By Christopher Hunt
Nick Vena’s best throws crashed into the left side of the cage. But even those throws bounced somewhere around 68 feet. That means that even on his “off” days, Vena is the best thrower in the country.
This time the Morristown (N.J.) junior fouled 4 of his six attempts in shot put. His best won the NJ Varsity Classic at 67 feet, 8 inches.
“I think it was the circle,” Vena said. “This circle is the best one that I compete on all year. I love this circle. But it’s different and that’s not an excuse. I hate excuses. But there’s a transition to the circle.”
Vena, who broke the junior class national record two weeks ago at the Randolph Invitational (71-5), couldn’t pinpoint what went wrong Monday night, just that he knew his release was early, which caused his throws to sail left. That’s when he wasn’t having trouble staying in the circle.
“I just need someone critiquing me,” he said. “It helps to have someone telling me what I did wrong. I just have to work on that.”
Vena normally has his parents, Victor and Michelle, with him. But they let him fly solo once a season. Indoors it’s always the NJ Varsity Classic. The idea to get him used to handling competition on his own, something the junior will have to do more of in college and potentially after.
“It’s something I need to get used to anyway,” Vena said. “It’s kind of like practice. You’re out there alone and you have to figure things out for yourself.”
The Arlington girls distance medley relay knows all about figuring things out. Rachel Sorna, Victoria Sanford, Aislinn McIlvenny and Haley McMahon won the DMR in 12:00.7. Sanford and Sorna worked the whole thing out earlier in the day.
“We spend our Economics class trying to figure out every possible way that we can break 12:00,” Sanford said.
“We had a safety time, a probable time and the time we wanted,” Sorna added. “We were a little over but we’re happy with that.”
Arlington led the entire way and McMahon punctuated the win with a 4:55.9, 1600-meter anchor leg. But the girls were especially pleased with McIlvenny. Their time accounts for the third-fastest in the country this season.
“She’s a soccer player and she hates running,” Sanford said. “We’re working on her though. She’s awesome. We think she’s coming around. “
Warwick Valley finished second in the race in 12:18.6 behind Lillian Griebesland’s 4:59.8 anchor that pulled the team from seventh place.
The boys race provided more drama. With three laps left only Haddonfield’s Jonathan Vitez and Curtis Richburg of West Orange. Vitez moved with 700 meters left and looked almost like he had dropped Richburg.
But Richburg erased the gap a lap later, surging to Vitez’s shoulder. Richburg geared up to pass Vitez heading into the bell lap. But as he passed on the outside he began to squeeze down on Vitez while he tried to take over the lead. Richburg’s foot Vitez’s baton and the stick hit the track and bounced onto the infield.
“I was content to let him pass because I felt good and I thought I could go with him,” Vitez said. “But his foot it the baton. It’s disappointing because I felt really good.”
West Orange’s Jared Mason, Floyd Morgan, Josh Martin and Richburg won in 10:16.3, the top time in the country this season. Vitez lost contact with Richburg but still kept Haddonfield in second. Colin Baker, Jordan Harris, Ben Potts and Vitez finished in 10:20.5, the nation’s fourth-fastest time.
“You never want to see someone loss the baton like that,” Richburg said. “I saw him move (with three laps left) but I didn’t go with him for whatever reason. I was just feeling tired. But I hear my coaches telling me to go, so I just figured to give it what I had.”
Richburg anchored in 4:13.6.
Jen Clayton of Suffern broke her Rockland County record in the 200, winning in 24.3.
“I was aiming to run under 24,” she said. “It felt slow. I don’t think I ran the way I wanted to. I just got out slow. I could hear people off the track talking. That’s how I know that I’m running slow. I felt like I was just walking right past them.”
Clayton, who leads the country in the long jump, now tied Whitney Fountain (Christopher Columbus) for the second-best time in the nation this season. Then, n her season debut in the triple jump, Clayton cleared 39-6.25, which ties for fourth-best in the country and is the second best jump in New York State.
Franklin’s Clayton Gravesande won the boys 400 in 48.8. Amber Allen of Passiac City Tech won the girls race in 55.8. Clarkstown South senior Brendan Hallas also won the boys 800 in 1:56.5, moving ahead in the second lap and turning the race into a time trial.
“Once I took it out first I just knew I was going to be able to overcome these people,” Hallas said. “Usually when I don’t show some sort of aggressive in the race, the race can slip away just like that.”
Teammate Jessica Tobin won the girls 3,200 in 11:12.9.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.