TOMS RIVER—A few days prior to the South Jersey Group 3 indoor track and field championships, Hammonton High School boys coach Jeff Dey was confident his team would perform well.
“We’ve been a little down for the last few seasons, compared to where we were, but I feel like we can have a good meet,” Dey said on February 5.
Four days later at the Bennett Center in Toms River, Hammonton backed up its coach’s feeling by turning its best finish in five seasons, placing fourth in the team standings and sending seven athletes to this weekend’s state championships.
“I think we’re back,” Dey said.
Senior Aron Mull continued to set the pace for the Blue Devils on the track, taking gold in the 55-meter dash where he won with a time of 6.51 seconds, the best mark of his career and a new school indoor record.
Mull will be joined at states by teammates Anthony Liakhnovich, Christian Medina, Jayden Smith and Lucas Iuliucci, who each earned berths in individual events, as well as his and Iuliucci’s 4x400 relay teammates CJ Handy and Aaron Lasasso.
Smith, a senior, was second in the high jump, clearing 6-feet, while Liakhnovich and Medina placed third and fifth in the shot put. Liakhnovich had a throw of 51-feet, 10.75-inches, while Medina’s mark was 49-feet, 8.5-inches.
Iuliucci, who was fighting through a shoulder injury, cleared 11-feet to place sixth in pole vault and earn a trip back to Toms River for this week’s state finals.
“Lucas has just been getting better and better every week for us. He’s been through a lot,” Dey said.
Mull, Handy, Lasasso and Iuliucci teamed to set a new Hammonton record in the indoor 4x400 relay, posting a time of 3:34.02.
Along with Mull’s gold medal in the 55-meters, Handy had a time of 6.79 and Josiah Miller finished in 7.24 seconds.
Miller ran the 400-meter dash in 1:00.88 and Sean Fudala led a trio of Hammonton runners in the 1,600-meter run with his time of 4:57.95. Triston Sabol finished in 5:17.39 and Jacob Scarpato had a time of 5:23.28.
In the 3,200-meter run, Matt Martino had a time of 10:34.16 and Fudala finished in 11:12.89. Smith ran the 55-meter hurdles in 8.52 seconds while Rolison Turpin finished in 9.20.
The state finals are in the Bennett Center on February 17.
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