With two of the biggest meets on the horizon, the New Jersey Meet of Champions and the New Balance Indoor Nationals meet, the Summit Boys and Girls Winter Track teams are achieving great feats.
This Saturday, March 5th, Summit will be represented in five different events at the Meet of Champions with a dozen different athletes.
Seniors Ryan Sula and Lara Cota both qualified with strong performances at the Group 3 Championships in the 3200m. Sula broke the school record, which stood at 9:39.16 set in 2014 by Leland Jones, with a 9:35.43 performance and 3rd overall finish in the race.
Cota tied the 2nd fastest time in school history, clocking 11:17.16, a time shared with Gillian McIlroy from 2012 and only behind Hilltopper Hall of Famer, Theresa Gschwind’s 11:02.2. Cota finished 4th at the Group 3 championships.
Also running on Saturday are a collection of relays. The boys 4×400, which consists of Senior Teddy Robertson, Sophomore Lucas Kohaut, and Juniors Marek Muzyka and Thomas Kohaut, finished 4th at the Group meet. The same quartet claimed the sectional title in the event the previous week. It was the first time ever the boys 4×4 won the event at the sectional level.
The girls 4×800, consisting of Freshman Maddie Chen, Sophomores Cameron Valdes and Shannon Palphreyman, and Senior Virginia Lustenberger will represent the Top.
And fresh of a school record-setting and first place performance at the Eastern States Championship is the boys 4×800, which will also run at the Meet of Champions. The boys ran 7:59.20 to win at Easterns and their performance is a NJ#2 and a US#13 for the season. On that relay were Sula, Junior Sam Ard, Muzyka, and Robertson. The previous school record of 8:05.43 was set by Marshall Passey, Sukrut Sonty, Matt Sinunu, and Robertson’s older brother, Will, in 2016.
After the Meet of Champions the team will set its targets on the National Championship meet in which 3 individuals and 6 relays are set to compete.