2005 Union County Girls Outdoor Track Review

Long after the events on the track had ended and with nearly all of the schools having departed, only the teams from Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Plainfield and Rahway remained as the high jump competition continued with only Plainfield and Rahway competitors left.

“We knew we had it won, but I didn't want to say anything until the meet was over. We sat there and respectfully watched the high jump,” said an elated Raider coach Jeff Koegel.

It was only fitting that the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Girls Track team had to go overtime to win their first Union County Track championship but for the Raiders the wait was worth it. Using their outstanding team balance the Raiders were able to withstand Rahway’s talented twosome of LaShonda Carter and Andrea Butler and squeak out a 72-68 victory.

Carter won the high jump for her third gold medal and with Butler scored 64 of Rahway’s points but the Raiders parlayed three first place finishes with numerous seconds through sixths to complete an outstanding three-week period that also included
the Watchung Conference and Union County Relay championships.

“We had a good team effort and didn't have to rely on one superstar. We had eight girls score, and the highest scorer contributed 17.5 points,” said Koegel.
It was also a nice bookend to the Union County Cross Country championship the Raiders had won last fall, also the school’s first.

“We’ve had a few firsts this year, starting with cross-country, and this was another,” said Koegel.
“The girls deserve this, and they should enjoy it. There will never be another group of girls at this school to say they were the first ones to do that, “

Of their three individual winners, Meaghan Kelly was the biggest surprise. Sidelined with a pulled hamstring two weeks ago, the junior upset teammate and defending champion, Michelle Regg in the triple jump(32-11.75) and added a third place in the 400 hurdles (65.5). Both marks were personal bests. Kelly also joined Amanda Bobyack, Sam Gates and Bridget Cornwell for an important third place in the 4 by 400 relay, which was accentuated by the Raiders finishing ahead of Plainfield and Rahway.

“Meaghan really stepped it up in the triple jump. Those points were crucial for us.
She also ran a two-second PR in the intermediates. Her leadoff leg on the 4 x 400 was
one of her fastest times ever,” said Koegel.
A shocking victor a year ago in the same venue, Bobyack repeated her triumph by bettering her mark of a year ago with a 16.9.5 effort.

“I was very happy with the way I jumped. I feel very confident jumping here. ,” said Bobyack.
“She is starting to jump much better than she was at the beginning of the season. I think
she can still go further if she perfects her finish. She has good speed down the runway and has been getting good height on her jumps,” said Koegel.
Katie Zaleski easily won her specialty, the pole vault, with a county record 10-0, surpassing her second place jump last year by two and one half feet.

Kat Berka provided 17 points with seconds in the discus, javelin and a sixth in the shot put. “It was a long day but I’m happy I was able to place in each event because the team needed the points,” said Berka.

Senior Mary Shashaty repeated her second place finish of a year ago in the 3200 with a
time of 11:30.4. “I ran as well as I could so I’m pleased,” said Shashaty. Fellow senior Laura Harrison placed sixth in 12:19.1

Cornwell, a freshman, continued her relentless improvement with another personal best of 2:24.1, good for fifth in the 800.Gates added a fifth in the 400 with a time of 1:02.6.
The Raiders now face different competition today and tomorrow as they compete in the Group III Sectional championships at South Plainfield.

Indoor champion Westfield finished seventh with 36 points. Emily MacNeil led the Blue Devils with her third straight 800 championship with a 2:18.4 and also led off the second place 4 by 400 relay. Also running were Miriam Becker-Cohen, Erica Ammermuller and anchor Annie Onishi whose strong finish moved the Blue Devils from third to second.

Other scorers included Onishi, fourth in the mile (5:26.2), freshmen Jen Danielson and Ayn Wisler fourth and fifth in the two mile (12;08.8 and 12.12) , high jumper Emily Perry fifth (4-10), discus thrower Christina Henry fifth (94-7) and javelin thrower Olena Borkowsky fourth (94-8).

