Orange residents contribute to track team’s fine success

Photo by W.L. Bill Allen Jr./NJ Sportaction
Among the athletes who helped power the winter track contingent from Mount Saint Dominic Academy are four localites: Raina Glover, a senior from West Orange, Alana Herran, a ninth-grader from Orange, Ashlynn Field, a senior from WO, and Beatrice Beljour, a senior from Orange.

By W. L. Bill Allen, Jr.
Coorespondent
It’s been a long time since perennial power Columbia High did not win a conference championship in winter track, as the Lady Cougars dominated the field in the Iron Division of the Iron Hills Conference for many years, prior to earning the first three American Division titles in the still fledgling Super Essex Conference.
Well, as scientists love to point out, “Given enough time, everything will happen.”
However, that said, with a quartet of residents from the Oranges - Ashlynn Fields and Raina Glover of West Orange and Alana Herran and Beatrice Beljour of Orange - helping to lead the way, the wait was not all that long for the winter track contingent from Mount Saint Dominic Academy of Caldwell.
After finishing sixth in the first year of SEC/Liberty Division competition, the Lady Lions copped both the 2010 and 2011 Liberty championships and, consequently, were kicked up to the American Division for this year’s action.
“Yeah, we’re up with all the big schools now, the Columbias, West Oranges, Montclairs and Livingstons of the world,” said MSDA head coach Asim Kohli. “Yes, we’re a much smaller school, but the only important thing is that we finished first and beat Columbia and all those other big schools.”
And, yes, indeed, in the Mount’s first foray in the larger schools division of the SEC, the Lady Lions roared big time as the locals totaled 75 points and clipped Columbia, which recorded 68, at the SEC/American Division championships on Dec. 30 at the Jersey City Armory.
Rounding out the results in the American outing were Irvington in third place with 59, West Orange in fourth with 33, Livingston in fifth with 27, Bloomfield in sixth with 12, Belleville in seventh with four points and Nutley in last place with one point.
In the 4x400-meter relay, the Mount secured silver standing, as the quartet of Fields, ninth-graders Gianna Parlavecchio and Herran and senior Kathleen McCurdy totaled a time of 4:12.10.
Herran also reaped bronze in the 400, via a 1:03.17 showing, while Glover finished sixth in the shot, via a put of 31 feet, 6 inches while Beljour took ninth in that event with a 29-03 heave.
“I think, other than the fact that we won, the biggest things are that we scored in eight of the nine events, our previous high was six, and that we got points in a sprint event for the first time ever,” Kohli said.
“For a while, all our points were coming from distance running, so it’s huge that we’re becoming a much more well-rounded team,” Kohli added.