RHS Brings Home Pair of State Sectional Titles

Ridgewood High School sports teams collected some more hardware on the winter season as both the Maroons girls bowling team and the boys indoor track team registered state sectional championships.

Track

The Maroons boys track team held off Livingston, 77-59, to grab the indoor Group 4 North 1 state sectional championship on Saturday in Toms River.

InSoo Hwang of Ridgewood matched Livingston's Jeramy Elkaim with a pair of victories. Hwang won the 50 high hurdles (7.76) and 400 meters (51.40) in the meet.

Hwang also chipped in to help win the 1,600 relay with a time of 3:32.29. Hwang joined Nick Tai, Juan Linas and Neil Schoff to grab gold in the race.

At the same meet Ridgewood's girls teams was just bested by Randolph for the state sectional title, 95-78. Sarah DeVita There led the way for the Lady Maroons with first place finishes in the 55 high hurdles (8.68) and high jump (5-feet-2-inches) while Hanako Shigenobu finished second in the 800 meter race (2:23.43).

Bowling

And the Ridgewood girls bowlers outscored IHA, 2,744 to 2,616, to win the Group 4 North sectional title at Bowler City in Hackensack on Feb. 7.

On the lanes, the Maroons scored a 1,010 to best the Blue Eagles for the top spot in the sectionals.

The key for Ridgewood was balanced scoring. Shelby Taylor led the Maroons with a total score of 629, the fourth best in the North section. Kelly Skettini added a 609 that was the fourth best overall score in the North. Ridgewood's Kendall Tinston was also in the top 20 total scores with a 583.

Basketball

Both Ridgewood basketball teams found out where they are going to start and what the map is to a state sectional title when the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association released the pairings on Thursday.

The Lady Maroons (10-9) received a home game in the first round with an eighth seed and will host ninth seeded Clifton on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at home. A win over the Mustangs would give Ridgewood a trip to top-seeded North Bergen in the second round of the Group 4 North 1 state sectional.

The Maroons boys team (8-11) is the 14th seed and will travel to Hudson County to take on third-seeded Memorial High School on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Group 4 North 1 first round. An upset would send Ridgewood to the winner of 11th-seeded Montclair-sixth-seeded Vernon in the second round.

Last week Ridgewood’s boys team had a pair of tough contests. While they lost both games, Teaneck (55-52, Friday) and Don Bosco ( 62-59, Feb. 8), they gave both teams who are both in the semi-finals of the Bergen County Jamboree a big time scare.

The Maroons were ahead of the Highwaymen going into the fourth quarter at 42-38, but could not hold on in the end. Evan Bartlik led Ridgewood with 17 points while Albin Hoh added 13 points.

Against Don Bosco Ridgewood was only down 44-40, but could not catch up to the Ironmen in the end. Against Don Bosco, Hoh kept the Maroons in the game with a game-high 22 points including three, three-pointers. Anthony Balboa added 15 to the Ridgewood cause.

Hockey

The Ridgewood ice hockey team came out of hibernation on Saturday as the Maroons blitzed Fair Lawn, 8-2, at the Ice Vault.

The victory raised Ridgewood ice hockey team to 15-2-2 on the season and remained undefeated in the Big North Gold Division at 12-0-2. The Maroons have 26 points in first place, three points ahead of Tenafly. The victory helped Ridgewood's seeding in the state playoffs with the cutoff on Feb. 16.

In a battle of the neighbors, it was Jake Middleton who fueled the Ridgewood offense with a hat trick.

Wrestling

The Ridgewood wrestling team prepped for this weekend's district state individual meet at Fair Lawn by sweeping a quad on Saturday. The Maroons dropped Elmwood Park (61-10), Ft. Lee (54-24) and Fair Lawn (57-21). Ridgewood's Aaron Bess led the way with pins in all three dual meets at 152 pounds. In addition Joe Oliva had a pair of pins at 112 against Elmwood Park and Fair Lawn.

Swimming

The RHS swim teams split their dual meets in the first round of the state sectional tournament.

In the section A North battles, the top-seeded Lady Maroons swam by River Dell/Westwood, 111-59, as Rachel Cortright won both the 50 and 100 freestyle race while contributing to the 200 medley relay race first place finish.

On the boys side the third-seeded Ridgewood squad was upset by sixth-seeded Montclair, 86-84.