Clinton wins 2 titles to lead West Milford at sectional track meet

Ciara Clinton earned the gold medal in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs and Julian Pierre was second in the high jump to pace the West Milford girls’ and boys’ indoor track teams in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 championships on Saturday afternoon at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Clinton, a senior, ran a 5:11.67 to win the 1600 and a 11:12.05 to win the 3200.

Other top 10 place-winners on the girls side were Brenna Traverso (seventh, 800-meter run in 2:33.53), Grace Almaleh (seventh in pole vault in 6-6), Arianna Morran (eighth in shot put, 25-10.25) and the foursome of Ava Brock, Lola Novak, Addyson Seidner and Gianna White (ninth, 4x400 in 4:45.66).

Pierre, a senior, had an effort of 6-0 to take the silver medal in the high jump.

The other boys place-winners in the top 10 included Noah Diodonet (sixth, 400-meter dash in 53.68), Jonathan Andrade (fourth, 55-meter hurdles in 8:30) and the quartet of Jonathan Andrade, Sebastian Patino, Pierre and Diodonet (ninth in 4x400 in 3:44.91).

Girls Basketball

Sara Wardlaw scored a team-high 11 points and Katie Ralicki added 10 points to lead a balanced attack as 11th-seeded West Milford earned a 48-45 overtime victory over sixth-seeded Passaic Valley in the second round of the Passaic County Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Little Falls.

The Lady Highlanders have now advanced to the quarterfinal round and will meet third-seeded Passaic Tech on Saturday, Feb. 14, in Wayne at 11 a.m.

West Milford (6-12) outscored Passaic Valley, 7-4, in the extra session after the teams were deadlocked at 41-41 through regulation.

The remainder of the Lady Highlanders’ offense included Sarah Benowitz (six points), Delaney Piecuch (seven points), Ava Scrimenti (nine points) and Sarah Foley (five points).

West Milford had been defeated by Passaic Valley, 42-28, in a regular season game on Jan. 15 at home.

Before its PCT quarterfinal, the Lady Highlanders will play host to Wayne Valley on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.

Boys Basketball

Logan Deaver had a game-high 16 points and John DelVecchio added 14 points as West Milford secured a 52-50 victory over Pope John on Saturday afternoon in West Milford.

The Highlanders also received nine points from Josh Moreno, eight points from Marcus Caines and five points from Blake Tyburczy to round out the offense.

West Milford (5-15) will play at Wayne Valley on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. before playing host to Park Ridge on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m.

Ice Hockey

Timmy Riche connected three times and added three assists, Joe Barroqueiro added two goals and three assists and Max Diee also scored twice but eighth-seeded West Milford bowed to top-seeded Ridgewood, 9-7, in the first round of the Big North Gold Cup on Friday, Feb. 6 at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne.

Die and Riche each found the back of the net in the third period as West Milford erased a 7-5 deficit but Ridgewood’s William LoSauro scored twice to propel Ridgewood, the state’s No. 12 ranked team.

Riche, a senior, now has seven hat tricks this winter and 12 for his career.

The Highlanders (9-11) finished a perfect 6-0 in winning the Big North Stripes Division championship under head coach Christopher Scarpa.