Liggins Group IV 800m State Champion

The Boys' Winter Track Team's undefeated streak came to an end at the Group IV Championship Meet (2/15/19) where the Vikings placed 3rd, but not for lack of effort. Miles Liggins continued his undefeated streak in the 800m, winning the Group IV State Championship in the event in convincing fashion. Malcolm Yarber placed 3rd in the 55m hurdles, running a PR time of 7.63 in prelims, only .02 away from tying the school record. Ola Porbeni ran a PR time of 6.56 to place 4th in the 55m dash. Javier Santiago jumped well clearing 14'0" for the second straight meet, earning a wildcard entry to the State Meet of Champions. Last year 14'0" won the event, but only placed 7th this year in a stacked field. Vidhur Polum also finished 7th in the 3200m, and also earned a wildcard to the SMOC. The 4x400m relay team earned a wildcard birth to the SMOC as well. Joe Carlson had a big PR in the shot put throwing 47'4.75", falling short of a wildcard, but is the number 2 returning underclassman in the event.

Vikings Continue Epic Season With State Sectional Championship!!!

The Boys' Winter Track Team continued its unbelievable run with a State Sectional Championship this Saturday (2/2/19). The team received contributions from all event groups, proving why they are the top track and field team in Central New Jersey, and one of the best teams in the state. Miles Liggins came through as usual, opening the scoring with a 2nd place finish in the 400m, winning the 800m, and anchoring a 4x400 team running with three alternates (Jason Cordova, Archit Myadam, and Malcolm Yarber) to a 5th place finish. Although Miles had another outstanding meet, Javier Santiago stole the show, winning the pole vault with a school record vault of 14'6", which was a two foot personal best. Going into the meet, Javier was not even seeded in the top six, but cleared height after height. After GMC Champion Jake Stocki of East Brunswick missed his final attempt at 14'6", Javier was guaranteed at least a share of 1st place, but then stunned the crowd as he cleared on his final attempt for the outright win.

The win in pole vault came at a crucial time as it appeared Freehold Township might build an insurmountable lead, but the Vikings had new life with Javier's 10 points. Ola Porbeni would add 8 points with his clutch 2nd place finish in the 55m dash. In a matter of minutes, the team quickly turned a 9 point deficit into a 9 point lead. Knowing illness/injuries had depleted the normal 4x400m relay team, the 3200m race became a pivotal event. On paper, Freehold was predicted to score 14 points based on seeds, versus 2 points for SB, a result that would all but clinch the meet for the Patriots. Knowing what was on the line, Brandon Diaz and Vidhur Polam ran the races they needed to run, placing 2nd (Polam) and 3rd (Diaz) and scoring 14 points to clinch the victory for the Vikings.

Other medal winning performances included Malcolm Yarber placing 2nd in the 55m hurdles, with Josh Cella placing 6th. Joe Carlson had a strong performance in the shot put, placing 6th with a PR throw of 46'6.5". The high jumpers had a solid effort as usual, but felt the curse of CJ Group IV, falling short of medaling. Dante Bailey jumped 6'0" and will most likely be the only athlete in the state to not move on with a 6'0" jump due to the strength of our section.

The Vikings will look to match the feat of the 2014 Winter Track Team and complete a perfect season by winning the Group IV State title on February 15th.

Liggins Wins Ocean Breeze Invitational 800m in NJ #1 1:54.67, Named Most Outstanding Performance of the Meet

Miles Liggins continued his sensational season, winning the 800m race at the Ocean Breeze Invitational track meet, breaking the meet record with a time of 1:54.67. For his performance, Miles won the Most Outstanding Performance of the Meet for a runner. His time is the fastest in NJ this season, and currently number 3 in the US! This time qualifies Miles to run at the New Balance Indoor National Championship meet. It was also the 3rd fastest indoor 800m time in GMC history, and is approaching Coach Murray's school record! Also medaling were Vidhur Polam who placed 4th in the sophomore 800m race, and Iraj Nair placed 5th in the freshman shot put.

Boys Win Group IV State Relay Championship!!!

The Boys' Winter Track team won their third straight championship meet of the season Wednesday night (1/23/19), capturing the Group IV State Relay Championship. The Vikings had their ups and downs throughout the meet, but never gave up as they held onto their lead in an exciting finish, narrowly edging out defending champs East Orange 32-30. The boys shuttle hurdle relay team of Malcolm Yarber, Josh Cella, Saul Santiago, and Khayri Smith started off the scoring by winning the event in a school record time of 30.94 (also tied the Middlesex County Record), which is currently the 3rd best time in the state and the 6th best time in the country! The boys high jump team of Aravindh Subramaniam and Dante Bailey had clutch performances to take 2nd in the high jump and an important 8 points. The Vikings won their second event of the meet, capturing gold in the sprint medley relay with Adam Gorka (400m), Ola Porbeni (200m), Davis Wittenberg (200m) and Miles Liggins (800m). The SMR team's time of 3:36.92 qualifies them to compete at the New Balance Indoor Nationals meet, along with the shuttle hurdle relay who also qualified.

