RANDOLPH — Just after Morris Hills won the 4×400 to clinch the Morris County Relays title, Nick Falcone took a moment to admire the way the rain pounded the lights at Randolph High School. To Falcone, it wasn’t quite as beautiful as cheering Scarlet Knights anchor Hunter Iorio across the finish line first.
“I love competing in the last event of the day,” said Iorio, a middle-distance runner who loves to sprint. “It’s awesome. You get to run as fast as you can, and support your team at the same time.”
It is the Scarlet Knights’ third outdoor Relays title in four years, the second in a row. But even after sweeping Morris County Relays, the team championship, and North 2, Group 3 both indoors and outdoors last year, this plaque felt a bit different.
“Now, we have expectations,” said Falcone, a senior who was part of Morris Hills’ winning 4×1,600, and the second-place distance medley and 4×800.
“We have pressure, but we were never favored. Today, we came in as favorites, but we executed.”
The Morris Knolls girls also defended their Morris County Relays title, thanks to wins in the shuttle hurdles, shot put and javelin. But unlike the Morris Hills boys, the Golden Eagles had endured major graduation losses.
“There wasn’t a lot of hope we could do this for a second time,” said junior Wendy Graziani, who was part of the shuttle hurdles, high jump, 4×100 and 4×200. “We were willing to put in the work. The fact that everyone is as selfless as they are enabled us to come out with a win.”
➤ Despite a sudden storm, West Morris broke the meet record in the 4×100. The girls – juniors Georgia Hostler, Alanna Parkes and Kelly Kaasmann and sophomore Emma Liberato – finished in 48.95 seconds, 18 hundredths faster than the 16-year-old mark.
The same quartet won the 4×200 in 1:44.78, amidst another cloudburst.
A week ago, the Wolfpack girls had posted the fastest Morris/Sussex 4×100 and 4×400 times at Penn Relays.
“We like running in the rain,” Kaasmann said. “It’s better than the 90-degree weather when you’re drained. It’s cool and spooky, so why not do something special?”
➤ The Roxbury girls left Morris County Relays a bit deflated. The double-champ indoors, the Gaels wound up second to Morris Knolls by six points on Wednesday night. But they thrived on competition, bringing home first place in the intermediate hurdles, sprint medley and discus.
“We’re just really competitive,” said junior Tatiyana Sewall, who joined the track team last spring. “I want to be part of it. It’s only four years. I want to do better more for them than for myself.”
Outstanding in their fields
➤ Senior Adair Para had the top shot put mark, 37-10, to top the field by more than five feet and lead Morris Knolls to gold. The Golden Eagles girls were also first in the javelin.
➤ Montville senior Anthony Agnoli had the top marks in discus (168-1) and shot put (58-9). The Roxbury boys were first in shot, and Morristown took gold in disc.
➤ Senior Walter Hedblom-Green threw 185-11 – more than 30 feet better than the second-place competitor – as Boonton won the javelin for the third year in a row. Patrick Piechowski of Boonton cleared 6-5, three inches clear of the field, while leading his team to high jump gold.
Girls results
Team scores: Morris Knolls 70; Roxbury 64; West Morris 60; Morristown 45; Randolph 45; Chatham 38; Madison 32; Morris Hills 28; Villa Walsh 23.5; Montville and Whippany Park 22; Mount Olive 14; Parsippany and Pequannock 8; Morristown Beard 7; Boonton and Butler 6; Parsippany Hills 3.5; Mountain Lakes 3; Kinnelon 1
4×100: 1. West Morris (Georgia Hostler, Alanna Parkes, Kelly Kaasmann, Emma Liberato) 48.95* (old meet record: 49.13, Jefferson, 2013); 2. Morris Knolls 49.32; 3. Morristown 50.36; 4. Mount Olive 50.5; 5. Roxbury 51.19; 6. Parsippany Hills 51.33.
4×200: 1. West Morris (Georgia Hostler, Alanna Parkes, Kelly Kaasmann, Emma Liberato) 1:44.78; 2. Chatham 1:45.97; 3. Morris Knolls 1:46.82; 4. Morristown 1:46.88; 5. Mount Olive 1:47.11; 6. Parsippany Hills 1:50.07.
4×400: 1. Chatham (Fiona Jackson, Lucy Arps, Emily Piskadlo, Sarah Nacinovich) 4:01.05; 2. West Morris 4:05.07; 3. Roxbury 4:07.33; 4. Morris Knolls 4:08.48; 5. Parsippany Hills 4:17.62; 6. Morristown 4:18.93.
