander Pai) 18:16.5 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Sprint medley: Mendham (Christian Kildal-Brandt, Julian Montilus, Colin Hall, Paul Ehmann) 3:30.61 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays

Distance medley: Chatham (Stephen Bondurich, Grant Hauck, Will Mitchell, Pat Mortensen) 10:29.1 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

High jump: Spenser Clouse (Mendham) 6-5.25 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Long jump: Greg Stickle (Randolph) 22-2.5 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays

Triple jump: T.J. Green (Boonton) 43-3 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Pole vault: Peter Chan (Delbarton) 14-0 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Shot put: Edward Dennerlein (Chatham) 52-7 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Discus: Jaylon Jorge (Morristown) 149-1 – May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

Javelin: Dan Campbell (Parsippany) 174-8 – April 18 at Morris Hills Relays