On Monday, February 17th, the Vikings winter track team competed at the North 2 Group 1 State Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River. This is the first ever winter track season for the boys and girls. Coaches John Zukatus and Joe Cioffi were pleasantly surprised with the performance their athletes put on at groups. The first ever state group medal was acquired by PJ Sirotiak in the high jump. Clearing a personal record of 5’8”, PJ qualified for the state meet of champions, which is an outstanding accomplishment for him.
Next, a very consistent pole-vaulter, Travis Fisher tied his personal record in pole vault with a vault of 11’6”. With that, he tied for 6th place and earned a spot at meet of champions where he plans on improving his best jump. North Arlington’s last medal was attained by Danny Cordeiro.
Being the only Viking who qualified for two events, winning the 800m and 1600m at Sectionals, Cordeiro needed a strategy. He knew that trying to win both events would be a nearly impossible feat, so he opted out of the 1600m and decided to focus on the 800m. Knowing he was the #1 seed in the 800m and only the 9th seed in the 1600m, he knew he had a better shot of winning the 800m if he ran his best.
Cordeiro’s strategy worked – he won the 800m with a personal record of 1:58.29, which is also a school record. Finishing 10th overall out of 25 teams, the Vikings winter track team has a successful run up to this point. Hopefully, they can improve on their numbers at the State meet of champions on March 1st. Let’s go Vikings!