2006 Scotch Plains Boys Union County Outdoor

Fresh from completing their season against county competition with dominating victories in the Union County championships last Saturday at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield, the best team, Scotch Plains and the top distance runner,Westfield’s Jeffrey Perrella expand their horizons when they compete in the New Jersey State Group III Section II meet that begins today at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield.

After romping through the dual meet portion of their season with a 5-0 record, the Raiders won their third team title in three weeks by scoring 96.5 points to outscore Rahway with 75. Their total is expected to grow when the final event, the long jump was completed earlier this week. A problem with the runway forced the cancellation.

With a jump of 20-5 in the trials, Raider junior Kyle Rowbotham is expected to add a fourth gold medal in the long jump to the trio he won Saturday. Rowbotham won the 110 high hurdles (14.6), 400 intermediate hurdles (56.5) and broke his own meet record in the triple jump (46-0.5).

The Raiders’ other superstar Mike Alleman added a first in the shot put and a second in the discus and the Raiders also swept the first two places in the pole vault to help erase the bad taste that their close loss to Union last year left.

“It feels great to win this meet. I’m very happy to be a triple winner,” said Rowbotham.
“I’m very tired. I did a lot today but that’s why we have long practices. It gets you ready for these type of meets.”

“We expected to win this meet but they don’t give you the title on paper. You have to go out and earn it and that’s what we did ,” said Coach Rich McGriff.

“We think we have enough top performers to continue to do well in the state meets the next two weekends.”

Rowbotham will face his toughest opponent this year in the sections when he faces Ben Copeland of Montgomery in the 400 meter hurdles. Copeland has run 53.4, while Rowbotham’s best is 55.3.

“I made a few mistakes in the intermediates, “said Rowbotham.

“I have been working on using thirteen steps between hurdles. It takes some getting used to but it will pay off with faster times.”

Rowbotham's high hurdles victory was followed by a third from Nehemiah Burney-Porter (14.8) and a fourth from Tom Pennella (15.2) giving the Raiders twenty points/

Max Carow (13-0) and Pennella (12-6) added eighteen more in the pole vault and Pennella added a sixth in the high jump. Burney-Porter added a fourth in the triple jump with a 42-5 ¾ effort

Alleman had a terrific meet throwing the shot put (55-8) and taking second in the discus in a personal best (148-9).

“This was easily the best discus series I have ever had ,” added Alleman.

“It was a shame to just come up short but I put four throws out over 148, which I had never done before.”

“The difference in Mike this year is he now comes to the big meets ready to compete. Mike gets up for the competition,” said weights coach Ken Hernandez..

John Badala added a fourth in the shot put with a 48-4 and Greg Brand and Joe Jacobi finished fourth and sixth in the javelin. The Raiders other points came from JZ Zinman fifth in the 3200 (10:07) and Adam Biner fourth in the mile (4:34.2).

Perrella and Tyler Maccubbin combined for 36 of Westfield’s 45 points as the Blue Devils finished tied for third. Maccubbin was second in the high jump(5-10) and Adam Bergo (5-8) added a fourth. Maccubbin was also second to Rowbotham in the 400 intermediate hurdles (57.2).

Perrella’s titles were his first two outdoors. A year ago he skipped the 3200 because of an ailing hamstring and finished second in the mile. Perrella’s 4:22.2 mile and 9:34.6 3200 were well off his best but Perrella is looking ahead to the next eleven days where he hopes to win five races.

“Compared with last year, I am in much better shape and better spirits. I have been strong and getting even stronger. In the mile at counties I had a plan and stuck to it, I was extremely pleased,” said Perrella.

“ In the 3200, it was entirely too windy to try and push the pace alone so I relaxed and tried to maintain a gap I was confident enough in my finish to rely on it to pull away.”

2006 Scotch Plains Girls Union County Outdoor

Trailing Rahway by 14 points with only two events to go, Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track Coach Jeff Koegel knew the only way his balanced team would defend their championship Saturday at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield was with a near perfect finish.

