The last time the SBP track team won the Essex County Relay Championship was in 2012, when Edward Cheserek’13 anchored the team. At the Jersey City Armory on January 3, every member walked away with a medal and the championship returned home to the Hive.

The first event, the Distance Medley Relay set the bar high. Senior Scott Bamberg, senior Stephen Valvano, UDII Adrian Ceballo, and freshman Ronald Kigen took first place with a time of 10:48.

“Stephen made a wonderful move on West Orange and overtook 2nd place and handed off to Adrian for the 800,” Scott said. “He ran excellently today and passed Millburn’s 800 guy with one lap to go and we handed off to Ronald for the finishing 1600.”

The freshman team continued the momentum and took first in the Freshman Boys 4x800m. Demere Kearney, Michael Melendez, Jevon Varela, and  Jalen Cabrera won with a time of 9:25.

The last first place finish of the day came from the Sprint Medley Relay. UDII Byron Simmons, senior Stephen Valvano, senior Jared Lampley, and freshman Isiah Sanchez ran an impressive 3:42.

In addition to the team’s extraordinary performance, senior Jared Lampley stepped up and competed four times that day. Jared medaled in the boys 4x55m Shuttle Hurdles, 4x400m, High Jump, and the Sprint Medley Relay. Out of the 46 points the track team scored, Jared assisted with 24.

Distance Coach David Alfano reflected on Jared’s performance. “Jared is a calm and purposeful athlete,” he said. “He knows how to train and compete on the highest level and showed this at Essex County Relays.”

Sprint Coach Sharon Allen said the Essex County victory was only the first step in the team’s goals. “Winning Essex County Relays was great, but we have bigger fish to fry,” she said. “Our guys are believing now that we can compete at a very high level. Essex County is no joke!”