2005 Scotch Plains Boys Outdoor Track Review

Part of the reason that the Scotch Plains Fanwood Boys Track program continues to be one of the area’s best is their ability to withstand the loss of seemingly irreplaceable athletes like this year’s superstar Sean Smith, who excelled in four events.

Coaches Jeff Koegel and Rich McGriff can feel confident about the future because sophomore Kyle Rowbotham exploded on the scene with performances that often outdid Smith.

Rowbotham and Smith were the biggest reasons that the Raiders maintained their dual meet unbeaten streak for a 23rd straight year. Smith was the team’s top high jumper and hurdler but by the end of the year Rowbotham had run past Smith in the intermediate hurdles and qualified for the meet of champions finishing eleventh overall. Rowbotham also qualified for the Meet of Champions in the triple jump, where he soared a season best 44-5.25 to win the triple jump at the Union County meet.

“I can't say that we expected him to place 11th at the MOC, but he had shown quite a bit of potential. Before we started with meets in March, we had a list of events that he could do and it was extensive,” said Koegel.

Despite Rowbotham and Smith’s heroics the Raiders fell short against Union in the County Relays and Union County championships but held off the Farmers to keep their dual meet streak alive. Scotch Plains Fanwood also repeated as Watchung Conference champions as Smith and Rowbotham combined for seventy points.

“Winning the conference championship again was also a highlight. It would have been nice to have added the county relay and individual titles, but we just weren't strong enough on those days,” said Koegel.

“Beating Union to keep the streak going was huge,” added Koegel.
“The boys really pulled together that day, and I'm sure the kids who played a big part of it will be talking about it years down the line.”

For the second time in three years, Smith pulled out key points in the high jump to keep the streak going.

Part of the strength in dual meets is the team’s depth, which should continue next year despite the loss of key seniors like Smith, Teddy Acosta, Marc Fabiano and Iceberg Bryant.

“We have a lot more kids than we had last year. We have a lot more depth in the events like the 400 and the shot put, but there are areas we need to improve on. We need to get back up in the distances, and hopefully that will start this summer,” said Koegel.

While confident Rowbotham can compensate for Smith, McGriff and Koegel are always on the hunt for athletes that can excel in multiple events and sophomore pole vault star tom Pennella appears to have the ability.

“I can see Tom Pennella developing into a multi-event star for us. I think he is just as athletic as Sean was when he was a sophomore and see him as a future decathlete,” said Koegel.

Another key performer this year was junior Nehemiah Burney-Porter, who qualified for the group championships in the high hurdles and triple jump. JZ Zinman and Mike Miller were tireless performers in the distance races, Max Carow was consistent in the pole vault and the Ventura twins, Rob and Tom excelled in the sprints. Mike Alleman, Curt brand and John Badala assure the Raiders of a strong weight contingent next year.

The streak looks to be in good shape for another year.

2005 Scotch Plains Girls Outdoor Track Review

Before the season began Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track Coach Jeff Koegel called the 2005 edition of his team the deepest and most talented ever. It took a spirited mid season meeting and three sterling performances in May for the Raiders to prove him right.

The girls won both the Union County Relay and team titles as well as cruising to the Watchung conference championship. Balance in almost every event was the hallmark of the Raiders’ success and while Koegel will bid adieu to some of the most accomplished seniors in school history, the teams’ younger performers give him hope that next season will not contain a big drop off.

“The relay meet was important in that it showed the depth and balance we have as a team. We needed the conference championship to show that beating everyone in our division in the dual meets was not a fluke, and that we could begin the individual season with the same level of success that we ended the relay season,” said Koegel.

“ The county individual championship showed that we could still use our depth and balance to overcome teams that had a small number of superstars who could score a lot of points. Winning the county individuals also let our girls stake the claim to having done something that had never been done before in school history.”

Among the seniors that leave their legacy are distance runners Mary Shashaty, Laura Harrison and Liz Elko, who earned 36 letters between them and helped establish the Raiders as a distance running powerhouse. But Koegel will have plenty of distance talent back with Allie Hoynes-O’Connor, Sam Carow and freshman phenom Bridget Cornwell, who qualified for the state finals in the 800 meters.

“Mary graduates as the most accomplished distance runner in the history of the school,” said Koegel.

Another difficult member to replace will be Kat Berka, who won 14 of 15 dual meet events in her three weight throws.