The Vikings had a 6 point lead on East Orange going into the final race of the meet, the 4x400m relay, where East Orange was the number one seed. A fourth place finish would guarantee at least a tie for the championship, and the team of Gorka, Cella, Wittenberg, and Liggins didn't disappoint, placing 4th in the event. The big story of the race was an upset victory for fellow GMC team Piscataway over East Orange, which clinched an outright championship for the Vikings, their third Group IV Relay Championship in the last seven years.

Boys Win GMC Championship Meet!!!

The Boys' Winter Track Team dominated the GMC Championship Meet Saturday night (1/12/19), scoring in every event and winning by 18.83 points! Miles Liggins and Adam Gorka led off the scoring in the opening race, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 400m dash. Amael Audibert had an exciting finish to place third in the 1600m, with Sameer Mustaqali placing 6th. Malcolm Yarber claimed the silver medal and Josh Cella took 3rd to pick up another 14 points in the 55m hurdles. Miles Liggins captured the only gold medal for the Vikings in a wild come-from-behind victory in the 800m race. Ola Porbeni had one of the biggest surprise performances of the night, finishing 2nd in the 55m dash. All three competitors placed in the 3200m race, which officially sealed the victory, with Vidhur Polam finishing 2nd, Brandon Diaz 4th, and Dario Epifania finshing 6th. The 4x400m relay team of Davis Wittenberg, Jason Cordova, Archit Myadam, and Adam Gorka capped off the running events with a 5th place finish. In the field, all three high jumpers won medals. Aravindh Subramaniam had a PR jump of 6'0" to place 3rd, edging out teammate Dante Bailey on a tie-break, who placed 4th (also jumping 6'0"). Majid Howard-Baker tied for 6th with a jump of 5'8". In the pole vault Javier Santiago took 3rd, Kedar Padki tied for 5th, and Jared Budhu had a PR jump of 11' to just miss scoring. Joe Carlson placed 5th in the shot put with a throw of 45'10.25", and Travis Bush made finals with a PR throw of 43'2". The Vikings had an astonishing 19 different medal winners in the meet, scoring in every event and placing multiple athletes in six of the ten events!

Boys' Team Wins GMC Relays

The Boys' Winter Track team had an exciting finish to win the GMC Relays Championship on 1/5. Gold medals were won by the shuttle hurdle relay team (Yarber, Cella, S. Santiago, Smith), the high jump relay (Bailey, Subramanian), and the sprint medley team (Cordova, Porbeni, Budhu, Liggins). The meet came down to the 4x400m relay. Down 2 points, the Vikings had to beat East Brunswick to tie them for first place, and if EB finished more than one place behind, SB would be outright champions. Adam Gorka opened with a strong lead-off leg, handing off in the lead, Josh Cella and Davis Wittenburg maintained a 2nd place position to Piscataway, and Miles Liggins closed out the relay, easily beating East Brunswick to clinch, at worst, a tie. A controversial finish caused by an impedance to the East Brunswick anchor resulted in them having another opportunity to re-run and a chance to still tie for first place.

Frosh Win Egg Invitational For 2nd Straight Year

The Boys' Freshman team won the Egg Invitational Freshman Team Championship for the 2nd straight year. The frosh distance medley of Sahil Sheth (1200m), Sam Yuzbashev (400m), Wan Ye (800m), and Danny Zheng (1600m) placed first in the event. Wan took home a total of 4 medals, also placing 2nd in the 55m hurdles and 4x200, and 4th in the 300m race. Amit Vankadhara won the gold medal in the high jump, jumping 5'0" Karthik Yagnamurthy placed 2nd in the 300m, as well as in the 4x200m relay, along with Ryan Nartey, Wan Ye, and Eric Li. Danny Zheng won silver, placing 2nd in the 1000m run. Also placing in the 1000m was Sahil Sheth (4th) and Pranav Perumal (6th). In the frosh shot put, both Iraj Nair and Gaurav Roychowdhury took home medals, placing 4th and 6th respectively.

Liggins Shines In Season Opener

Miles Liggins turned in a strong performance at the Bob James Invitational to open the 2018-2019 campaign. Liggins won the 800m race in 1:59.1, temporarily taking the top spot in the state for that distance. He also came back to anchor the 4x400m relay to to a first place finish with a 50.7 second split. After Mario Heslop of Franklin opened up a big lead on the third leg, Miles came from way back for the victory.

Other strong performances included the 55m hurdlers, led by Malcolm Yarber and Josh Cella. The field events had a strong meet, with multiple athletes recording indoor PRs. Javier Santiago won the pole vault, Jared Budhu and Kedar Padki placing 3rd and 4th. Joe Carlson had a big PR of 44'6" to place 6th in the shot put and Aravindh Subramaniam took 4th in the high jump, clearing 5'10".