Whippany Park girls make history at Morris County Championships

BOONTON – When Gina Dello Russo checked the scores midway through the second day of the Morris County Championships, she almost didn't believe what she saw. Whippany Park was in the lead, and by a pretty large margin.

The Wildcats held on and made history on Wednesday, the first team title in the meet's 40-year history – and the first Group II team to win since sister school Hanover Park in 2007. Whippany Park finished with 87 points, crushing the competition by 30.

The Wildcats had just five individual athletes score — jumpers Kristen Hall and Danielle Cozzarelli, sprinter Gina Dello Russo, and throwers Nickolette Dunbar and Kate Matrisciano — plus the 4x400 of Emily Petro, Rose and Julia Nixon and Christin Potkul. The entire team was just 16 competitors.

"It's a dream come true," said Dello Russo, who won both the 200 and 400 meters and was third in the high jump. "It seemed so far away, then County Relays came along, and we realized we had a chance. We just had to show up and give it everything."

Hall won the high jump and had a personal best 35-1 to place third in the triple jump on Wednesday, with Cozzarelli fourth. Dunbar, a junior, won the shot put on Tuesday and was second in the discus Wednesday. Hall and Cozzarelli were fourth and fifth in the 100 hurdles.

"It's amazing," Hall said. "I never thought we could do this well. When we found out (Tuesday) we were in first, it really motivated us to stay in first. We knew we had a chance, but until this week, we didn't think it was possible."

• Elly Scherer might have been less nervous during her own hurdles final than watching her boyfriend, Delbarton senior Luke Mayer, run his. Both won Morris County titles in record-setting times, Mayer during the prelims and Scherer with a personal-best 14.57 to take down Briana Feldhaus' 9-year-old school record in the final.

"As excited as I am for him, I wanted to get as good a time as I can," said Scherer, a Randolph sophomore. "I'm always with Simone (Kirton of Chatham). We've got this thing, we're going to split the medal in half someday."

• West Morris junior Sierra Castaneda completed her distance double on Wednesday, winning the 3,200 in a school-record 10:43.58 to go along with the 1,600 title from the day before.

• Tymia Joseph of Morris Knolls won the triple jump (37-1) to go along with her long jump gold from Tuesday.

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

Team scores: Whippany Park 87; Randolph 57; Mendham 50; Roxbury 42; West Morris 33; Morris Knoll s29; Morristown 23; Jefferson 22; Madison 19; Mountain Lakes 18; Montville and Pequannock 17; Mount Olive 14; Parsippany, Parsippany Hills and Morristown-Beard 10; Chatham 8; Kinnelon 6; Morris Hills 4.

100: 1. Camille Carter (Mt) 12.59; 2. Emma Schacht (Mend) 12.7; 3. Jen Ojukwu (MO) 12.79; 5. Elly Scherer (Rand) 12.85; 5. Tiffany Larusso (Rox) 12.95; 6. Krista Evans (MK) 12.96.

200: 1. Gina Dello Russo (WP) 25.79; 2. Audrey O'Neill (Mend) 25.95; 3. Tiffany Larusso (Rox) 26.39; 4. Camille Carter (Mt) 26.51; 5. Sierra Tonnesen (Mend) 26.53; 6. Tanna Holzworth (WMC) 26.7.

400: 1. Gina Dello Russo (WP) 58.41; 2. Alexis Smith (Rox) 59.05; 3. Sierra Tonnesen (Mend) 59.24; 4. Ashley Stewart (Jeff) 1:00.03; 5. Olivia Carter (Mt) 1:00.14; 6. Rose Ciriello (Mad) 1:00.14.

800: 1. Nora May McSorley (Rand) 2:21.42; 2. Sierra Castaneda (WMC) 2:21.57; 3. Rose Ciriello (Mad) 2:@1.6; 4. Kyra Velock (ML) 2:21.62; 5. Micaela Poggi (MO) 2:21.73; 6. Liz Lansing (Rand) 2:22.

1600: 1. Sierra Castaneda (WMC) 5:01.37; 2. Liz Lansing (Rand) 5:03.49; 3. Olivia Viparina (Rox) 5:04.61; 4. Nora May McSorley (Rand) 5:14.42; 5. Kyra Velock (ML) 5:!5.27; 6. Christine O'Kane (Mt) 5:15.35.