The Raiders obliged with sophomore Cassy Valdes outsprinting Cranford’s Hannah Van Why for second and eight points in the 3200 and the 4 by 400 running a season’s best 4:05.9 to win the final event. Rahway could have still won the title by finishing higher than fourth in the 4 by 400 but the Indians faded down the stretch and finished sixth as the Raiders stormed back to win 86-83. .

“We were cheering hard for Kent Place and Union Catholic down the stretch of the 4 by 400,” said Koegel of the two teams that held off Rahway.

SPF’s depth helped withstand the individual brilliance of Rahway senior LaShonda Carter, who won three events and scored 38 points and sophomore Andrea Butler, who added 26 more in the sprints. It was almost a repeat of a year ago when SPF’s balance edged Rahway’s two stars 72-68. The duo combined for 64 last year.

With the victory the youthful squad captured and defended its third title in the past three weeks adding to the Union County Relays and Watchung Conference titles. Using the same formula, the Raiders were strong in the weight events and jumps, as well as the distances and 4 by 400 relay

“It’s a nice finish to the day to dig it out at the end. We have no stars, so we have to nickel and dime our way,” said an elated Koegel afterwards.

“We left some points out there, but overall this was a tremendous team effort,” added Koegel.

For most of the meet it looked like Rahway would win the title but when sophomore Bridget Cornwell provided a surprise victory in the 800 with a season best 2:21.9,
Koegel, a calculus teacher, realized that victory was still possible.

“I told Cassy (Valdes) before the 3200 that we had to have at least eight points from her to have a chance and she came through with a gutsy performance.”

“Knowing how much the team depended on my points motivated me to run better,” said Valdes, the teams’ top cross country runner last fall.

“That was the best 3200 I have ever run,” added Valdes, whose 11:42.1 was a personal best.

It still took a victory by the 4 by 400, which was running without one of its members, junior Sam Gates, who was injured two weeks ago. The first three runners sophomore Tina Olsson , junior Danielle Vena and sophomore Kate Johnson ran strongly but the team was still second behind leader Governor Livingston when Johnson handed off to anchor Meaghan Kelly. The team’s only senior, Kelly quickly made up her deficit of several yards and pulled away with a 59.4 anchor leg.

Kelly, the team captain, provided another fine all around performance with a second in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles (67.1) and a fourth in the triple jump (33-8).

“Nobody thought we could repeat as county champions because of all the seniors we lost, but the new kids have filled in well,” said Kelly.

“It’s great to prove everyone wrong.”

Cornwell took advantage of the absence of Plainfield’s Jahlisa Smith, the county’s top 800 runner, by taking control of the race early with a 69 second first 400 and breezing to victory, the only individual title for the Raiders.

“Coach has taught us if you set the pace, you own the race and that’s what I did,” said Cornwell.

“You can’t worry about who wasn’t there,” added Koegel.

“Bridgett took it out hard and dared anybody to run with her.”

Four other underclassmen provided crucial points. In the triple jump Junior Natasha Celius broke the meet record, formerly held by Raider Michelle Regg in 2004, with a second place effort of 35-8 ¾ and was third in the long jump with a 16-4 ¼ mark.

Olsson was second in the 200 in 26.4 and added a fifth in the long jump 16-4. Sophomore Erin Rossi was second in the discus (106-5) and fourth in the shot put (33-6). Sophomore Carlaya Jones produced a personal best (36-7 1.2) for second in the shot put and was sixth in the discus (100-5).

“Natasha really stepped up big for us. She was a pleasant surprise against some very good jumpers,” said Boys Coach Rich McGriff, who also coaches the jumpers.

Before the season Koegel had said that replacing Kat Berka in the weights would be the biggest challenge but Rossi and Jones combined for 21 to compensate for Berka, who had 17 last year.

“We knew we had to step it up this year and we have worked hard,” said Rossi.

“They are all peaking at the right time,” said weights coach Ken Hernandez.

