Despite difficulties, Stickle succeeded for Randolph

If you ask Greg Stickle a question during a meet, don't expect an extensive answer. In fact, the quieter the Randolph senior is, the faster he might run that day.

Stickle must not have had a lot to say this spring. He simply crossed the finish line first, over and over again.

Stickle won four individual gold medals at the Morris County Championships, helping Randolph claim the team title. He won three at the NJAC Large

Schools Championships, another team win for the Rams. He took home the NJSIAA North 1 Group IV title in the intermediate hurdles, as Randolph won its first sectional title in 16 years.

"The team things we've done are bigger than winning four golds at counties," said Stickle, the All Daily Record Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year both indoors and outdoors.

"It's still a team effort trying to win titles. It's not one person. It's everyone who needs to be on."

Building a legacy

Stickle's emergence as a premier sprinter-jumper during his junior year wasn't nearly as surprising as it appears on the surface. A multisport athlete who juggled baseball, lacrosse and track in the spring, Greg had participated in the Lakeland League since kindergarten. Stickle grew up running the 800 — the longest distance available for youngsters — with current teammates

including Carole Harsch and Liz Lansing. He hit 18-3 in the long jump in June 2011, when he was in eighth grade, according to Greg's father, Jeff Stickle, and was also running the 800 "in the low 2s"

while his 400 times "were just cracking a minute."

Mendham was a big rival even in childhood, and Stickle remembers competing against current Minutemen seniors Christian Kildal-Brandt and Paul Ehmann, as well as Patrik Andersen, who is now at Gill

St. Bernard's.

"He's very motivated, and he does not like to not perform, especially when he knows what he can do," Randolph coach Luke Suttile said. "I haven't coached anyone like him. He's just so, so talented. There wasn't anything he couldn't do."

Perhaps the only thing Stickle couldn't outrun this spring was injuries, though he hid them well. During hurdles training with Randolph alumnus Stephen Vitale right before the Morris County Championships, Stickle strained the hamstring on his lead leg. He taped it up, coated it with Icy Hot, and got an extra boost from adrenaline.

His hamstrings only got worse throughout the spring, but Stickle refused to back away from any challenges. He qualified for four events at the Group IV meet, where he placed fourth in the long jump — despite fighting cramps in his takeoff leg — fifth in intermediate hurdles

and sixth in the open 400.

"He made you want to run fast and do well," said Anthony Zarro, a sprinter and jumper who graduated from Randolph in 2014.

"It was just his presence. He had this air about him when he was running track that made you want to do better, because you were on his team."

Plan for the future

Stickle himself admitted the 800 and long jump is "a wacky combination"

that even raised college coaches' eyebrows during the recruiting process. He didn't start running the 400 or doing long jump until his junior year, the latter "just by chance" after Stickle mentioned that eighth-grade mark, according to Suttile. Hurdles were added to Stickle's resume last year, too, when Suttile put him in a dual meet alongside two of Randolph's quickest runners.

"I had a day or two to practice going over two hurdles, and they threw me into a full race with 10," Stickle recalled. "It was really, really ugly."

Despite lamenting "my hurdle form, or lack thereof," Stickle had the quickest times in the Daily Record area in both the intermediate hurdles and open 400 this spring. He was the only local athlete to break 55 seconds in the 400 hurdles

and had the top five long jump marks in the area.

Stickle loves both the 400 and long jump, and he hopes to continue to compete in those events at Monmouth next year. But he's not ruling out the hurdles

or even trying to go back up to the 800 meters.

He ran everything from the 100 to the 800 for Randolph this spring.

"He just puts his mind to it and goes," Suttile said. "He's hard to read. I'd ask him questions like, 'You feeling good? You ready to go?' He'd just nod like, 'Yeah, I'm ready.' … He doesn't go into things to be mediocre. He goes into them to do the best he's ever done. Every time he ran, he wanted to do better than the last time."

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

Top Morris County Boys Performances

100 meters: James Lienhardt (Randolph) 10.86 — May 12-13 at Morris County Championships

200 meters: Christian Kildal-Brandt (Mendham) 22.11 — May 5-6 at NJAC Championships

400 meters: Greg Stickle (Randolph) 48.5 — May 5-6 at NJAC Championships

800 meters: Ian McNally (Morris Hills) 1:55.9 — May 22-23 at Sectionals

1,600 meters: Ben DeVenezia (Mountain Lakes) 4:21.39 — May 29-30 at Groups

3,200 meters: Jenks Hehmeyer (Montville) 9:29.33 — May 22-23 at Sectionals

110-meter hurdles: Luke Mayer (Delbarton) 14.56 — May 12-13 at Morris County Championships

Intermediate hurdles: Greg Stickle (Randolph) 53.76 — May 22-23 at Sectionals

4x100: Randolph (Carlo Zarro, Greg Stickle, Endale Seleshi, James Lienhardt) 43.76 — May 1-2 at Morris County Relays

4x400: Chatham (Stephen Bondurich, Jaylen Haye, Nicholas Ferrone, Kevin Gesell) 3:24.38 — May 29-30 at Groups

4x800: Morris Hills (John Dennehy, Connor Spalt, Jason Schweizer, Ian McNally) 7:53.26 — May 29-30 at Groups

High jump: Isaiah Turner (Morris Hills) and Spenser Clouse (Mendham) 6-6

Long jump: Greg Stickle (Randolph) 22-9.25 — May 12-13 at Morris County Championships

Triple jump: Spenser Clouse (Mendham) 43-11.5 — May 22-23 at Sectionals

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

Shot put: David Vargas (Randolph) 56-1.25 — June 3 at Meet of Champions

Discus: Jaylon Jorge (Morristown) 153-7 — May 29-30 at Groups

Javelin: Ryan Kim (Whippany Park) 177-0 — May 12-13 at Morris County Championships