BUENA—Hammonton High School’s boys placed fourth overall at the Atlantic County Championships last week at Buena Regional High School, while the Blue Devils’ girls team was fifth.
Also at the meet was St. Joseph Academy, which competed for the first time since 2018.
Three Hammonton High School athletes won events at the meet. Senior Austin Hudak repeated as county champion in the javelin, throwing 190-feet, 8-inches.
Hudak, who has been dealing with some elbow discomfort, was eager to defend his title last week.
“I’ve been taking it easy the last few meets, but I was ready to go today. I have to start getting ready for the big state meets that are coming up,” Hudak said.
Wright, also a senior, won the triple jump with a mark of 42-feet, 4.75-inches. He also placed third in the long jump (21-feet, 4.5-inches). Wright was fourth in the high jump, clearing 6-feet.
Junior Emma Peretti enjoyed a strong day at the county meet, winning the girls discus throw with a mark of 121-feet, 4-inches and taking fourth place in the shot put at 35-feet, 8.25-inches. Peretti concluded the day with a sixth-place finish in the javelin (97-feet, 10-inches).
Also in the javelin, Juliana Dogostino won bronze with a throw of 105-feet, 11-inches.
Hammonton’s boys had 10 more top-10 finishes, including a silver medal and two bronze medals.
The Blue Devils 4x800 relay team of Jesus Flores, Fernando Flores, Brandon Martinez and Dom DeRose were second in 8:53.42.
DeRose was third in the 400 meter dash (51.19 seconds) and Ethan Dustman placed third in the pole vault (10-feet, 6-inches).
Hammonton’s 4x400 team placed fourth (3:36.78) and its 4x100 team was fifth (45.24). Dom Alber was sixth in the 100-meter dash (11.22) and ninth in the 200 meters (23.77).
Fernando Flores finished sixth in the 800 meters (2:05.01). In the 3,200-meter run, Matt Martino placed seventh in 11:22.17 and Sean Fudala was ninth in 11:31.88.
For Hammonton’s girls, Danielle Drialo was second in the pole vault, clearing 8-feet, the fourth-best mark in school history. Hammonton’s 4x800 team also earned silver, as Kaylie Ranere, Emma Longo, Julianna Ruhf and Caitlyn Fields finished with a time of 10:45.60. The 4x100 team (Ilianna DeJesus, Sadie Smith, Brianna Gazzara and Jenna Thibault) was fourth in 53.98 seconds. Also placing fourth was Fields in the 800 meter run (2:35.79). Ruhf was ninth in the 800 (2:45.53).
Ranere placed fifth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:39.57. Hammonton had three sixth-place finishes, including Sierra Handy in the 100-meter hurdles (17.62), Jordyn Colasurdo in the 400 hurdles (1:14.85) and Kiley Kozlowaki in the high jump (4-feet, 6-inches). Kozlowski was seventh in the long jump (14-feet, 9.25-inches).
Handy just missed qualifying for the 100-meter finals, placing ninth in the prelims with a time of 13.42 seconds. Gazzara was 10th in the triple jump with a mark of 28-feet, 10.2-inches.
For St. Joseph, Alyssa Vogt was ninth in the 200-meter dash (28.69 seconds) and also finished 11th in the 100 prelims (13.53). For the boys, Jamaad Davis was eighth in the 100-meter prelims (11.32).
This week, teams from Hammonton and St. Joe will compete at the Cape Atlantic League championships on May 25 at Bridgeton High School.
Last weekend, Hammonton’s boys competed at the South Jersey Open at Delsea Regional. Four Blue Devils turned in top-10 performances at the meet.
Wright won the long jump (22-feet, 1.75-inches) and was fourth in the high jump (6-feet).
Dom Alber placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.88 seconds and was fifth in the 100 with a time of 11.26 seconds. DeRose took bronze in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 51.57 seconds.
Christian Medina set a personal-best mark in the shot put, placing seventh with a throw of 43-feet, 3-inches.