“That is what you want to see this time of the year.”

Ayn Wisler finished second to Cornwell in the 800 with a 2:24.8 for eight of Westfield’s twelve points. The Blue Devils also got fifths from Catherine Cognetti in the 400 and Vicky Attenasio in the Pole Vault.

2006 Scotch Plains Boys Watchung Conference

After having dusted off their four conference opponents by an average of over 80 points per dual meet, the Scotch Plains Fanwood Boys Track Team should not have thought the Watchung Conference championship meet to be anything more than a warm-up for tomorrow’s Union County Championships..

After the Raiders were predictably easy winners in the two day meet held last Thursday and Friday at Kehler Stadium in Westfield, Coach Rich McGriff declared his team ready for this weekend and the important state meets ahead.

“We knew that we were better than our competition, but nobody took it for granted and we did a good job taking care of business ,” said McGriff after the Raiders outscored Westfield 233-104 to win the title for the 15th time in the past 16 years.

As has been the case all season, the Raiders received contributions from just about every event with their best efforts coming from their two superstars, sophomore weight thrower Mike Alleman and Junior Hurdler and Jumper Kyle Rowbotham.

Alleman led 1-2-3 sweeps in the shot put and discus and Rowbotham won three individual events and anchored the winning mile relay.

“We have so much competition on this team that it pushes everyone to get better,” said Alleman.

The competition was especially cut throat in the discus where Matt Hazel and John Badala, who combined with Alleman to win the county relay title the previous weekend, were beaten out by Jason Boff and Joe Jacobi for the coveted spots.

“It was a pretty intense throw off for the discus spots and I expect another one for the county meet,” said Alleman

Alleman, Scotch Plains threw 144-9, Boff was second in 125-11 and Jacobi 121-11 for third. All three shot put contestants Alleman (56-4), Badala (49-5 ¾) and Anthony Nelson (49-0) produced career best performances. Alleman has already added ten feet to his freshman marks and seems to improve every week. Alleman's throw is the second best in the state this year, behind Hanover Park's Steve D'Arcy (58-1).

“This was a good meet for us but next week is the big one. We need to keep pushing each other to get better,” said Alleman.

Junior Greg Brand added to the weight dominance with a 149-5 victory in the javelin. Jacobi and Badala added a third and fifth as the Raiders piled up 66 points in the three weight events.

Not to be outdone, Rowbotham led a nearly equally dominant performance in the hurdles events. The junior, who took three firsts and a fourth last year, ran a season’s best (55.3) in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles with Tom Pennella (58.0) and James Alfano (1:00.9) taking 3-4. In the 110 meter high hurdles Rowbotham (15.0) edged Nehemiah Burney-Porter (15.1) and Pennella, Scotch Plains, (15.6) in a 1-2-3 finish. Rowbotham (44-6 ¾) also combined with Burney-Porter for a 1-2 finish in the triple jump. Rowbotham appropriately completed his perfect meet with a 50.0 split on a 3:31.8 team that also include Burney-Porter, Tom Ventura and Alfano.
“It felt good out there. I was especially pleased with my intermediate hurdles race ,” said Rowbotham, who will trade the relay for the long jump at the county meet.
“We are trying to maximize Kyle’s scoring potential for the county meet,” said McGriff.
“He is capable of winning the long jump. He has been hitting 22 feet in practice.”
Overshadowed in the excellence was a fine all around performance by Max Carow, who won the pole vault(13-0) , was second in the long jump (19-4), third in the 200(23.2) and third in the 100 (11.3). The Raiders scored heavily in the pole vault with Pennella third in 12-0 and James Sensor fifth in 11-6.

Although their young and improving distance corps was outrun by Cranford’s Kevin Brown in the 800 and Jeffrey Perrella in the 1600 and 3200, the Raiders scored heavily in all three events.