4×800: 1 Morristown (Addison Emge, Jessica Cain, Kaleigh Policano, Julia Suttile) 9:47.69; 2. Montville 9:52.93; 3. Roxbury 9:57.56; 4. Madison 10:04.51; 5. Randolph 1008.45; 6. Mount Olive 10:12.68.
4×1,600: 1. Randolph (Lilah Willis, Grace Carey, Jaidyn Young, Carly Renna) 21:55.59; 2. Morristown 21:59.18; 3. Montville 22:11.71; 4. Chatham 22:25.34; 5. West Morris 22:34.67; 6. Villa Walsh 22:57.6.
Sprint medley: 1. Roxbury (Gianna Mancuso, Tatiyana Sewall, Gianna Benfatti, Madison Hughes) 4:18.92; 2. Montville 4:32.03; 3. Butler 4:33.29; 4. Chatham 4:34.19; 5. Morris Knolls 4:34.84; 6. Morristown Beard 4:35.34.
Distance medley: 1. Randolph (Carly Renna, Jillian Liebhauser, Julianna Young, Lilah Willis) 12:41.93; 2. Roxbury 12:45.44; 3. West Morris 12:50.94; 4. Villa Walsh 13:06.21; 5. Mountain Lakes 13:19.33; 6. Chatham 13:20.81.
Shuttle hurdles: 1. Morris Knolls (Juliana DeCongelio, Emma Ramos, Sara Pietraszewski, Wendy Graziani) 1:04.83; 2. Morris Hills 1:04.54; 3. Whippany Park 1:09.12; 4. Roxbury 1:10.03; 5. Randolph 1:11.01; 6. Pequannock 1:13.33.
400-meter hurdles: 1. Roxbury (Tatiyana Sewall, Ava Weah, Faith Hurtado) 3:28.68; 2. Chatham 3:33.2; 4. Morristown 3:33.36; 4. Randolph 3:34.57; 5. Morris Hills 3:37.79; 6. Pequannock 3:38.08.
High jump: 1. Morristown (Nawel Ibazatene Lefebvre, Kayla Ewing, Adriana Hummer) 15-2; 2. Madison 14-2; 3. Morris Knolls 14-0; 4. Whippany Park 13-8; 5. Villa Walsh 13-0.25.
Long jump: 1. West Morris (Georgia Hostler, Marisa Krentz, Caroline Sardeira) 45-8.5; 2. Parsippany 45-0; 3. Randolph 44-9.75; 4. Madison 44-1; 5. Whippany Park 43-11.75; 6. Morris Knolls 43-10.5.
Triple jump: 1. Whippany Park (Riley Wright-Phillips, Nicolette Liloia, Alana Cassidy) 101-5.5; 2. Madison 95-4.75; 3. Morris Hills 94-7; 4. Morris Knolls 94-2; 5. Villa Walsh 92-5; 6. Chatham 89-10.
Pole vault: 1. Morris Hills (Gianna Ledford, Julianna Kuber, Jackie Sheldon) 26-6; 2. Madison 26-0; 3. Villa Walsh 25-6; 4. Roxbury 23-6; 5. Pequannock 23-0; 6. Morris Knolls 23-0.
Shot put: 1. Morris Knolls (Adair Para, Mollie O’Connor, Madelyn Rokicki) 91-3.25; 2. West Morris 85-7.75; 3. Mount Olive 82-10.25; 4. Morristown Beard 82-9.75; 5. Morris Hills 81-8.75; 6. Randolph 81-8.5.
Discus: 1. Roxbury (Violet Stein, Ryanna Morel, Sydney Malakuskie) 278-3; 2. Morris Knolls 270-6; 3. West Morris 255-1; 4. Pequannock 243-1; 5. Morristown Beard 242-6; 6. Mount Olive 242-1.
Javelin: 1. Morris Knolls (Angelica Rua, Elizabeth Boyle, Abigail Gerdes) 252-8; 2. Villa Walsh 245-3; 3. Randolph 245-1; 4. Roxbury 225-1; 5. Chatham 223-4; 6. Kinnelon 211-7.
Boys results
Team scores: Morris Hills 86; Morristown 72; Mount Olive 49; Delbarton 44; Boonton 40; Madison 30; West Morris and Morris Knolls 28; Roxbury 22; Chatham 21; Randolph 20; Morristown Beard 15; Whippany Park 10; Mendham 9; Montville 7; Dover 5; Mountain Lakes 2; Parsippany Hills 1
4×100: 1. Madison (Niam Jacobs, Jake Witte, Javier Izzo, Rohan Tucker) 43.5; 2. West Morris 43.94; 3. Morristown 44.42; 4. Delbarton 44.57; 5. Chatham 44.81; 6. Mount Olive 44.83.
