Morris Hills best in the U.S.
Veteran Morris Hills boys’ track and field coach Sean Robinson had circled Jan. 9 on his calendar for quite some time.
The Hispanic Games served as an opportunity for Robinson’s talented 4x800-meter relay team to compete at the famed Armory Track and Field Center in New York. When Robinson decided to forego the Cliff Back Invitational Friday night at Drew University in order to take his talented relay group to the Armory on Saturday, he had a motive in mind.
“Our goal was to be the U.S. number one,” Robinson said. “We talked about it as a team. I’d love to tell you that it wasn’t a goal, but it was.”
Seniors Ian McNally and Jason Schweizer and juniors Alexander Pai and Nalin Chopra won the 4x800 gold medal in 7:53.62 at the Hispanic Games Saturday night.
The goal of setting the fastest 4x800 relay time in the county became a reality. Morris Hills currently has the No. 1 4x800 relay in the United States.
McNally ran the first leg in 1:56.64, with Pai running the second leg in 2:00.2. Chopra took the baton and took care of the third leg in a personal best 2:03, giving the baton to Schweizer with the Scarlet Knights in second place. Schweizer ran a monster anchor leg, a PR of 1:53.74.
“I’m on the relay team with three All-Americans,” Chopra saidr. “I gave up the baton, confident that Jason would do it. He’s a tough guy.”
Schweizer sat behind Kyle Kelly of West Islip (N.Y.) for the first two laps of his 800-meter leg, then "just kicked it into gear and went" with about 250 meters left. When Schweizer crossed the line, he had no idea what the Scarlet Knights had achieved.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” Schweizer said. “It’s kind of difficult to believe. We ran those three races together (at Morris County Relays) Monday night and I think that made us mentally tougher and stronger. I took the stick and said to myself that I had to go out and get it. ... I knew we had the potential. That was the main goal going there, but I wasn’t expecting us to go in there, get it and leave. I was hoping for it, but I didn’t know. We’re now working toward a bigger goal.”
That goal is a national title.
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Morris Hills, which improved 13 seconds from its previous No. 1 time from the Bishop Loughlin Games in December, has also likely earned another invitation to the prestigious Penn Relays 4x800 in the spring.
"I’m not even coaching them much anymore. I just get them to the line and then get out of the way," said Robinson, who also credited outdoor workouts in the unusually warm winter weather.
"Chopra has really honed his craft and is committed to doing the little things,” Robinson said. “Pai ran great, running two flat (two minutes) even being sick. Pai is a warrior and a great racer. He doesn’t care when I put him. He just wants to compete and he’s fun to coach. McNally runs the leadoff and he loves that role. He’s unselfish. He’s been in so many big races in his life. His resume is pretty impressive. He’s a cool customer who has run a lot of big leadoff legs. Jason is never intimidated and ran special fractions. They’re a great group to coach.”
The Scarlet Knights were a couple of seconds off the meet record of 7:51.07 set by Morris Hills in 2009, a team which included former All Daily Record Indoor Track Male Athlete of the Year Liam Tansey.
“Each guy helps. Pai is usually the funny one, but he wasn’t feeling well (Saturday). Ian is the one who’s level-headed. Nalin is the one who gets excited. I’m more of the laid-back kind of guy.”
“When you think of it, it’s an incredible feeling,” Chopra said. “We’re having a lot of fun together. We enjoy improving. We know that our times will keep improving.”