“She was our MVP this year,” said Koegel, but the late season emergence of freshman Carlaya Jones in the shot put gives the Raiders a state finalist returnee and multi talented Erin Rossi should also step in, too.
Rossi also has huge shoes to fill in the pole vault, where Katie Zaleski made it to the Meet of Champions and won every major county event with a school record jump of 10-0.

The other key senior loss is hurdler and jumper Michelle Regg, who also qualified for the meet of champions. Sophomore Natasha Celius and freshman Tina Olsson showed tremendous potential late in the year and Meaghan Kelley succeeded Regg as county triple jump champion.

Kelley recovered from a mid season injury to give the Raiders a huge lift in late season meets. She placed third in the intermediate hurdles in the Union County meet and anchored a winning 4 by 400 relay team in the sectional finals.

The winning relay was entirely made up of underclassmen, all of who will also be key contributors next year. Leadoff Danielle Vena was a top sprinter and jumper this year. Sam Gates was talented in the 100,200 and 400 and Amanda Bobyack repeated as county long jump champion as well as being a top sprinter.

Despite losing so many memorable athletes, Koegel is confident that the momentum will continue next year.

“This is the nature of high school sports. You only have people for four years, at most, and you cannot sign them to contract extensions or pick up free agents,” said Koegel

2005 Scotch Plains Boys Outdoor Track Sections

Another Herculean effort by senior Sean Smith fell just short of propelling the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Boys Track team to their first North Jersey Group III Section 2 crown since 2001 this past weekend at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield. Smith finished first in the 110 meter hurdles and high jump, added a second in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles and concluded the meet with a 49.7 anchor split to bring the Raiders home third in 3:25.46 but Montgomery won the race and the team title with 63 points.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood finished third with 56 points, one behind second place Red Bank Regional. Smith scored 29.5 points and sophomore sensation Kyle Robowtham added 15.5 with a first place in the triple jump and a fourth in the 400 hurdles as well as leading off the 1600 relay. Running the second and third legs between Rowbotham and Smith was junior Rob Ventura and sophomore Mike Miller. Despite their second straight third place finish, Coach Jeff Koegel feels the newly created relay will excel at the state championship, where they are seventh seeded and will run in the first heat with the fastest schools.

“We need to get out and establish ourselves on the first leg,” said Koegel.
“If Kyle finishes his leg strongly, we can be around 50.0 or under. We need to be a little better with our exchanges and need to make sure we pick the proper spots to pass people and do it smoothly.”
As usual, Smith was brilliant and busy, shuttling back and forth between events and he is looking forward to an even greater challenge this weekend.
“It gets tougher from here, but I am confident I can step it up next weekend,” said Smith.
Smith started his marathon weekend with a close second place finish to David Jesperson of Livingston in the 400 intermediate hurdles with a time of 56.28. Rowbotham was fourth in 57.98.
Smith broke away from Andrew Longley of Millburn to win the 110 Meter Hurdles in 15.46 Rapidly improving junior Nehemiah Burney-Porter added four points for the Raiders with a fourth place finish in 16.06.
Despite not jumping his best Rowbotham was good enough to out duel All State Football star Knowshon Moreno of Middletown South in the triple jump with a 43-03.50 effort, which was the seventh best overall in Group III.
“I have been getting near 45 feet in practice and I need to get there next weekend,” said Rowbotham. Burney-Porter also qualified fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 41-10.25.
Westfield will also be sending five athletes to the Group IV championships, three in the pole vault. Seniors Mike Woods and Mike Gorski completed an outstanding week by finishing 1-2 in the pole vault, each jumping 14-0. Earlier in the week at the prestigious East coast Relays, the two had combined for a meet record of 29-9, by each jumping a personal best. Woods soared 15-3 and Gorski jumped 14-6.
“Don MacDonald has done a great job with vaulters this spring. Both boys have
developed steadily their entire careers, work hard and good things are happening,” said veteran Westfield Track Coach Jack Martin.
Also joining Woods and Gorski will be junior Alex Kao, who jumped 12-0 and javelin thrower Jeff Pazdro, fifth in 153-8.
Junior distance ace Jeffrey Perrella recovered from a third place finish in the 1600 meter run Friday to win his specialty, the 3200 meter run easily on Saturday. After finishing behind the Phillipsburg duo of Bryan Lein and Josh Davis in the 1600 with a time of 4:28.97, Perrella broke away from the duo just past the halfway point to win in 9:39.4, giving him a high seeding in the 3200.
. “I just didn't have it in the 1600.My arms and legs felt like lead and they just didn't want to go,” said Perrella
Perrella should be one of the favorites in the 3200 off his 8:33 performance in the 3000 meters at the Penn Relays, which equates to the fastest 3200 of anyone in the field.
“I have a better chance in the 3200. No matter what, though, I will definitely be putting my all into both races,” said Perrella.

