Track & Field: Montclair girls pile up more wins at NJSIAA competition

by Andrew Garda

garda@montclairlocal.news

While the Montclair High School girls Track & Field squad didn't win the overall meet - they finished third with 70 points behind Ridgewood (120 points) and host Randolph (146 points) - they will be sending eight athletes to the Group Championships next week.

Any athlete who finishes in the top six in an event goes, but that doesn't make it easy. The competition was fierce and it takes a lot of fight to make it one step closer to the Meet of Champions in two weeks.

Nyjah Young-Bey (first place in 200m, 400m), Matilda Ferguson (fifth place in 3200m), Victoria Liverpool (third in 400m), Elizabeth Cummings (sixth in 800m), Shelby Bigsby (third in discus, first in shot put), Jane Carino (fourth in discus), Zelided Castillo (sixth in discus) and Trinity Fowlin (sixth in long jump) all will compete in next week's meet. The girls 4x400M relay team finished first as well and the 4x800m relay team finished second.

The Mountie boys will be sending Charles Murphy (sixth in high jump).

Young-Bey successfully defended her 200m title with a time of 25.32 seconds the day after she finished just over two seconds faster than Ridgewood's Katherine Muccio in the 400m with a time of 56.98.

Meanwhile, the Mountie girls once again did very well in the field events, led by Bigsby who easily won the shot put with a throw of 43-10, almost a full seven feet farther than the second place finisher.

Her throw also beat the previous North 1, Group IV record of 42-04 set last year by Amarys Berry of Hackensack.

Bigsby also threw well in the discus, just beating out teammate Carino with a throw of 105-05, compared to 105-02.

Check out Thursday's edition of the Montclair Local for a complete breakdown of all the competition for both Friday and Saturday's events.