Track & Field: Montclair Mountie Girls dominate Essex County Meet

by Andrew Garda

garda@montclairlocal.news

The wins just keep on rolling along for the Montclair High School Girls Track & Field team, as they added the Essex County Meet Championship title to the SEC Title they won last week.

The Mounties finished the day with 104 points - far above the West Essex Knights at 76 - during a two day stretch featuring a complete sweep of the girl's discus event and stellar performances by sprinter Nyjah Young-Bey, distance runners Amelia Lufrano, Meghan Hessler and Matilda Ferguson and hurler Shelby Bigsby.

Bigsby and Ferguson were two of the more interesting stories of the weekend, which was filled with great performances by Mounties.

Bigsby kicked things off Friday when she won the girl's shot put with a personal best 45-09 feet. That distance actually would have put her in sixth place with the boys, a strong showing for a young woman who is only getting better each meet.

She then cleared 106-05 feet in the discus throw to take that event as well. Bigsby was joined by teammates Jane Carino ( 105-09) and Zelided Castillo (101-06) in second and third, respectively.

That domination was a big reason why the Mounties not only won the meet, but won it by such a large margin.

Ferguson had run the 1600m on Friday afternoon, along with Hessler and Lufrano, but fell during the initial 100m. According to the rules, when that happens, the judges are to stop the race and reset - in fact, that had happened moments prior to Ferguson's fall when several runners causes a pile up almost at the exact same spot the Mountie runner fell.

The judges apparently didn't see the tumble though, and Ferguson became frustrated when it was clear she could not make up the ground.

After a post-race discussion, it was determined that the race should have been halted and that Ferguson would be allowed to run the 1600m by herself on Saturday.

Saturday morning saw a determined Ferguson not only finish her race, but do well enough to place third overall. Ferguson then also ran the 3200m later the same day, ending that race in fourth.

The Mountie boys didn't have the strong field and sprinting finishes the girls did, and finished the day in 15th place. The boys weekend featured a third place finish by Charles Murphy in the high jump, a fourth place finish by Mekki Wilson in the long jump.

For complete coverage and results for the Montclair Track & Field team's County Tournament appearance, check Thursday's edition of the Montclair Local.