Track: Highlights from the first major meet weekend

The North Jersey high school track season got off to a rousing start last week with the traditional Season Opener Invitational at River Dell and the Pawlowski Relays at the Jacob Brown Track at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood on Saturday, April 7.

But much of the attention focused on brilliant performances by some of North Jersey's best athletes in meets in Metuchen, Arcadia, California and on a rare Sunday meet in Hasbrouck Heights.

Shue wins both throws in dramatic fashion at Arcadia

Benji Shue has done a lot of things in his sensational high school career. The Bergen Catholic has shattered the Bergen County discus record that stood for more than 40 years several times, earned All-American honors in both the shot and discus and became the first North Jersey athlete to throw the discus more than 200 feet.

But until Saturday night at the Arcadia Invitational, one of the oldest and largest high school track meets in the country, he had never come from behind on his last throw to win a major title.

The boys discus competition featured seven finalists throwing over 178 feet, but two throwers, Shue and fellow junior McKay Madsen of Clovis North in California separated themselves early with Shue throwing 191-9 and 193-5 on his first two throws and Madsen grabbing the lead with a then national leading throw of 196-11 on his third throw and extending it to 197-5 on his fifth throw.

"I was throwing well (the only competitor with six fair throws, the lowest 188-1) but he got two big throws out there and I needed one.''

Shue stepped into the ring as he has thousands of times in his career and let loose a throw that hit the unofficial 200 foot line. It didn't take long for the distance to be announced, 200 feet three inches, the best throw in the nation this year and just seven inches away from best throw ever, eight days into the New Jersey outdoor season.

"I came from behind in winning a couple of my age group championships but never on my last throw until now,'' said Shue, who only had to wait a minute or so before Madsen fouled his final throw to claim the title.

Three hours later, Shue added a second straight shot victory with similar consistency and less drama.

Madsen grabbed the lead on his third throw with a personal best throw of 63-6 but Shue answered right back with a toss of 63-9 1/4, just 8 3/4 inches from his personal best. Shue's last three throws were at least a foot further than any other competitor, and Shue grabbed his second straight Field Events MVP award.

Despite his double victory and the second 200 foot discus throw of his career, Shue still is seeking more from himself.

"My technique still feels iffy in both the shot and discus,'' he says. "But it's very encouraging to be throwing well and still have things to fix.''

Paneque leads Penn Relays Qualifier with state leading performance

Since his freshman year, Demarest's Liam Paneque has been one of the state's best combination jumpers, grabbing huge performances and major wins in the high, long and triple jump.

Now a junior, Paneque has joined his classmate Shue as the top performer in New Jersey and one of the top jumpers in the nation, securing his spot in the Penn Relays individual long jump with a personal best and school record leap of 23-6 at the Hasbrouck Heights Penn Relays qualifier on April 7.

Paneque's jump moved him into 14th place on the all-time Bergen County list led by former All-Americans Corey Crawford of Indian Hills and Rutgers (25-0 1/2) and Darius Pemberton of Hackensack and the University of Houston (24-11). 2019 NCAA champion Zach Bazile of St. Joseph Regional and Ohio State (24-1) is fifth on the list.

Paneque is the seventh seed among 19 jumpers selected on Tuesday to compete in the boys long jump, scheduled for April 26 at 9:30 a.m. The field includes athletes from nine states, Jamaica and Trinidad. Bergen Catholic senior Jason Lessieu grabbed the last qualifying spot, finishing second behind Paneque with a personal best 22-9 1/2 jump Sunday, breaking the school record of 22-3 1/2 set by Ed Whalen in 1967, one of the oldest school records in Bergen County history.

Paneque also won the triple jump with a leap of 44-4. Lessieu was second with a jump of 43-11 1/4.

Three Bergen County girls made bold attempts to make the long jump field but Lexi Samperi of Hasbrouck Heights (18-4 1/4), Grace McQueeney of River Dell (18-0 1/2) and Julia Tozduman of Lyndhurst (17-11 1/4) came up short of earning selection.

Abby Romero of IHA won the triple jump with a school record and personal best of 37-8 1/2, but came up 3 1/2 inches short of earning a berth, although she moved into the top 25 all time in Bergen County history.

