Lyndhurst’s Kayla Carrino signs to run at Seton Hall, completing unique recruiting journey

By Jason Bernstein jason@theobserver.com

Despite being a four-year starter on Lyndhurst’s girls soccer, Kayla Carrino admits she’s “been dying to do cross country since I started in high school.”

Next fall, she’ll get that chance.

Carrino, a standout distance runner for the Golden Bears’ indoor and outdoor track teams, committed to run cross country at Seton Hall University. Her recent decision and signing is one that might have caught many by surprise if for no other reason than the fact that Carrino competed in a cross country meet in her high school career.

It was a little difficult, but I just told the (college) coaches that my loyalty was in soccer with my coach so I didn’t want to quit her team because I was loyal to her,” Carrino said. “But once I told my story about how I wanted to run cross country, I’ve run track for all four years indoor and outdoor, they understood that I’d be good at cross country.

“My times matched up to good cross country time so when coaches saw my times they believed that I would be good at cross country because of my times.”

Kearny native Jimmy Mullen gets a chance to look back on legendary HS wrestling career

By Jason Bernstein jason@theobserver.com

For Jimmy Mullen, the reality of the end of his high school career hit the moment he left the wrestling mats at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall as a three-time state champion.

It wasn’t until the next day when he could truly reflect on all he has accomplished. The thousands of screaming fans had been replaced with just his best friend - Kearny wrestler Joey Rocco - and a quiet boardwalk.

“We relaxed and took a day to let it all sink in,” said Mullen, the Kearny native and star heavyweight at St. Joseph Regional in Montvale. “You get a lot of joy, thinking about how you never lost a single match down here, but then it hits you that you’re never going to be down here competing again. I could come down here a million more times, but it won’t be the same feeling.” on that Boardwalk Hall stage won’t soon be forgotten. Facing longtime rival and friend Max Acciardi, Mullen earned the clinching takedown in the final seconds for a 5-3 victory.

“Usually my gameplan is ‘alright, let’s go score more points.But this one was more like ‘ok, I need to score more points. You can lose with a couple of seconds left, you can wrestle a full six minutes,’” said Mullen. “That’s how it turned out. I wrestled for 5 minutes and 59 seconds. The last second, I laid on top of him to preserve the win.

Carrino’s times this winter spoke for themself. On Feb. 18 at the NJSIAA Group Championships, she set school records in the 1600 Meter Run (5:24.35) and the 3200 Meter Run (11:43). Just three days earlier, Carrino won the 1600 at the Bergen County Championships with a time of 5:28.83.

“I honestly think it’s the best thing that she didn’t do cross country and I’m not selfishly saying that because I’m the soccer coach,” said Lyndhurst girls indoor track and girls soccer coach Kimberly Hykey.” Her legs have a lot less miles than these other girls that she’s going to be

It might be a long time before New Jersey sees a heavyweight with the talent and charisma of Mullen. Three state championships (he didn’t participate in the state tournament his sophomore season), a 111-7 record with none of those losses coming against NJSIAA competition.

Mullen’s final performance

“I think I’ve wrestled Max like 15 times in my high school career so we know each other like the back of our hand. That’s why every match we have is a really good one. It’s exciting to watch because it’s like two practice partners going at it. He’s a really good wrestler. Hat’s off to him, he had a great match and we put on a really good show for the crowd.”

For all of the individual accomplishments, what Mullen is most proud of is being a part of a St. Joseph team that enjoyed the greatest season in program history. The Green Knights beat Bergen Catholic for the first time in

Continued running with. She’s got a lot less wear and tear (on her legs). I’m sure she would have done super if she would have run cross country in high school.”

Carrino believes that soccer, in particular the running of playing 80 minutes as a center midfielder have helped prepare her for the rigors of cross country running without creating some of the wear and tear other runners may have.

This past season, Carrino was a First Team, All-NJIC National Division selection after posting eight goals and six assists to help lead Lyndhurst to a 13-6-2 record. For her career, she had 14 goals, seven assists and three AllNJIC honors.

“The training is different, but every summer I train as if I’m in cross country even though I don’t do it,” said Carrino, who has done some local events on her own in- cluding the annual Run with Tyler 5K held in Lyndhurst. “I’m not used to it, but I know what the training is like and I’ve got a feel for it.”

“I think she has untapped potential and she still has a lot in her. I don’t think she’s run her best races yet because I don’t think she’s run the events that are going to be her strongest. It’s definitely a unique, interesting thing.”

It is a perfect marriage of an overlooked runner and program.

Hykey felt that Carrino was under the radar due to her lack of cross country times. Hykey also thinks that Seton Hall’s lack of indoor and outdoor track teams leaves the school overlooked when recruiting cross country prospects.

Carrino had been hearing from smaller, local schools before the start of indoor season when she asked Hykey, who played soccer at Seton Hall, if she could reach out to the school and its legendary coach John Moon.

Within 24 hours, Moon contacted Hykey and soon thereafter, reached out to Carrino. For Carrino, who intends to study biology, after a visit to campus, she was completely sold.

“As soon as I stepped on campus I just felt at home,” Carrino said. “I know they have good programs in what I’m going into, which is biology. Also Coach Moon is an amazing coach. He’s a legend, I love him and he’s a great coach.”

Not long after that, following the conclusion of a recent meet, Moon offered Carrino a spot on the phone, which was accepted.

“She’s super deserving of it because she’s one of those kids that goes under the radar. Great, quiet, nice kid that does everything right and because of not having a cross country background, she’s not on the radar for a lot of coaches,” said Hykey. “I’m very excited for her for next year because I really think further distances are going to be her strong suit.”

Continued from Page 9 more than 20 years in the regular season, then, in the NJSIAA Non-Public Tournament, St. Joseph stunned nationally-ranked Delbarton to win the Non-Public title and finish as the state’s No. 1 ranked team.

In the individuals tournament, St. Joseph set a record with 10 guys placing in the top eight in their respective weight classes.

“It was unbelievable. The amount of joy that we had as a team this year was incredible,” Mullen said. “We set so many different records state and school wise. It just was a special, special year and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world.

“My state titles, I’ll put them up with anything I’ve ever done, except the team state title. I’ll put that over anything I’ve ever done because it was a moment I got to share with 20 other guys. They were just as excited as I was. We were happy for each other and you could see the real joy coming out of their faces because they just won a state championship. It’s a feeling that you can share with others who have the exact same feeling.”

Mullen will compete in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic on March 25, which is known as “The Rose Bowl of Wrestling” before he begins focusing on getting ready to wrestle and play football at Virginia Tech.

But even as he gets ready for the next level, Mullen’s hometown won’t be far away. He’s already making plans for hometown friends to visit him in Blacksburg, VA. And, as those at St. Joseph can attest to, Mullen will make it clear to all where he’s come from to get here.

“I’m still going to be rocking my Kearny gear when I’m out there,” Mullen said. “When I was at St. Joe’s everyone knew I was from Kearny and by the end of my four years everyone knew where Kearny was because I made it known that I’m still a Kearny kid at heart. I rock my Kearny gear, I still post about everything Kearny does.

“You can take the kid out of Kearny, but you can’t take the Kearny out of the kid.”

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