2005 Scotch Plains Girls Outdoor Track Sections

The Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track team saved their best performance for the final event in the NJSIAA/Star-Ledger North Jersey, Section 2 Group 3 Championships at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield. The quartet of sophomores Danielle Vena, Sam Gates and Amanda Bobyack and junior Meaghan Kelly ran a season best 4:03.84 to easily outdistance South Plainfield and give the Raiders their only first place finish of the weekend as they wound up a distant fourth in the section with 45 points behind powerhouses Montgomery, Ridge and West Morris Mendham.

In a late season lineup change that was made the previous Tuesday after the East Coast Relays, Coaches Jeff Koegel and Rich McGriff moved Kelly, the previous leadoff runner to anchor where she responded with a 59.5 split. Gates moved up from anchor to second where she took the lead for good. Bobyack maintained the lead and Kelly extended it.

The Raiders’ time was the seventh fastest among Group III schools and places them in the first and fastest heat, which should improve their chances of placing in the top six.
“The switch worked out very well,” said Koegel.
“We're hoping that we can get down to 4:00 on Saturday.”

After three straight dominating performances in county or conference meets over the last three weeks, the Raiders faced their toughest competition in an eclectic section that included schools from Jersey City and the Jersey Shore. and represented seven different counties.

“We had done our homework and knew the section was loaded,” said Koegel.
Among the ten Raiders who will compete this weekend in the State Championships today and tomorrow at Little Egg Harbor will be two freshmen, 800-meter runner Bridgett Cornwell and shot putter Carlaya Jones.

Cornwell placed fifth in a very strong race and smashed her personal best with a time of
2:20.19. Just three weeks ago, Cornwell’s best time was 2:31, but she has whittled it down the past three weeks and appears to run her best against the tougher competition.

“That's the fastest I have had a girl run in the nine years I have been doing this,” said Koegel.
“She runs tough. She stuck her nose in there and mixed it up with some of the best runner in the state.”

Jones qualified third with a personal best 32-09.50 and outdistanced senior teammate, Kat Berka, who also qualified with a sixth place toss of 32-07.25.
“I’m very excited to be going to the states,” said Jones.

“It all came together today for me. Kat has been a big help to me as well as my coaches.”
“Carlaya has been steadily improving. She is a strong kid, and she just needed time to perfect her technique,” said Koegel.

Berka also qualified in the javelin with a second place effort of 109-06. Senior pole-vaulter, Katie
Zaleski, qualified third with a height of 9-6, behind two of the state’s top pole-vaulters.
Bobyack, the county long jump champion, place fifth to qualify but will need to exceed her personal best to place in a competition that has three girls who have exceed 18 feet.

Also qualifying was senior triple jumper Michelle Regg in a personal best of 34-09.00.
After two months of focusing on team goals, individual performance is what’s left for the Raider girls.
“We are looking for people to step up and compete hard. We're not in the hunt for team titles.

We want people to step up to the level of competition and compete like people who are worthy of having qualified for a meet of this level,” said Koegel.
Westfield also saved their best performance for late in the second day as sophomore
Jennifer Danielsson won the 3200 meters in 11:49.67 for the Blue Devils’ only first place finish. Danielson had shown her potential at the Watchung Conference meet, where she had improved her personal best by 32 seconds with an 11:48.7 effort.

“I told Jen before she got on the line to forget time and worry about place,” said coach Jen Buccino.
“The race panned out beautifully for her. She wanted it, she believed in herself, she stayed focused and she earned her title. She even ran negative mile splits. I am very proud of her. “

The Blue Devils only other qualifier was senior Annie Onishi, who was third in the 1600 with a season best 5:22.42 clocking.
“She loves competition and she really wanted the chance to move on to the Group meet. I am really proud of the way her track career is coming to a close,” said Buccino.
Westfield’s best runner, senior 800 meter runner Emily MacNeil, the indoor Group IV 800 meter champion, finished a surprising non-qualifying seventh in a very fast 800 meter race with a time of 2:22.15 .