Giordano, Keating, Sobilo, Struble also headed to Penn individuals

Shue is the top-seed in the Penn Relays discus, after finishing third (and top American) and fourth the last two years. His closest competitors appear to be Chad Hendricks of Munro College (Jamaica) and Ashton Hearn of Christian Brothers High School of Memphis, Tennessee, who threw 187-10 last weekend and is the Tennessee state indoor shot champion. Hendricks has thrown 195-4 with the U-19 discus, which is slightly heavier than the U.S. high school implement.

Defending state and New Balance Nationals champion Layla Giordano of Old Tappan is the top seed in the women's discus off of her 170-4 national winning throw last spring. Najhada Seymoure of Excelsior of Jamaica threw 161-6 last month to win the Jamaican high school national championships. IHA junior Julia Sobilo also qualified for the event on the strength of her 128-2 throw last June, placing her fifth in the New Jersey State Meet of Champions.

Two other juniors also qualified for their events, with Pompton Lakes star Owen Keating making the pole vault after clearing a Passaic County record 15 feet during the winter. He will be the first Cardinal boy ever to qualify. His sister Emma, now a freshman at Rutgers, was sixth in last year's girls pole vault.

Henry Struble of Pequannock threw 163-7 last spring in the discus and will become the Panthers' first Penn Relays individual contestant.

Hasbrouck Heights sweeps team titles at Season Opener.

Hasbrouck Heights seems ready to attempt to repeat its girls state group 1 title and perhaps compete for a boys crown after impressive opening weekend winds at the Season Opener Invitational, held at River Dell H.S. April 6.

The girls won seven events, including four of the seven field events, both hurdle relays and the 4-x-100 and won the overall title, 110-66 over large school winner Bloomfield with West Milford third with 50 points.

The Aviators, led by the 1-2 punch of Elliot Eddy and Samantha Russo in the throws, won the shot put with a combined distance of 97-9 1/2 and the discus at 293-3. The latter performance cracks the all-time top 40 in Bergen County history.

West Milford took wins in the 4-x-800, 4-x-1,600 and distance medley events, showing the distance strength the Highlanders had in winning the Passaic County cross-country championships in the fall. The Highlanders' 4-x-1,600 team ripped off a 23:12.0, 17th all-time in Passaic County history.

The boys won just four events but swept all three throws and defeated large school winner Bloomfield 99-61 with Teaneck third with 50 points. Dwight Morrow had a good sprint double, winning the 4-x-100 (44.0) and 4-x-200 (1:32.5).

Passaic Tech sweeps Pawlowski Relays

With the Doc Boverini Passaic County Relays looming this weekend, Passaic Tech tuned up for defense of its boys and girls A division titles with impressive victories at the meet, named for the late Ridgewood hurdler who died tragically in this freshman year of college.

The boys won four events and placed in the top three in eight other events to score a 134-116 1/2 win over Old Tappan, which swept the three throws, won three other events and tied for wins in the high jump and pole vault.

Kevin Ortiz and Joel Perez were part of the winning 4-x-100 and long jump teams for the Bulldogs, while Old Tappan got four winning contributions from Goran Saric in the 4-x-200, 4-x-400, shot put and shuttle hurdles and three each from Aidan Nally, Evan Brooks and Michael Micelli.

Leonia edged Emerson, 37-34, for the small school title, mostly on the strength of a 4-x-1,600 win and a third place finish in the distance medley.

The PCT girls also relied on depth, winning four events with Calyse Villaneuva, Casey Noonan and Rena Rowland earning a pair of gold each and scoring seven other top three finishes to beat host Ridgewood, 134-94, holding out some of its best athletes.

Dwight-Englewood won the small schools girls title, 43-37 over Westwood, with a win in the long jump and a second in the triple jump.

Top field performances went to Ortiz in the boys long jump (20-0 1/2), Noah Thomas of Dwight-Englewood (41-8 1/2 in the triple jump and 5-10 in the high jump); Jack Small of Old Tappan (54-2 shot, 152-6 discus), Brooks (149-3 javelin) and Eliot Ramos of Ridgefield Park (11-6 in the pole vault).

Girls top field honors went to Olyvia Burrell of Emerson in the long jump (15-9 1/2). Villaneuva in the triple jump (34-4), Brooke Wichmann of Westwood (5-2 high jump), Giordano in the shot (37-7) and discus (128-10), Allie Tuite of Old Tappan (10-6 pole vault) and Sadie Valentin of Paramus (97-6 javelin).

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ track: first major meet weekend