4×200: 1. Mount Olive (Colby Batsch, Bryce David, Nicholas Foley, Cadence Rupprecht) 1:32.21; 2. West Morris 1:32.52; 3. Morristown Beard 1:32.98; 4. Madison 1:33.19; 5. Morris Hills 1:33.3; 6. Delbarton 1:33.8.
4×400: 1. Morris Hills (Sebastian Matos, Alexander Gimenez, Camilo Sepulveda, Hunter Iorio) 3:29.68; 2. Morristown 3:32.13; 3. Boonton 3:33.55; 4. Dover 3:34.05; 5. West Morris 3:34.1; 6. Randolph 3:36.33.
4×800: 1. Mount Olive (Santhosh Yanumula, Noah Pizzirusso, Cole Shilley, Ryan Foley) 8:08.84; 2. Morris Hills 8:13.73; 3. Morristown 8:17.44; 4. Chatham 8:18.58; 5. Delbarton 8:31.21; 6. Mendham 8:37.53.
4×1,600: 1. Morris Hills (Nolan Ribiero, Alan Liu, Luke O’Callaghan, Nicholas Falcone) 18:16.61; 2. Morris Knolls 18:22.17; 3. Morristown 18:41.82; 4. Delbarton 19:03.67; 5. West Morris 19:04.57; 6. Chatham 19:40.69.
Sprint medley: 1. Morris Hills (Darien Vasquez-Aguilar, Ben Wans, Alexander Gimenez, Hunter Iorio) 3:39.63; 2. Morristown Beard 3:42.89; 3. Delbarton 3:44.06; 4. Roxbury 3:44.48; 5. Boonton 3:49.15; 6. Morristown 3:49.16.
Distance medley: 1. Randolph (Jacob Conti, Christian Velasco, Russell Goldstein, Kennan Byers) 10:33.5; 2. Morris Hills 10:55.65; 3. Morris Knolls 11:00.14; 4. Montville 11:01.74; 5. West Morris 11:08.25; 6. Morristown 11:11.38.
Shuttle hurdles: 1. Mount Olive (Ethan Beachem, Nicholas Foley, Baraa Mahmoud, Cadence Rupprecht) 1:04.04; 2. Morris Hills 1:04.43; 3. Morris Knolls 1:090.11; 4. Madison 1:09.62; 5. Randolph 1:10.38; 6. Delbarton 1:11.83.
400-meter hurdles: 1. Morristown (Matthew Kot, Nathan Enelamah, Zachary McQueeney) 2:58.22; 2. Morris Hills 2:59; 3. Mount Olive 3:00.17; 4. Delbarton 3:06.59; 5. Chatham 3:10.21; 6. Parsippany Hills 3:14.39.
High jump: 1. Boonton (Patrick Piechowski, Walter Hedblom-Green, Dawood Adeel) 18-3; 2. Morristown 17-8; 3. Morris Hills 17-6; 4. Delbarton 16-4; 5. Mountain Lakes 16-3; 6. Randolph 16-0.
Long jump: 1. Delbarton (Aidan Ponzio, Giovanni Bushell, Brendan Martin) 59-1.25; 2. Madison 59-0; 3. Boonton 58-3; 4. Morris Knolls 57-8; 5. Chatham 56-5.5; 6. Dover 56-1.5.
Triple jump: 1. Morris Hills (Lajohn Alexis, Stephen Shih, Jeremiah Au) 112-11; 2. Mendham 115-6; 3. Boonton 115-4.5; 4. Madison 115-2.5; 5. Morristown 111-11; 6. Delbarton 110-9.5.
Pole vault: 1. Whippany Park (Max Guerard, Sean Gilbert, Richard Yu) 32-0; 2. Chatham 29-0; 3. Morristown 28-6.
Shot put: 1. Roxbury (Matthew Donnelly, Jonah Kali, Liam Schlam) 131-10; 2. Morristown 129-8.5; 3. Morris Hills 128-1; 4. Randolph 123-7; 5. Montville 117-9; 6. Delbarton 116-6.
Discus: 1. Morristown (Gavin Janosy, Dominick Ruglio, Kadin Hackett) 375-1; 2. Roxbury 359-3; 3. West Morris 349-3; 4. Mount Olive 339-11; 5. Chatham 377-8; 6. Montville 325-9.
Javelin: 1. Boonton (Walter Hedblom-Green, Antonio De La Rosa, Phoenix LaCorte) 461-0; 2. Mount Olive 386-5; 3. Delbarton 376-11; 4. Morris Knolls 364-2; 5. Randolph 363-1; 6. Morristown Beard 352-2.
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morris County Relays track and field 2026