Boys Track and Field: PVI's Tarantino, Haddon Twp's Mulligan impress; Camden, Highland earn county titles

Antonio Tarantino has already been in the spotlight when it comes to the 200m dash. Patrick Mulligan may soon earn that spot in the 3200m race.  The two athletes put on electric performances in their respective events at the 2018 Camden County Championships. Tarantino, a senior at Paul VI who already had the NJ#2 time at 21.59 heading into Saturday's meet, lowered his PR by winning the event in 21.48.

The only athlete that Tarantino is chasing in the in-state 200m rankings is Franklin's Mario Heslop, who ran a 20.97 at the Skyland Conference Championships earlier this week. But with some more 200m races on the horizon and the NJSIAA postseason quickly approaching, Tarantino feels he won't be too far behind for long.

“I feel pretty good about it, I think I should be around the low 21 (seconds), high 20s but it’s still early," Tarantino said. "I haven’t run 200s every single meet so I’m expecting to hit 20.5 or around there by the end of the year.”

Tarantino also won the 100m dash in 11.14 and was a part of Paul VI's winning 4x400m relay team that raced to a 3:23.47 time.

While Tarantino was already among the top athletes in his event, Mulligan leapt up the N.J. rankings in the two-mile event as the Haddon Township senior ran an NJ#5 9:26.36. That performance obliterated his former personal best, which was 9:40.31 set at last year's Groups championships.

He also ran 9:34.45 at the indoor Meet of Champions in the 3200m where he placed ninth.

The race started out too slow for Mulligan's liking, forcing him to the front but giving him that edge of leaving plenty in the tank for a final kick. Mulligan's time was just shy of the small school meet record of 9:25.74, which was set in 2011 by Haddonfield's Tim Malloy.

“I didn’t know how fast it was going to start out," Mulligan said. "It went out a little slower than I hoped so I had to get to the front. The pace was fine, I just knew I would have plenty left at the end if it kept at that pace.

“Last night I was looking at the best times in this meet and I saw the record was 9:25. I knew I could hit that. I was just off today but I can definitely hit that. The goal was to go under 9:28 and see how much further I could go from there.”

CAMDEN CLAIMS COUNTY CROWN
In a meet filled with close finishes in the team standings, Camden had the widest margin of victory by winning the small school team title by a seven-point difference. The Panthers earned 85 points with second-place Haddonfield following with 78.

Both JaJuan Hudson and Damon Rice doubled up with two gold medals to help Camden to the team title. Hudson claimed the top spot in the 110m hurdles, crossing the finish line in 15.29 and recording a 21-10 leap to win the long jump.

Rice tallied a pair of gold medals as well and placed in one more event. He won the 200m dash in 22.57 and placed first in the 400m dash in 49.90 with teammate Dontae Guest following in 51.02 for second.

Corey Palmer added to the Panthers' pile of gold, winning the high jump by clearing 6-0. The 4x400m relay team capped off all that winning, running a 3:23.11 for the fastest time of the day.

HIGHLAND WINS LARGE SCHOOL TITLE IN TIGHT RACE
The margin for error in the large school team standings was slim as Highland edged out three other teams with 80 or more team points in Timber Creek (92.5), Sterling (88.5) and Paul VI (82), tallying 94 points to claim the team title.

Highland found plenty of success in the distance event thanks to Ben Woodward, Yarayah Hawkins and Nuriddin Wise. Woodward won both the 1600m and 3200m events with respective times of 4:23.56 and 9:35.13 with Wise claiming gold in the 800m race off a 1:58.26 run. Hawkins secured silver in both the 800m and 1600m events with respective times of 1:58.68 and 4:24.31 as Chris Corsaro placed fourth in the 3200m run in 10:03.02.

Floyd Whitaker found just as much success in the field events. Whitaker earned first place in the triple jump with a 42-8 leap and cleared 5-10 in the high jump to earn second place. In that same event, teammate Kasim Randall-Dale followed in third place as he finished at 5-8.

Devon Starks had the top discus throw. Starks fouled on three of his four attempts but his third, a throw he launched 148-2 feet, was plenty to claim gold in the event.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BOYS CAMDEN COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
• The Haddon Heights tandem of Cameron Kee and Te'Sean Pressley held down the small school 400m hurdles with the duo taking the top two spots. Kee won the race in 55.94 with Pressley following in 56.82.

• Camden Catholic claimed the top two spots in the small school 100m dash as well. Tirek Austin-Cave paced the pack and won the event in 11.38 as teammate Marcus Hillman was right behind him, running 11.57 for second place.

• Timber Creek sophomore Tarheeb Still hadn't cleared the minute mark in the 400m hurdles heading into this season. That changed Saturday as he ran a 55.92 to win the 400m hurdles large school run, shaving just under five seconds off his former PR.

• Connor Melko of Bishop Eustace had the fastest 1600m time of the day. Melko won the small school mile run in 4:23.05 while Camden Catholic's Richard Castaneda earned second in that race with a time of 4:24.59.

• Seamus Glennon of Haddonfield broke the 170-foot mark in the javelin and earned a spot among the top 20 N.J. performances in doing so as he launched a 171-1 throw to win the small school event.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

Small school
Camden 85; Haddonfield 78; Bishop Eustace 63; Camden Catholic 53; Haddon Township 52; Haddon Heights 50.5; Collingswood 36; Overbrook 26.5; Audubon 20; Gloucester City 19; Lindenwold 11; Gloucester Catholic 2

Large school
Highland Regional 94; Timber Creek 92.5; Sterling 88.5; Paul VI 82; Winslow 61; Cherry Hill East 24; Triton 18; Eastern 15; Camden County Tech 10; Cherry Hill West 8