NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions Preview

Boys Pole Vault

Event Preview

Don't count out state leader Cade Zeolla of West Morris Central HS. Despite an off meet at the Group Championships where he placed third in Group 2 clearing 13-6, he's cleared 15-0 consistently and has recorded six of the eight vaults over the 15-foot bar by New Jersey athletes this winter. 

Zeolla leads NJ on the year with a 15-7.5 during his Sectional Championships win and he also cleared 15-7 in early January at Drew University.

With that said, it has been proven that leaderboards aren't what win titles and Ryan Merlino of Oakcrest proved just that during the Group 2 state championship where he earned first the win clearing 14-6. Defeating both Bran Swain of Manchester, second, and Zeolla, third. 

Merlino has a current best of 15-3 from early January for NJ No. 2, he's the top returner from last year's indoor MOCs where he finished fourth at 14-06, and he has three of the top 10 clearances for the state in 2024 only behind Zeolla's total of six.

Owen Keating of Pompton Lakes HS, the Group 1 state champion, currently ranks NJ No. 3 with his 15-0 clearance to win at NJIC Championships on January 25th.

Only three athletes have cleared 15-0 for NJ in 2024 including the aforementioned Zeolla, Merlino, and Keating. Zeolla is the only one to do it more than once with six at 15+ on the year.

Preview by Robert Kellert

Group Champions

Performance List

Includes Group meet performances & any improved seeds for Champions

Boys Pole Vault
==========================================================================================
       Name 			  Year 	 School 			    Seed
==========================================================================================
1      Merlino, Ryan               12    Oakcrest HS                        14-06.00
2      Couse, Daniel               12    Clearview Reg HS                   14-00.00
3      Swain, Brian                12    Manchester                         14-00.00
4      Villavicencio, Alan         11    Tenafly HS                         13-06.00
5      Farrell, Trevor             11    Kingsway HS                        13-06.00
6      Keating, Owen               11    Pompton Lakes HS                   13-06.00
7      OBrien, Tyler               12    Hunterdon Ce                       13-06.00
8      Zeolla, Cade                11    West Morris                        13-06.00
9      Reyes, Carlos               12    Delsea Regional HS                 13-00.00
10     Luehrs, Jack                11    Cherry Hill                        13-00.00
11     Vankadhara, Manish          12    North Brunswick HS                 13-00.00
12     Plut, Ethan                 11    Moorestown HS                      13-00.00
13     Senatore, Raymond           12    West Deptford HS                   13-00.00
14     Quense, Paul                12    Delbarton School                   13-00.00
15     Izzo, Griffin               11    Rumson-Fair                        13-00.00
16     Browne, Owen                12    Morris Knolls HS                   13-00.00
17     Malik, Olgierd              11    Bound Brook HS                     12-06.00
18     Hoo, Ryan                   12    Pope John Xxiii HS                 12-06.00
19     Arturi, Christian           12    Mount Olive HS                     12-06.00
20     Hall, Jayden                11    Toms River                         12-06.00
21     Hood, Marcus                11    Deptford HS                        12-06.00
22     Wright, David               12    West Deptford HS                   12-06.00
23     Stellmach, Raymond          11    Ridgewood HS                       12-06.00
24     Tishey, Kevin               12    Cherry Hill                        12-06.00
25     Lewis, William              11    Sayreville HS                      12-00.00
26     Batista, Andrew             12    Delbarton School                   12-00.00
27     Bielinski, Isaac            11    Mountain Lakes HS                  11-06.00
28     La Bianca, Tim              12    Eastern Chri                       11-00.00
29     Kilgannon, Joey             12    Union Catholic                     10-06.00
30     Davis, Stone                12    Eastern Chri                       10-00.00

Event by Event Previews

Event	Boys Preview	Girls Preview
55m Hurdles	Boys	Girls
55m Dash	Boys	Girls
4x800m Relay	Boys	Girls
400m Dash	Boys	Girls
1600m Run	Boys	Girls
800m Run	Boys	Girls
200m Dash	Boys	Girls
3200m Run	Boys	Girls
4x400m Relay	Boys	Girls
High Jump	Boys	Girls
Long Jump	Boys	Girls
Triple Jump	Boys	Girls
Pole Vault	Boys	Girls
Shot Put	Boys	Girls