Middletown North Track Star Dominates at
County Championship Meet
16 JULY 2021 | TheJournalNJ.com
BY TIM MORRIS
Hailey Guerrieri credits her gymnastics
background for her becoming one of
the county’s best all-around track and
Championships, the Middletown High School
North track star won the 100-meter hurdles
long jump. She ran a leg on the Lions’ third
place 4x100 relay squad, helping North capture
the team championship for just the second
time in program history.
“I was a gymnast until I broke my leg in
eighth grade,” said Guerrieri. “I knew then it
was time to start a new sport.”
easy for Guerrieri.
“My older brother Joseph did track and
recalled. Watching those meets spurred her
interest in the sport, so during her freshman
year at Middletown North, she went out for
“Gymnastics has helped me in the hurdles
and triple jump. They require form and technique,”
Guerrieri pointed out. She also uses
Photo by Hailey Guerrieri. Middletown North’s Hailey Guerrieri was a
double winner at the Monmouth County
Track and Field championships.
those same skills in the high jump and long
jump events that require more than just strength and power. The hurdles,
“Coach Brock Silvestri introduced me to hurdles, and I fell in love
the hurdles.”
In time, Guerrieri mastered the event’s technique and was soon
gliding over the barriers. On her way to becoming a champion, her steps
it requires in each step. She remembers as a freshman getting a face full of
track when she lost focus, clipped a hurdle and tumbled to the ground near
the end of the race. That experience taught her to never let up.
want to get lazy. I had to keep accelerating,” she said, explaining her
crossed the line and set a new personal best, 15.36, in winning the coun-
going forward.” Also helping her succeed in the hurdles was learning to
keep her eyes straight and focused only on herself. Early on, Guerrieri
said she could get distracted by the runners alongside her and take her
eye off her race. She has overcome that.
“The main thing now is I focus on my race, my hurdles,” she said.
Making her county victory sweeter, teammates Olivia Kelty and
Photo by Erin Powers. Middletown North’s Hailey Guerrieri
has emerged as one of the best multi-event athletes in track
jump at the county championships.
Guerrieri was concerned about how much she may have backtracked,
losing her sophomore outdoor season to the pandemic. She
was able to take a hurdle home where she could work on her form and
technique last year. She kept herself in the best shape she could. When
she returned to the hurdles for the indoor season this winter running a
new personal best in the 55 hurdles (8.79), that told her she was ready
for big things.
“I was a little nervous about the season, but I found I was lot better
than I thought I’d be outdoors,” she remarked. The biggest surprise of the
season for Guerrieri was her triple jump victory.
“It was crazy. It was only the third time I competed in the event,"
she said. One of the reasons Guerrieri was in better shape that she
thought she’d be was because she ran cross country in the fall, something
most sprinters shy away from.
“It keeps me in shape,” Guerrieri said of the endurance sport. “I do
like running up the hills.”
Guerrieri has established a host of personal records already this
spring in addition to the hurdles. Her marks are 33-8 for the triple
jump and 16-8 for the long jump. She also has a 5-foot personal best for
the high jump.
Competing in so many events, it’s only natural that a multi-event
events over two days) are in her future. She has talked to Lion Coach Ray
Convey about giving the pentathlon a try sometime this year or next indoor
season. It’s a challenge the Lion would be up to.
/TheJournalNJ.com