By Jason Lockhart
The Morristown Colonials were put to the test on Saturday in the Randolph Relays at John J. Bauer Memorial Field, in a track and field tournament with approximately 40 schools.
Despite solid overall performances, none of the Morristown athletes won gold or silver. But Colonials high jumper Chris Forte placed third in the boys high jump against opponents from large schools.
“I jumped 12 feet and six inches,” said the bronze medal winner. “I got my hands up and had a pretty good reach going up. It was a good distance between me and the bar.”
It was Forte’s best jump. The Morristown junior was the only athlete on the boys team to bring home a medal.
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The Randolph Relays featured schools from Morris County and from Newark, Paterson and Sparta. Central Jersey schools—-Highland Park, Bound Brook, Bridgewater and Toms River—-also competed.
The girls team placed third in the javelin throw against large school opponents. Colonial javelin throwers—-Caitlin Morrison, Katherine Hormaza, and Samantha Yarnis—-threw for a combined total of 249 feet. They were the only medalists for the girls team.
The boys entered the Randolph Relays with half of their team missing in action, at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The boys four-by-100 meter team went with a new group of runners, showcasing football players Kamau Dumas and Kevin Sanders along with Norman Milagrossa and Jared Smith. They placed sixth in the relay against large school opponents, though 45.96 seconds was their best recorded time of the season.
“We didn’t come with our A-team, but we still ran a pretty good timing,” said Dumas, who also ran in the boys four-by-200 meter relay, finishing fifth. “We need to, however, improve on our handoffs. We’ve been practicing them a lot in practice.”
“Today we went with a better core of runners,” said Smith, referring to both relays that he and Dumas ran together.
Colonial track and field assistant coach Michael O’ Brien said that Dumas and Smith also participated in the Penn Relays on Thursday and came home Friday night for the Randolph Relays. Head coach Paul Buccino was at the Penn Relays with the other half of the boy’s team from Thursday to Saturday.
O’ Brien believes track and field experience will help the football players when the Colonials return to the gridiron as the defending state champions.
“We have these guys running proper running drills,” O’ Brien said. “All of the football players we have here are sprint runners. Coaches need them in the weight room, but we need them on the track.”
The Colonials will have their next track meet on Monday against Roxbury and Morris Knolls, schools that participated in the Randolph Relays.
I’m Jared Smith btw