Highlighted by Ben Malone's race to glory, Bergen County athletes captured three gold medals at the track and field Meet of Champions. Malone, a Pascack Valley junior, captured the 800-meter title in impressive fashion at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge.

Pulling away in the second lap, Malone ran a time of 1:51.10 to take his first outdoor Meet of Champions crown. He ended up winning by nearly a full second.

The other two champions from the North Jersey area were both female throwers. Theresa Picciallo of Immaculate Heart Academy won a second straight title in the girls' shot put, putting forth a winning effort of 45 feet, 8-3/4 inches.

Meantime, Shauntierah Douglas of Garfield captured the girls' javelin title. Douglas had a winning throw of 150 feet, 3 inches to win by six-and-a-half feet over her nearest competitor. It's only the second MOC title ever won by a Garfield athlete.

Becca Scovira of Park Ridge came in fourth in the javelin. In other girls' field events, Mahwah had two top-six finishes: Gena Pickett grabbed third in the triple jump, while Carolyn Edler tied for fifth in the pole vault.

On the track, Alexandra Cimino of Westwood and Breaisha Morton of Passaic Tech took fifth in the 400-meter hurdles. In the 800-meter run, Deann DiLandro of Ramapo grabbed third and Madison Holleran of Northern Highlands came in fourth.

The highest-placed Passaic County athlete, boys' or girls', was Kristen Traub of Eastern Christian, who finished second in the girls' 1600 meters.

On the boys' side, there weren't many other top track finishes outside of Malone. DeAndre Jennings of Hackensack took fourth in the 100 meter dash. Old Tappan had two top finishes in relays, coming in third in the 4x400 and sixth in the 4x800.

In field events, local athletes had a series of close calls. Robert Gebhard of Northern Highlands took third and Evan Bartlik of Ridgewood was fourth in the triple jump.

In the javelin, Jong-Min Youn of Old Tappan was second, with Andrew Trumbetti of Demarest sixth.

Mark Ramsey of Kennedy took fourth in the shot put, while Eric Geider of Demarest finished fourth in the pole vault.

For sports video highlights of this New Jersey high school track and field 2012 Meet of Champions, click play in the box at left.