All three township schools will be represented at NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions

Fish 4 Scores Sports

Steinert’s Lauren Miller (left) and Ashley Navarro display their medals after finishing fifth in the 3200 and 800 meter races, respectively, at Saturday’s NJSIAA Group III Track & Field Championships in Toms River. The Spartans are two of seven athletes from Hamilton Township schools to qualify for the Meet of Champions (Photo courtesy Carol Navarro).

By Rich Fisher

Fish4scores.com

Feb. 18: A total of seven athletes representing all three Hamilton Township high schools in four different events will be headed for the NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions.

The savvy seven include Steinert’s Ashley Navarro and Lauren Miller, Nottingham’s Boaz Madeus, Isaiah, Godfred Akuffo and David Viah, and Hamilton West’s Tyler Moore. All enjoyed top-six finishes at Saturday’s NJSIAA Group III Track & Field Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Navarro, a junior, finished fifth in the 800 meters in a time of 2:20.71, while Miller, a senior, was fifth in the 3200 in 11:10.21. Miller finished in a tight pack and was just four seconds from second and seven seconds from first.

Navarro had advanced to the Groups meet by winning Central Jersey Group III 800 title in 2:21.40, while Miller finished second in the same meet with a 3200 time of 11:23.85.

Madeus, a senior, finished second in the 400 meters in 50.15, and anchored the fifth-place 4×400 relay team that ran a 3:30.80. Bethea (junior), Akuffo and Viah (both seniors) ran the first three legs, respectively.

Madeus was also second in the CJ III meet in the 400 with a time of 50.54, while the relay team was second in 3:32.86.

Moore, a senior who switched from baseball to track & field just last year, was second in the 55 meters in 6.53. Moore finished second to the same runner – Neptune’s Marvin Morgan – in the CJ III meet with a 6.49.

Hamilton’s 4×400 relay team just missed qualifying by finishing seventh in the 4×400 with Moore, Cire Peters, Richet Barchue and Brian Rivas running a 3:31.45.

The top six places move on to the MOC, which is Feb. 25-26 at the Bennett Center.

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.