2005 Union County Boys Outdoor Track Review

For the second time in three weeks, Union’s star power outscored Scotch Plains’ balance as the Farmers grabbed the rubber match in their three meet season battle with the Raiders by winning the Union County Championship Saturday at Hub Stine Field Plainfield. Earlier in the season, the Raiders won a close dual meet, but the Farmers had outscored Scotch Plains-Fanwood in the Union County Relays.

Although disappointed at not winning the meet, Scotch Plains Boys Coach Rich McGriff was generally pleased with his teams’ performance.

“In track you can always say we should have scored more points in this event or that event, but everyone can say that. Overall, we did pretty close to as well as we could,” said McGriff.

“You have to give Union credit. They have some great individual talent and they all came through today.”

Leading the Raiders were their two all around standouts, sophomore Kyle Rowbotham,
and senior Sean Smith. Rowbotham once again exceeded his personal best, soaring 44-5.25 to win the triple jump and also was tied for third in the 400 (50.7). Smith won the high jump (6-2), was third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.1) and second in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in a personal best 55.4.

“I am very pleased with the way I hurdled. There was some very good competition. We could have won the meet but we did our best, “said Smith.

The Raiders went into the final event of the meet, the 4 by 400 relay, trailing 70-63 and could have won the team title with a first and fifth or worse by Union but the Farmers took command and won with 3:27.9 effort with Scotch Plains-Fanwood third in 3:28.6.

This was the first time this season that Smith and Rowbotham were running the relay, which also included Mike Miller and Rob Ventura.
Coach Jeff Koegel expects the quartet to improve for this week’s Group III Section II race, which begins today and continues tomorrow at South Plainfield

“Kyle just didn't bounce back well from the open 400 on Saturday. This coming weekend, the 400 is on Friday and the 4 x 400 is on Saturday,” said Koegel.
“We're looking to go3:24 or faster, with a slow leg in the low-52 range. Kyle could go under 50 when he is fresh.”

On the track the Raiders also got a third place finish from Josh Zinman in the 3200(10:15), and a sixth from Nehemiah Burney-Porter in the 110 hurdles (15.8). They received a fourth and fifth in the pole vault from Max Carow and Tom Pennella (12-0 each). The Raiders scored in each weight event with Marc Fabiano sixth in the discus (118-9), Greg Brand fifth in the javelin (153-0), and Ted Acosta and Mike Alleman
third and fifth in the shot put with throws of 46-0.25 and 45-8.25 respectively.

With Union competing in another group, the focus now shifts to the state sectional meet where the Raiders will see different teams but should be a contender for the team title.
“We can get big points from Smith and Rowbotham and our 4 x 400 can score high. We need solid contributions from the rest of the team if we are going to make a run at the title.

We can't just rely on those two to score all of our points,” said Koegel

Pole Vaulter Mike Woods of Westfield cleared 15 feet for the first time to upset favored Anthony Abitante of Governor Livingston and give the Blue Devils their only first place finish. What made the achievement more unique was that Woods had borrowed Abitante’s pole because he thought the pole was better than his was at clearing the height.

Westfield finished with 24 points, sixteen from the pole vault where Mike Gorski finished third in 14-0. Junior Jeffrey Perrella, running with a sore hamstring, finished a close second to Kevin Brown of Cranford in a personal best 4:22.7.
“I gave him a little too much room, but considering the way my legs feel, I’ll take a second in a personal best,” said Perrella.

2005 Watchung Conference Boys Outdoor Review

Sean Smith and Kyle Rowbotham of Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School were so dominant at last week’s Watchung Conference Boys Meet at Westfield that had they been a team, their 68 combined points would have finished fourth, ahead of Linden and Shabazz and behind their school, Westfield and Cranford.

Rowbotham, a sophomore took three firsts and a fourth and Smith won two events and had a second and a third place as the Raiders cruised to their 14th team title in the last 15 years, scoring 179.5 points to easily outdistance second-place Westfield, which had 115.
Coach Rich McGriff is hoping that the Raiders can use the momentum to succeed this weekend in the much tougher Union County Championships, which begin today and continue tomorrow at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield.

