The Madison High School Winter Track Team kicked off the postseason with an outstanding display of talent and determination at the recent South Jersey Track Coaches Association (STJCA) invitational meet. Many of the athletes competing ran personal bests and showed off all the hard work they had put in these last few months.
Seniors Nathan Gaurin and Jake Kurilla ran lighting-fast times in the 200-meter race. Nathan clocked in at 23 seconds and 20 milliseconds and Jake at 24 seconds and 80 milliseconds. These performances were a testament to the hard work and dedication that these two athletes have put into their season this year. Nathan’s previous best was 23 seconds and 68 milliseconds, while this was Jakes first 200m
Senior Sam Cohen and junior John Davidson ran the exhilarating 1600m race or the mile. John had been on the border of breaking the 5-minute mile since last spring, as his previous mile personal best was 5 minutes, 0 seconds, and 79 milliseconds. The hard work John put into training for cross country in the fall and winter track was monumental in allowing him to shave 5 seconds off of his previous personal best, running 4 minutes, 55 seconds, and 46 milliseconds. Sam, who also ran cross country, shaved 13 seconds off his previous record to run a 5-minute, 16-second, and 61 milliseconds in the mile.
Junior Jake Nolan crushed the 3200m clocking in at 9 minutes, 54 seconds, and 11 milliseconds and securing 5th place. That equates to a blistering pace of 4 minutes and 58 seconds per mile. He improved his time by more than 35 seconds from a meet earlier this season. Jake has been killing it as a runner this year, in cross country, he made it to the Meet of Champions, which is for the best of the best in the state. Jake tied for 50th place in that race out of 165 of the top NJ runners. When asked what he attributed his success to, Jake stated “The great coaching from our head coach Monaco, as well as the support from the other varsity runners”. Maya Van Horn, who attends the Morris County Vocational School, but runs winter and spring track for Madison dominated the 3200, running an 11 minute, 6 seconds, and 34 millisecond 3200m, coming in second place.
Lastly, senior Kelsey Greer jumped 4 foot, 10 inches in High Jump coming in first place and beating the closest girl by 2 inches.
As of writing this, the Winter Track Team still has 2 postseason meets to run. Best of luck to the team at these next 2 meets.