3200: 1. Sierra Castaneda (WMC) 10:43.58; 2. Olivia Viparina (Rox) 10:52.49; 3. Christine O'Kane (Mt) 11:03.86; 4. Carole Harsch (Rand) 11:09.24; 5. Cassandra Harasts (Mv) 11:12.7; 6. Alexandra Christian (MO) 11:13.7.

100-meter hurdles: 1. Elly Scherer (Rand) 14.57; 2. Simone Kirton (Ch) 14.64; 3. Tymia Joseph (MK) 15.12; 4. Kristen Hall (WP) 15.38; 5. Danielle Cozzarelli (WP) 15.67; 6. Anna Lazur (HP) 15.68.

Intermediate hurdles: 1. Anna Lazur (HP) 1:03.63; 2. Marlo Wehrer (Peq) 1:04.18; 3. Catherine Chen (PH) 1:05.66; 4. Sierra Tonnesen (Mend) 1:05.79; 5. Audrey O'Neill (Mend) 1:06.1; 6. Tymia Joseph (MK) 1:07.53.

4x400: 1. Randolph (Stephanie Robinson, Nora May McSorley, Josefine Loeken, Liz Lansing) 4:02.96; 2. Mendham (Kylie Cooper, Audrey O'Neill, Sierra Tonnesen, Emma Schacht) 4:03.23; 3. Roxbury (Nikki Alford, Daniella Carter, Alexis Smith, Tiffany LaRusso) 4:09.9; 4. West Morris (Emma Alai, Allison Egan, Brittany Carratura, Abigail Rec) 4:10.19; 5. Jefferson (Jessica Competiello, Madelyn McConnon, Nicole Christensen, Ashley Stewart) 4:11.75; 6. Whippany Park (Emily Petro, Rose Nixon, Julia Nixon, Christin Potkul) 4:11.76.

High jump: 1. Kristen Hall (WP) 5-2; 2. Leah Wis (Mv) 5-2; 3. Gina Dello Russo (WP) 5-0; 4. Julia Murawinski (Jeff) 5-0; 5. Jen McGrogan (Peq) 5-0; 6. Jessica Prevete (MO) 4-10.

Long jump: 1. Tymia Joseph (MK) 18-3.5; 2. Kristen Hall (WP) 17-6.25; 3. Lainie Seijas (ML) 17-0.75; 4. Jen Ojukwu (MO) 16-11.25; 5. Anjali Pai (MH) 16-11; 6. Grace Penders (VW) 16-5.5.

Triple jump: 1. Tymia Joseph (MK) 37-1; 2. Grace Penders (VW) 35-5.75; 3. Lainie Seijas (ML) 35-2.5; 4. Kristen Hall (WP) 35-1; 5. Danielle Cozzarelli (WP) 34-6; 6. Anjali Pai (MH) 34-3.

Pole vault: 1. Julia Mszanski (Mend) 10-7; 2. Danielle Cozzarelli (WP) 9-6; 3. Madison Galascio (Kinn) 9-6; 4. Catherine Chen (PH) 9-0; 5. Gina Dello Russo (WP) 8-6; 6. Lisa Newman (MK) 8-6.

Shot put: 1. Nickolette Dunbar (WP) 48-10.25* (old record: 45-3.25, Dunbar, 2013); 2. Jordan Wildermuth (Jeff) 40-1; 3. Makayla Taylor (Rand) 39-9.5; 4. Helene Rowland (Mad) 38-11.5; 5. Katie Wisotsky (Mend) 37-1.75; 6. Chioma Eluemunor (MH) 36-7.5.

Discus: 1. Halia Rosemond (MB) 137-2; 2. Nickolette Dunbar (WP) 135-5; 3. Leah Wis (Mv) 127-4; 4. Julia Murawisnki (Jeff) 116-8; 5. Kate Matrisciano (WP) 112-6; 6. Jenn Anderson (Peq) 103-7.

Javelin: 1. Kathryn Campbell (Par) 120-8; 2. Helene Rowland (Mad) 105-3; 3. Andrea Morales (Rox) 104-3; 4. Lexi Toback (Peq) 103-9; 5. Rebeccah Wood (Peq) 103-7; 6. Leah Wis (Mv) 103-6.