“It get a lot tougher now, but we can win this if we perform up to our abilities,” said McGriff. Although he doesn’t count out other teams, it is clear that McGriff figures that Union will be the biggest roadblock to a title. . The Raiders and Farmers have had two great battles so far this year in a dual meet won by the Raiders and the Union County Relays won by the Framers. The rubber match this weekend could be just as close.

Part of McGriff’s strategy is to reposition his top two stars into their four most efficient events. Smith will switch from the javelin, where he had little chance of scoring in the county meet to the 4 by 400 relay. He will be joined by Rowbotham, who figures to drop the 400 meter intermediate hurdles to join Smith, Mike Miller and Rob Ventura to form an imposing relay team that McGriff and Coach Jeff Koegel are counting on to score key points

“I think we can run around 3:25, which should place pretty high,” said Koegel.
Despite running in the second heat, Rowbotham was an easy winner in the 400 with a season’s best time of 50.6 and will be a strong contender in the County Meet.

“It was tough keeping my concentration in that heat, being so far ahead,” said Rowbotham.
Smith won the 400 hurdles in a personal best time of 55.9 seconds and figures to battle defending champion Brett Axelrod of Union. Smith won the 110 hurdles in 15.3 and will be contending with favored Chris Haley, also of Union

In his first year as a triple jumper, Rowbotham has the county’s top jump and hopes to top his winning Watchung Conference effort of 41-10.75. Rowbotham will need to improve his winning long jump (20 feet, 5 inches) to win against the tougher competition, which also includes Haley.
Smith, who finished second to Tom Planer of Cranford in the high jump, will battle Planer and Haley among others.

Another top scorer, who figures to place in the counties is Nehemiah Burney-Porter, a close second to Smith in the high hurdles, and second to Rowbotham in the triple jump.
Other Raider standouts who should place in the county included Marc Fabiano, who defended his discus title, Josh Zinman, third in a personal best 10:05 in the 3200 and Ted Acosta, second in the shot put and third in the discus.

Westfield senior Mike Woods broke the school record with a 14-9 victory, eclipsing Jeff Sherman's mark of 14-8, set in 1988. Fellow senior Mike Gorski, placed third with a personal-best height of 14 feet, giving the Blue Devils the first 14-foot tandem in the state this season.
Junior distance star Jeff Perrella was a double winner using a strong finish to out kick Cranford’s Nate Thompson in the 1600 (4:25.4) and the Cougar’s Kevin Brown in the 3200 (9:35.9). The Blue Devils may have swept the distances but 800 favorite Rob Broadbent missed the meet with an injury.

Other Blue Devils winners were the 4 by 400 team of
John Aleksandravicius, Jake Brandman, Erin Williams, Kris Kagan and javelin thrower Jeff Pazdro.

2005 Watchung Conference Girls Outdoor Review

The Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track Team completed the second step of a hoped for area triple crown with a dominant victory in the Watchung Conference Track and Field Championships last Thursday and Friday at Gary Kehler Stadium in Westfield.

A week after showing impressive team balance in winning the Union County Relays with 86 points the Raiders once again were dominant in the weight and jumping events to easily outscore Cranford 187 to 148 and win their first title since 2002.
The Raiders trailed Cranford after the first day Thursday, but exploded on Friday to run away with the meet.

“We looked very flat on Thursday, and I wasn't too happy that we went home after the first day in second place to Cranford,” said Coach Jeff Koegel.
“I was worried that we were too flat after winning county relays. We had some very good performances on the second day though.”

The Raiders will need to be at their best for a third straight week to win the coveted county title against such strong contenders as Elizabeth, Plainfield, Union, Rahway, Cranford and Westfield.

The county’s top track performer, LaShonda Carter of Rahway is favored to win four events and could score 40 points by herself.
Senior Kat Berka led the way with victories in the shot put (a personal best 33-8), discus (101-2) and javelin (98-9). Berka led a 1-2-3 sweep of the shot for the Raiders, one of three 1-2-3 sweeps by the Raiders. The others were led by defending county champions Amanda Bobyack (15-6 1/2) in the long jump, and Michelle Regg (33-0 ¾) in the triple jump.

