West Essex Knights Track Teams Race To All-American Status At Championships

NORTH CALDWELL, NJ — The West Essex Knights boys and girls track teams turned in a successful performance at the New Balance National Championships in Greensboro, NC earlier this month, school administrators say.

The Knights qualified 14 athletes for the New Balance National Outdoor Championships with five athletes earning the designation of First Team All-Americans, according to the West Essex Regional School District.

According to the school district, highlights from the competition included:

• “Junior Reanda Richards earned All-American honors, placing 5th in the 400 meter hurdles championship, in a time of 59.65. She finished behind Olympian Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, NJ; Deandra Young of Miami Northwest; Amira Aduma of Hampton Virginia, and Lauren Hoffman of Haymarket Virginia. Also earning All-America honors for the Knights were seniors Anthony Steets, Rani Abdulaziz, Steven Connelly, and Drew Lepre, finishing in fifth place in the shuttle hurdle relay in a time of 59.39. They finished behind Essex County neighbor East Orange Campus, Oxon Hill of Maryland, Oscar Smith of Virginia, and Hunterdon Central of New Jersey.”
• “The West Essex Girls Shuttle Team also competed in the New Balance championship division and finished in 12th place with an impressive time of 1:03.09 just missing their own school record of 1:03.06. The team includes freshman Jenna Chan, junior Julia Geiger, senior Karin Maher, and junior Reanda Richards.”
• “The boys 4 X 400 meter relay team of seniors Anthony Steets, Michael Keller, Drew Lepre, and Liam Fost, also qualified to run in the New Balance championship division. The boys ran a very respectable time of 3:22.75 finishing in the middle of their flight. In the past two indoor and outdoor seasons this talented group of seniors has won two county championships, four state sectional titles, a group championship, and has placed twice in the New Balance Nationals Indoor Championships Emerging Elite division.”
• “In the Emerging Elite Division Anthony Steets finished in 3rd place in the 400 meter hurdles behind Aaron Shirley of Oscar Smith, H.S. Virginia and Matthew Wilson of Patriot, H.S. Virginia in a season best time of 53.89 Reanda Richards finished in 4th place behind Janae Barksdale of Michigan, Nyjari McNeil of Maryland, and Kayla Hugg of Virginia, in the Emerging elite 400 meter dash in a time of 55.73.”
• “Celia White a junior, finished in 18th place in the Emerging Elite javelin throw, with a toss of 108 feet 10 inches. Also competing in the Emerging Elite division was the Knights girls 4 X 400 meter relay team of junior Alexia Perez, junior Gabriela Karch, senior Hailey Blum, and junior Reanda Richards. The girls ran an impressive time of 3:57.02 finishing as the top New Jersey team in eighth place behind teams from Virginia, Michigan,New York and Maryland.”

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Photo: West Essex Regional School District