In the 3200 senior J.Z. Zinman was second in 10:13.0, followed by sophomores
Dan Sapienza (10:28.7) and Patrick Doliber(10:30.9). Adam Biner ran a personal best 4:27.9 for third and Zinman hit 4:39.4 for fourth in the 1600. Biner and Mike Miller ran 2:00.3 and 2:01.7 for second and third in the 800.

Jason Zelesnik added a third in the high jump and Ventura was second in the 400 as the Raiders got scoring from 23 different athletes.
Perrella repeated his distance double of a year ago by dropping his times to 4;23.6 in the 1600 and 9:20.8 in the 3200. Perrella was mostly running against the clock and trying to sharpen up for the next few weeks when the competition gets tougher.
“I fell way short of the school record but was pretty close to my personal best in the 3200,” said Perrella.
“What was especially good about my 3200 was that I had the opportunity to work in pick-ups and surges so I will be ready for them in the big meets.”
Westfield also got an outstanding performance from senior Tyler Maccubbin, who won the high jump(5-8) and added a second in the 400 intermediate hurdles(57.5) and a fourth in the 110 meter hurdles(15.9).

2006 Scotch Plains Girls Watchung Conference

Two down and one to go for the Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track Team.
With their youthful stars again dominating, the quickly improving Raiders won their second major championship in the last two weeks at the Watchung Conference Championships contested Thursday and Friday at Kehler Stadium in Westfield.

Using their customary balance the Raiders easily outscored Cranford 201-143 and like they did at the Union County Relays the previous week, the Raiders’ defended their title from a year ago. Winning and defending their third title in three weeks will be a tougher challenge according to Coach Jeff Koegel.

“We have the talent to win the Union County individual championships, but it is not going to be easy,” said Koegel of the meet which begins today and concludes tomorrow at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield.

“I am confident we have the best all around team in the county but that doesn’t mean you will win this meet,” said Koegel.

“Often it just takes two or three superstars on one team to score enough points,” added Koegel.

Plainfield, with the trio of Letecia Taylor, Jahlisa Smith and Ashley Adams, appears to be the favorite along with Rahway, which has LaShonda Carter and Andrea Butler.

In similar fashion to the relays victory, the Raiders used field event and middle distance strength to overwhelm the opposition. Like the Boys, the Raiders had their greatest success in the weight events.

Sophomore Carlaya Jones, who has come on strong the past few weeks, led a 1-2-3 sweep in the shot put with a season best 36-2 ¾. Sophomore Erin Rossi was second at 35-7 ½ and junior Lauryn Adams followed in 33-11 ¾. Jones is confident the trio can score well in the county meet.

“We push each other hard in practice. We know we have to throw further next week,” said Jones.

Rossi, who also was second in the pole vault, led a 1-2-4 finish in the discus with a winning effort of 106-6. Adams followed in 102-9.and Jones was fourth in 97-8.

Sophomores Alex Fragna and Kate Johnson completed the weight event onslaught with a second and fifth in the javelin.

After losing weight throwing star Kat Berka to graduation, the weight event strength has been a pleasant surprise for Koegel.

“We didn’t see this as a strength coming into the season but they have really come on,” said Koegel.
The Raiders added another 40 points with 1-2-5 finishes in the long jump and triple jump. Two time Union County long jump champion Junior Amanda Bobyack, hampered most of the season with injuries, jumped 16-5 followed by sophomore Tina Olsson in 16-1 1/4.
Freshman Whitney Adams was fifth in 14-10 ¾.

Sophomore Natasha Celius (33-8 ½) surprised defending county champion Meaghan Kelly 33-1 in the triple jump with freshman Kim Shelius fifth in 29-9.

Overall the Raiders tallied 112 points in the seven field events. Kelly and Olsson were also proficient on the track. Kelly won the 400 meter intermediate hurdles for the second straight year in 1:06.9 and was second in the 400 behind the meets’ only triple winner, Shaylah Counts of Shabazz. Olsson finished third in the 400 and was second behind Counts in the 200 with Kelly third.