“Kat Berka's performance was impressive. I don't remember anyone sweeping all three girls' throwing events as long as I have been here,” said Coach Jeff Koegel.

Senior Katie Zaleski led a 1-2 finish in the pole vault equaling her career best with a jump 10-0, which is also the top mark in the county this year. Rossi also equaled her career with an 8-0 jump for second.

The Raiders welcomed back another multi event star, Meaghan Kelly from an injury. In addition to winning the 400 hurdles, Kelly also ran on the winning 4 by 400 relay.
Two freshmen, Carlaya Jones (30-6 1/2) and Erin Rossi (30-0) completed the shot put sweep.

The triple jump sweep included sophomore Natasha Celius (30-11) and Kelly (30-5). The long jump sweep also included freshman Tina Olsson (15-0) and Regg (14-5).
Bobyack was also second to Shabazz triple winner Shaylah Counts in the 100 and ran the third leg on the victorious 4x 400 relay. Kelly, freshman middle distance runner Bridget Cornwell and anchor Sam Gates, (third in the 200 and 400) completed the winning unit, which outkicked a strong Westfield team.

Cornwell added a third in the 800 with a personal best 2:26.3, senior Mary Shashaty was third in the 3200 in 11:43, and Carly Wells added a second in the javelin.

Overall Koegel was pleased and thought the result bodes well for this weekend.
“We had a large number of girls score points and many of them showed that they have a chance at placing at the county meet,” said Koegel.

Emily MacNeil won her fourth straight 800-meter title to give the Westfield Girls their only individual title as they finished fourth with 105 points. Senior Annie Onishi finished second to MacNeil in the 800 and was third in the mile. Both also ran on the second place 4 by 400 relay.

2005 Union County Outdoor Girls Relays

Employing an unbeatable combination of individual brilliance and team depth, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood girls track team rolled to their first title since 2001, Saturday at the 62nd Union County Relays at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield. Scoring points in thirteen of sixteen events, the Raiders obliterated the field with 86 points,
34 more than runner-up Rahway.

“This is the deepest, most talented team we've had in the nine years I've been here. It all came together Saturday,” said girls track Coach Jeff Koegel.

The victory was the culmination of a week that started Monday with a team meeting in which Koegel implored the team to fulfill their potential. After defeating Cranford Tuesday to finish the dual meet season 4-1, Koegel is hoping the victory in the Relays will be the springboard to success in the individual Conference and County championships to follow.

“Winning the county relays can give a team the necessary confidence and momentum to mount a solid attack on the ensuing championship meets,” said Koegel.

“The county relays are extremely important to us. A relay championship is the true measure of a team. You need good depth and you have to be able to cover all of the event areas,” added Koegel

While seniors Michelle Regg and Kate Zaleski had the top individual performances in their events, it was the support of two newcomers that enabled the Raiders to establish meet records in the triple jump and pole vault relays respectively.

Regg, the defending county champion in the triple jump, leaped
33-9.3/4 and sophomore Natasha Celius contributed 30-11 ½ to the

winning 64-10 ¼ mark Celius also combined with Regg and defending individual long jump champion Amanda Bobyack, to finish second in the long jump relay with a 45'0".

“Natasha has found a niche for herself in the long jump and triple jump. She was just taught about a week before the county meet how to triple jump,” said Koegel.

“She's raw and needs some technique work, but she definitely has a lot of potential.”

Zaleski, second in the individual pole vault last year, soared 9-6 and freshman Erin Rossi added a 7-6 for a 17-0 effort. Rossi also
combined with senior Kat Berka and sophomore Lauryn Adams
to finish second in the shot put with a combined 86'5 effort.

“Erin has been progressing very quickly in the pole vault. She is almost to the point where Kate was last year as a junior. We have also started having her throw more,” said Koegel.

