Pope John boys win H/W/S track team championship

Joshua Watson (400 meter hurdles), Ryan Hoo (pole vault), Jordan Perez (javelin) and Tyler Houser (shot put) each struck gold in their respective events, and Joey Rozynski placed second in the 100-meter dash, third in the triple jump and fifth in the 200-meter dash and long jump to lead the Pope John XXIII Regional High School boys to the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex team championship Monday, May 13 at Hunterdon Central in Flemington.

Katelyn Nolan won the 800- and 1600-meter run events and Marlie dePalma earned gold in the long jump to pace the Pope John girls to a second-place team finish.

Other top 10 finishers for the boys included Carter Alicks (ninth in 800-meter run), Charles Peterson (10th in 800-meter run), Watson (fifth in 110-meter hurdles), Max Sharrett (fifth in 400-meter hurdles), Trent Houser (fourth in high jump), Tobe Esimai (10th in long jump), Ethan Poplawski (eighth in pole vault), Tyler Houser (fourth in javelin, 10th in pole vault), Jarrod Cofrancesco (third in discus, seventh in shot put), Perez (fourth in discus) and Vincent Giacchi (ninth in discus).

Other girls who finished in the top 10 were the team of Nolan, Tessa MacMullin, Julia Ireland and Katy Miller (third in 4x400 meter relay), MacMullin (third in 100-meter dash, third in 200-meter dash, fourth in triple jump), Miller (second in 400-meter dash, eighth in high jump), Ireland (second in 800-meter dash), Bella Metternich (fourth in 3200-meter run), Gwendolyn O’Hearn (sixth in 3200-meter run), Avery Griffin (sixth in 100-meter hurdles, sixth in triple jump, eighth in 400-meter hurdles, eighth in long jump) and Madison Tierney (fifth in pole vault).

Here’s how other Pope John teams fared last week:

Baseball

Andrew Pami went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run; Mac Tufts was 2-for-3 with three runs and three stolen bases; Joseph Manco singled, walked and scored twice; and Evan Johnson walked, drove in two runs and scored once to power Pope John to an 8-2 victory over Gill St. Bernard’s on Thursday afternoon, May 16 in Gladstone.

John Franconere pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts and three walks to gain the win on the mound for the Lions (12-12).

Softball

Cassie Pallay was 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBI; Remmi Joustra went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs; and Grace Bobbie singled in two runs to steer the Lions to a 6-4 victory over DePaul on Saturday afternoon, May 18 at home.

Pope John improved to 15-8 with the win.

Boys lacrosse

Mikey Ramirez had two goals, one assist, 11 ground balls and won 16-of-20 faceoffs; Travis Heller added three goals and two assists; Sam Conetta had a goal and two assists; and Brandon McIvor, Peyton Fox and Jack Gallucci each added a goal to lead Pope John to a 9-7 victory over West Morris on May 18 in Chester.

Daniel O’Leary stopped 16 shots for the Lions, which concluded the regular season at 7-9.

Girls lacrosse

Keira Donegan (four goals), Samantha Piotrowsky (three goals, two assists), Leah Gerkhardt (two goals), Meghan Murino (one goal), Lilly Gang (one goal) and Emily Dyer (one goal) paced Pope John, which bowed to Jefferson on Friday afternoon, May 17 at home.

The Lions fell to 9-9 with the loss.

Boys golf

Brennan McCabe shot a match-low 36 followed by Vincent Cataldo (38), Luke Jarosiewicz (39) and Muggy Bars (41) to pace Pope John, which defeated Newton, 154-171, on Wednesday, May 15 at the Newton Country Club.

The victory was the 10th straight for the Lions (21-1).