Rumson & Haddonfield Win, Vanriele, Landau, Hart Star in G2


Boys Results/ Girls Results Videos / Photos

The Rumson girls repeated as champions, the Haddonfield boys added to its glorious history,  

Victoria Vanriele of Governor Livingston smashed the All-Groups record in the 800 meters, Liam Landau tied an All Groups record, and Devin Hart had an impressive distance double at Saturday's NJSIAA Group 2 Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

For the Haddonfield boys, its 47-38.8 victory over runner-up Matawan gave the Dawgs its fourth title in the past five years, its seventh in the past 10 years, and its 11th overall. The 11 state indoor titles by Haddonfield is the fifth most in state history for a boys program.

Distance stars Martin Riddell, Greg Eisenhower and Derek Gess and sprinter Zachariah Murray led the charge for Haddonfield.  

Murray won the 400 in 49.63 and also anchored Haddonfield's fourth-place 4x400 relay team that  ran 3:30.96.

Riddell was second in the 3,200 (9:37.82) and ran a PR of 4:22.11 to finish fifth in the 1,600. Gess finished  second in the 1,600 (4:18.68) and was third in the 800 (1:58.00), and Eisenhower ran 9:38.15 to place third in the 3,200.

Also for Haddonfield, Josh Montana cleared 13-6 to place fifth and match his personal best in the pole vault.

The boys pole vault was won by  Landau, a senior at Pascack Hills. Landau, the state leader in the pole vault at 15-9, matched the All Groups meet record by clearing 15-6. 

Point Pleasant Boro's Hart, who is US #2 time in the 3,200 (8:59.32) and is NJ#2 in the 1,600/mile (4:14.60 for the mile) this season, won the 1,600 in 4:16.58 and the 3,200 in 9:32.05. The Stanford-bound Hart will be favored to win the sixth Meet of Champions title of his career next week. He's won two M of C titles in XC, 2 outdoors in the 3,200, and he captured the the 3,200 at the indoor M of C last year.     

The biggest individual girls highlight of the meet came when Vanriele blasted a NJ#2/US#9 2:09.72 to win her third straight title and take down the All-Groups record of 2:11.29 set by Catherine Pagano of Northern Highlands in 2015. Vanriele's 2:09.72 also broke the Group 2 record of 2:13.71 that she set as a freshman in 2017.  

In the girls Group 2 team competition, Rumson's march to the title was fueled by Lily Orr and Eliana Swell.

Orr, a junior, repeated as champ in the 400 in a NJ#4 57.30 and finished second in the 55 dash (7.41), and Swell, also a junior, won the 1,600 with a big PR and NJ#11 5.07.01 as Rumson defeated runner-up Haddonfield, 40-21. Rumson also received a fifth place finish in the 800 from Olivia Rehder, who ran on the winning 4x400.
 

In other highlights - 

Junior Jenna Rogers of Rutherford, who set the state record outdoors and the national freshman record outdoors in the high jump when she made 6-0 3/4 to win the 2017 New Balance National title, made 5-8 to win the HJ on Saturday. Rogers is the state leader this season at 5-10, which is tied for US#9. Rogers is favored to repeat as champion at the Meet of Champions next Sunday.

Woodrow Wilson senior Dennisha Page earned a share of the NJ#1 spot in the girls 55 dash by winning her second straight Group 2 title in 7.12. That ties Lauren Princz of Egg Harbor, the state Group 4 champ, for the state lead.

In a battle between two of the best hurdlers in the state, Rahway senior Ola Akande finished first in 7.49 and Deptford senior Naseem Smith was second in 7.63. Akande has gone an NJ#2 7.40 this season, and Smith is NJ#3 with a 7.46. Sincere Rhea of St. Augustine, the defending M of C winner in the 55 hurdles, is the state leader at 7.29. 

Riley Larsen, a senior at Point Pleasant Boro, vaulted all the way to NJ#3 in the pole vault by winning that event with an indoor PR of 12-0. Larsen also made 12-0 twice last spring.

North Plainfield junior Dan Duncan won the 55 dash in a NJ#6 and big PR of 6.47, and Gabriel Moronta, a junior at Pleasantville, ran a huge PR of 1:56.71, No. 4 in the state this season, to win the boys 800.