St. Augustine junior Marc Maccario and Paul VI senior Christan Napoli picked up state titles Friday night at the state Parochial A boys meet at the Bubble in Toms River. PVI junior Gianna Cianfrani picked up a win in the girls meet.
Maccario ran 51.35 to win the 400 and edged Paul VI senior Austin Bailey by two meters. Bailey was 2nd in 51.62.
Maccario is St. Augustine’s first indoor state champion since hurdler Sincere Rhea won his 3rd straight hurdles state title in 2019.
Maccario had just PR’d at 50.26 on the much-faster Ott Center track last month. That broke the school record of 51.11 set by A.J. Murphy at the 2010 Parchial A meet, also at the Bubble.
Bailey had only run one previous 400 this season, a 51.41 at the Ott Center back in December. He would have been the No. 3 seed in the 200 at 21.97 – also from the Ott Center – if the state meet had a 200. Bailey is less than a 5th-of-a-second off the Paul VI indoor school record of 21.82 set by Antonio Tarantino at 2018 Armory Nationals. He will get to run a 200 at the Meet of Champions.
Napoli PR’d by more than a second with his 1:57.25. He edged Oratory Prep junior James Nolan by four meters. Napoli had just PR’d with a 1:58.38 at the Ott Center last month.
For the Paul VI girls, junior Gianna Cianfrani cleared a lifetime-best 10-6 on her first attempt to win the pole vault. Nobody else cleared higher than 9-0.
Junior Claire Magee placed 4th in the 400 in 58.71, junior Macy Huber and sophomore Grace Gutowski ran 4th and 5th in the 1,600, Huber PR’ing in 5:05.15 and Gutowski running 5:07.41. Huber was also 3rd in the 3,200 in 11:08.44. Magee, junior Daniela Vogel, senior Madison Eli and senior Devin Phillips ran 4:09.19 for 4th in the 4-by-400 relay.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 