“She is extremely strong for a freshman girl, and she's going to score a lot of points for us over the next three years in the field events.”

Completing their field event dominance, Berka and senior Carly Wells also contributed to fourth and third places in the discus and javelin respectively.

The Raiders also had success on the track led by sophomore Sam Gates who anchored the runner-up 4 by 400, ran the 400 leg on the third-place distance medley and was part of the runner-up 4 by 200.

Seniors Mary Shashaty and Laura Harrison helped the distance medley finish in a school record, 12:52.4 and were part of the second place 4-by1600 team, which was second.

Newcomers also played a big role on the track with three freshmen, Cassy Valdes, Kate Johnson and Bridget Cornwell contributed to a fifth place finish in the 4 by 800 relay.

Cornwell also contributed a 2:28 to the distance medley and Valdes strong kick got the Raiders fourth in the sprint medley combining with yet another newcomer freshman Tina Olsson, Cornwell and Regg. Olsson also ran with Regg, Bobyack and
Danielle Vena on a fourth place 4 by 100.

Although unable to repeat their indoor success when they won Union County Relay title, the Westfield Girls were strong in
the distance events and finished tied for sixth with 36 points.

Despite only using one of their regular 4 by 800 runners, the Blue Devils were easy winners with a team of sophomore Ayn Wisler (2:30.1), freshman Stephanie Cortinhal (2:28.4), freshman Catherine Cognetti (2:35.5) and junior Meg Driscoll (2:29.3) running 10:03.9.

The distance medley team of Emily MacNeil (1200 in 3:47.0), Driscoll (400 in 1:03.8), Miriam Becker-Cohen (800 in 2:27.1), and Annie Onishi (1600 in 5:21.8)smashed a nine year old school record with12:39.7. and also won easily.

The 4 x 1600 team of Jen Danielsson, Wisler, Caitlyn Berkowitz, and Becker-Cohen, placed 3rd and the sprint medley team of Ali Fleder, Erica Ammermuller, Onishi and MacNeil ran seven seconds faster than last year and two seconds off the school record
in placing second.

2005 Union County Outdoor Boys Relays

Twelve days after they fended off Union’s threat to their 22 year dual meet winning streak with a two point victory, the Scotch Plains Fanwood Boys Track team and the Farmers engaged in another thrilling battle at the 62nd Union County Relays at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield with Union prevailing this time 69-64.

“It looks like it’s going to be us against Union all year. It’s our depth against their superstars (All state Chris Haley and Latif Brewer),” said Raider Boys Coach Rich McGriff.

The victory came despite superb efforts from the Raiders’ all-around stars sophomore Kyle Rowbotham and senior Sean Smith.

Smith (56.6) and Rowbotham (58.7) teamed with sophomore pole-vaulter Tom Penella (59.4) to win the 3 by 400 hurdles in a time of 2:54.7 edging Union by half a second.

“This is one of our strongest events, and we needed 10 points here. Pennella broke 60 for the first time ever. He is an exceptional athlete, and we will be looking for more ways to utilize his talent,” said Coach Jeff Koegel.

Smith (6'-2) and Rowbotham (5'6") combined with Iceberg Bryant (5'8") to win the high jump over Union and Haley, who had the top individual performance (6-4). Bryant was jumping in his first major competition this spring after breaking his foot.

“Having Iceberg back from his broken foot has made us a much better team in the jumps,” said Koegel.

Rowbotham gained a third gold medal in the triple jump where he combined with Nehemiah Burney-Porter. Rowbotham’s jump of (43'6.1/4 broke Brian Kopnicki’s school record.

“He has tremendous potential to go a lot further than that,” said McGriff

Union finished second in all three of Rowbotham’s gold medal winning efforts.

In his fourth event, Rowbotham jumped 20-4, and combined with Bryant and Burney-Porter to finish fourth with a combined 56-4.1/2.
“This is an event where we should have done much better. This really hurt us in the overall scoring,” said Koegel.

