The Livingston High School boys’ track and field team started their February vacation with record-breaking performances at the Garden State Invitation on Friday, February 18. Held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, it was the team’s last regular season invitational. Many of the athletes finished with season’s best performances, and two school records were broken.Co-captain Matthew Ho and Ray Oji got the boys started in the 55 meter hurdles, the first event on the inside of the oval. “The two have battled all season in a friendly competition to decide the team’s top hurdler,” explained coach Nancy Petryna. Oji finished first for Livingston with a personal best time of 8.21 and a third place finish overall. Ho also raced well, crossing the line at 8.43 for a fifth place finish. Also competing were ninth graders Kondwani Lwamba (10.00), Nicholas Siao (10.32), and junior Lanz Canent (10.39).On the oval, the 1,600 meter runners were first up. Co-captain Kyle Viteri raced in a challenging heat but finished strongly in his final two laps with a time of 5:01.99. Shane Lyons turned in his season’s best performance, trimming more time off his previous race with a time of 5:07.71. Max Israel also finished with a personal best 5:18.94.Ethan Wang led the 55 meter sprinters, his specialty event, with a time of 7.00 to finish 23rd out of over 100 competitors. Also sprinting were Brandon Dong (7.05), William Sun (7.12), Quinn Devlin (7.34), Siao (7.50), Varun Sohal (7.53), George Carr (7.54), and Lwamba (7.65).After finishing his 55 meter race, Sohal hustled over to the starting line to race the 400 meter dash. He turned in a season’s best time of 58.06.In the 800 meter race, said coach Petryna, “the Lancers were looking to finish the season with strong performances, and they did not disappoint.” Ming Ma, who continues to show improvement with each race, was the first LHS runner to finish with his season’s best time of 2:13.50. Marc Lewin has also showed steady improvement and was next over the line at 2:14.94. Both boys finished in the middle of the field of almost 70 runners. Jake Ferrans crossed the line with his best time of the winter season with 2:26.04.The 200 meter runners were next on the track, with over 125 racers competing. Co-captain Krish Malhotra turned in a school record-breaking performance with a time of 23.01 to finish 13th.
