On May 2nd & 3rd, OP Track traveled to Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield, NJ to compete in the 85th Annual Union County Relay Championship. Surrounded by some of the best talent in the state, the Rams were adamant that they belonged — the team proceeded to prove this in a big way. Starting with the distance medley relay, Providence-bound Tommy Hunt showed utter dominance on the 1200-meter first leg, giving the team a ~ 2-second lead over perennial powerhouse Union Catholic. Junior Aidan O’Dowd would then have the 400m race of his life on the 2nd leg, splitting a huge personal best of 52.6 to hand off to James Nolan with a narrow lead. As one of the highest-ranking sophomores in New Jersey, Nolan would open up a gap on his 800m leg and get the stick to Declan Kelly with a slight cushion even when running behind his normal pace. On the 1600m anchor, Kelly split 4:28.8 and brought the Rams home with a huge school record and 2nd place finish. Despite inevitably getting passed by Union Catholic in the late stages of the race, OP Track’s DMR had one of the biggest performances of the meet with their time of 10:32.8 being deemed as a Milesplit USA Second Team Elite Performance, ranking #6 in New Jersey, and beating the Summit Hilltoppers DMR for the first time in quite a while.
The trio of Hunt, Nolan, and Kelly came back the following day to compete in the 4×800, this time joined by sophomore Connor Bassolino. In the 4×8, Hunt once again led wire to wire, never relinquishing the lead in his 1:55.0 split — the fastest time any Union County athlete in the 4×800 has run this season. The future friar then passed the baton to Declan Kelly who split a relay PR (2:01.2) to maintain a top-2 position. On the final two legs, Connor Bassolino (2:04.1) and James Nolan (1:58.2) out-dueled Westfield (the indoor 4×800 National Champions) to place 2nd. The time of 7:58.96 is the first time in school history an OP Relay has broken the 8-minute barrier and is the 7th fastest time in New Jersey this season. This Milesplit USA First Team Elite Performance also got the Ram’s recognized by the press, as writer Jim Lambert stated the following:
“Sometimes you have to look beyond the winners to uncover great performances. Take the Westfield girls sprint squad and Oratory’s 4×800 for example. In the boys 4×800, Oratory slashed 24 seconds off its outdoor school record in the boys 4×800 with its runner-up finish in 7:58.96. Providence-bound Tommy Hunt, one of the best runners in the state that no one talks enough about, led off with a 1:55.0. Junior Declan Kelly (2:01.2), sophomore Connor Bassolino (2:04.1), sophomore James Nolan (1:58.2) ran the final three legs. ”
What makes this even more impressive is later in the day Hunt, Nolan, & Kelly joined back with Aidan O’Dowd to run the fastest Oratory 4×400 since 2016! O’Dowd opened the relay with a respectable 53.4 split. Sophomore James Nolan (52.4 PR) and Junior Declan Kelly (53.1) advanced the Rams into 2nd place in the section, giving Tommy Hunt a chance on the anchor leg. Seeing cross-town rival Summit ~30 meters ahead, Hunt was fueled by school pride and knew what needed to be done. Taking the lead on the home stretch, Hunt split a remarkable 49.8 on the anchor, helping the Rams break the 3:30 barrier when taking 4th in the county from outside the top section! Even though this was not a school record, there was certainly no shortages of those throughout the meet. Aside from the DMR and 4×800, Brody Sheehan jumped a school record 21-3.5 in the long jump; along with Lucas Costa (18-0.5) and Kingston Nnandi (17-10.5), Sheehan led the Ram jump relay in securing a 6th place finish. Sheehan was also a part of the Rams 4×100 squad that set the school record in a time of 45.18. The 4×100 was run in the order of Emmanuel Canuto, Zade Nassoura, Charlie Spiegel, & Brody Sheehan. The Rams now look to take on the Union County Conference Championship on May 9th and 10th.
