The Verona High School girls track team had a record breaking day at the Essex County Track & Field Relay Championships on Saturday at the Jersey City Armory.
The team of Angel Barkley, Jessica Williams, Maggie Ashley and Julia Ashley captured first place, while setting a new school record in a blistering time of 4:18.7, which The Star-Ledger listed as the eighth fasted time in the nation as of Saturday. The Ledger called Julia Ashley’s performance in the sprint medley relay “one of the biggest highlights” of the meet. Ashley, who is headed to North Carolina on a soccer scholarship, missed both the indoor and outdoor track seasons last year due to a knee injury.
The same foursome stepped onto the track about 90 minutes later to take second place and another school record in a very exciting 4 x 400m race in a time of 4:10.7 Julia Ashley anchored both teams with the incredible splits of 2:18.8 in the 800m & 58.9 in the 400m.
Angel Barkley and Alex Luehs placed fourth in team high jump with a combined jump of 8′ 9″. The team of Marwa Elessary, Dasha Yakhnis, Carli Lavoie and Karishma Parekh took fifth place in The Frosh 4 x 800m in 12:42.
Overall the girls finished fifth in a field of 22 teams, which Coach Gene Leporati called “an impressive accomplishment for a small school”.
Photo copyright Treesh Ramsthaler. Used by permission.