Pennella and Max Carow added a third in the pole vault where the
Westfield duo of Mike Woods and Mike Gorski of Westfield tied the meet record they set last year when they combined for 27-0 in the boys' pole vault. Woods made 14-0 and Gorski 13-0.

In the distances, the Raiders got points from both their distance medley (fourth) and their 4 by 1600 team (third). Josh Zinman and Mike Miller ran on each team.

The Raider trio of senior Teddy Acosta, sophomore and freshman Mike Alleman appeared to have the title sewn up but their combined 130-6 effort was eclipsed by Rahway on the last throw.

Acosta, Badalia and Marc Fabiano also finished third in the discus behind Rahway and Linden but without Greg Brand they were unable to place in the javelin a key loss of points because Smith was used in the event.

“The javelin killed us,” said Koegel.
“We were missing our second best thrower, and in addition to not scoring, that gave us an event that Smith didn't score in. Had we known that was going to happen, we would have taken him out of there and put him on a 4 x 200 or put together a sprint medley with him. We wound up only having him scoring in two events rather than four.”

The Raiders trailed 68-64 going into the final 4 by 400 but Union clinched the meet with a sixth while the Raiders failed to place.

Led by their pole vault duo, Westfield finished sixth with 34 points. The Blue Devils placed in all four distance-running events but were unable to defeat powerful Cranford in the 4 by 1600 or the distance medley, where they were second or the 4 by 800 where they placed third.

2005 SPF Outodor Boys Track beats Union

With only four events left and the score tied the usually unflappable Scotch Plains Fanwood Boys Track Coach Richard McGriff looked worried that the Raiders’ amazing 22 year unbeaten streak in dual meets would finally be ended by powerful Union and its two all state stars.

But after a surprising sweep in the 3200 meter run and a 1-2 finish in the javelin gave the Raiders enough points to squeak by 74-66, McGriff was all smiles.

“I thought this might be the day but we always seem to have guys step up, ” said McGriff.

The heroes this time included distance runners Josh Zinman and Mike Miller, who fought off the exhaustion of three distance races in 90 minutes to finish 1-2 in the 1600 and 3200. The weight events led by John Badala, Marc Fabiano and Greg Brand scored 23 of a possible 27 points and multi talented Sean Smith and Kyle Rowbotham each placed in four events.

The Raiders continued their momentum at the Randolph Relays
on Saturday. Led By Rowbotham and Smith, who were each on three winning teams, SPF finished a close second to powerful Wayne Valley with 66 points.

Rowbotham and Smith combined with Jeff Pawid to win the intermediate hurdle relay in 2:59.79, an impressive 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Ewing. Iceberg Bryant joined them on the winning high jump team that withstood the rainy conditions to
combine for a 16 foot 4 inch total. Nehemiah Burney-Porter was the third participant on the winning long jump trio that leaped 56 feet 8 inches.

Nehemiah Burney-Porter and Smith also joined twins Tom and Rob Ventura to finish second in the 4 by 400 relay
in 3:37.18.Miller, Adam Biner, Caleb Zimmerman, and Zinman. combined for a third in the 6400-meter relay in 20:06.

The other winning team was the strong Raider trio of freshman Mike Alleman, Badala and Teddy Acosta, which won the shot put with a total of 121 feet 7 inches.

Overall Coach Jeff Koegel was pleased.
“We beat Union again, even though we didn't enter the 4x100, 4x800, shuttle hurdles, DMR, and javelin. We also scratched out of the pole vault due to the weather conditions.,” said Koegel.

The girl’s team enjoyed a less successful week, losing their first meet of the year to Union, Tuesday. Their highlight was a winning effort in the 4 x 1600 at Randolph. Mary Shashaty (5:30), freshman Cassy Valdes (5:40), Sophomore Allie Hoynes-O’Connor (5:43), and Laura Harrison (5:37) broke the school record by about
35 seconds, despite the miserable weather.

“They can go a lot faster than that, too. Everyone had erratic
splits due to the conditions,” said Koegel.