Gov. Livingston Track and Field Proves Competitive in States

The Governor Livingston Highlanders came into the 2011 NJSIAA Track & Field Sectional Championships almost knowing the outcome of their events.

It's one thing to rely on determination, quite another to realize that where there are others competing who consistently perform at a higher level,  you hope for a slip-up on their part or some other anomaly that may change the likely outcome.

On a hot, humid, Friday afternoon, the Highlanders competed in the discus, javelin, shot put,  pole vault, high jump, 400, 100 and 1600 meter events and came away with respectable showings.

Senior Jimmy Hintze, who had a read on the field of contestants in the Group II discus competition, bided his time, tossed a few respectable throws and made it to the final round where he placed second.

I felt pretty good," Hintze said after the competiton. "I was ranked second coming into the section so I was hoping that I placed there and I did by best."

Hintze was not necessarily up against a full field of strong competitors, but as always, there was a glaring standout in Chatham senior Jake Newmann, who placed first. His last throw was 166'11", around 30 feet ahead of competitors.

"I competed against him before," Hintze said. "I was six feet shy of my personal best but I was happy with the one throw that was 132' becuase it's not that common for me."

As the afternoon waned, the Highlander girls pole vault team turned in a respectable showing, again, with recognition that placing was likely by a first place showing was not.

"It's sort of what I expected," said pole vault coach Peter Festante. "We placed second, third, and fourth. I expected to place second, third and sixth so Erica Stevenson was a pleasant surprise coming in fourth. She did a real nice job."

"I did not expect to place," Stevenson said. "My best prior to today was 8'6' and I was glad I jumped 9' today."

The Highlanders Claire Smith placed second with a vault of  10', "which is not her best but she is working ona new pole and she did not quite get in enough penetration," Festante said.

Later in the evening Smith placed second in the girls' Group II 100 meter daash with a time of 12.54. The winner, freshman Bria Saunders of Parsippany, placed first with 12.42

One of the two brighest spots on the day, defying the odds, was junior Chris Guerrero, who took first place in the men's Group II 400 meter hurdles track event with a time of 55.98 and junior Cat Quinn, who took first place in the women's long jump with a 17'.5" jump.

"I was seeded first but even so wanted to just try to run my own race and see where it went from there," Guerrero said.

For Gurrero, it was sweet revenge against Cliffside Park senior Anthony Tripodi, who beat Guerrero last year by .001.

"We talked before the race and no hard feelings or anything," he said.