The Raiders’ revamped distance corps more than held their own against Cranford and Westfield. Sophomore Bridget Cornwell held off Caitlin Curtis of Cranford to win the 800 in 2:23.6. Although she finished second and third in the 1600 and 3200 respectively, freshmen Brittney Veeck continued her sensational improvement by lowering her freshmen 1600 record to 5:15.6.

“Brittney was a real highlight for us. She keeps getting better each week,” said Koegel.
Sophomore Cassy Valdes added fourths in the 1600 and 3200.

“Considering our graduation losses and injuries it was a great effort to score over 200 points,” said Koegel.

A victory in the meet’s final event the 1600 meter relay gave Westfield its only gold medal as the Blue Devils finished a distant third with 63 points.

Stephanie Cortinhal, Meg Driscoll, Erica Ammermuller and Tessa Schaaf, combined to run 4:09.5. Ammermuller also added a third, fourth and fifth in the long jump, 200 meters and 100 meters respectively. Rose Driscoll added a third in the 800 and Lauren Brachman was third in the javelin.

2006 Scotch Plains Girls Union County Outdoor Relays

The Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Track team treated the Union County Relays as a coming out party for some of their new talent and surprisingly defended their title Saturday at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield. The Raiders used their balance to rally in the last four events and outdistance Union and Cranford 68-49.

Sophomore Tina Olsson, probably the most improved member of the team, completed an outstanding all around performance with a career-best 17-0 3/4 to help the Scotch Plains girls win the long jump relay and split 1:01.3 to give the Raiders the lead for good in the closing 4x400 relay. Olsson also helped the team score a third and sixth respectively in the 4x200 and 4x100.

“Tina was a huge part of the victory ,” said Girls Coach Jeff Koegel.

“Her improvement in the 400 is amazing. This winter she ran 69 seconds and in this meet she took over the lead for us.”

“I have worked a lot harder this year and am taking the sport more seriously ,” said Olsson.

“She did a great job in making it easier for me ,” said anchor Meaghan Kelly, who poured it on with a 59.4 finish. Junior Sam Gates and sophomore Kate Johnson ran the first two legs in the 4:06.4 performance.

In addition to Olsson, the 4 by 200 participants were Danielle Vena, Gates and Kelly.
Olsson combined with two time county long jump champion Amanda Bobyack and sophomore Natasha Celius for a 49-4 ¾ performance in the long jump.

“Both the long jumpers and triple jumpers did a great job,” said Boys Head Coach Rich McGriff, who also coaches the jumping teams. Kelly combined with Celius and to finish third in the triple jump Thursday.

The Raiders, who scored in 12 of 16 events also got 18 points form their shot put and discus relay teams. After losing stalwart Kat Berka to graduation, the Raider Girls, coached by Ken Hernandez have made an impressive recovery.

“The girls were a very pleasant surprise,” said Hernandez.
“To get them all to throw well on the same day was very big.”

Sophomores Carlaya Jones and Erin Rossi combined with junior Lauryn Adams to win the shot put relay with a 101-6 ¾ effort and the same trio were second in the discus with a 283-0 total. The girls and boys combined for 38 of a possible 40 points in the shot put and discus, a testament to their hard practices.

“We work them out a long time but they realize you need to pay a price for success,” said Hernandez.


The Raiders also got a valuable six points from the 6400 meter relay when the foursome of sophomore Kristen Thompson, freshman Emily Carow, sophomore Cassy Valdes and freshman Brittney Veeck finished third in 23:25.

Veeck had an even better performance in the distance medley where she split a personal best 5:17.7 to bring the team up to fifth.

The Raiders added six more points in the sprint medley when freshman Whitney Adams, Celius, freshman Kim Shelus and sophomore Bridget Cornwell ran 4:28.5 with Cornwell outsprinting the Union and Union Catholic anchors to move up two valuable places. Overall the Raiders picked up 30 points in the final four events, a furious finish by any standards.

“Unlike the boys, this was in doubt to the very end,” noted Koegel,
After winning his first title a year ago, Koegel seemed to enjoy his second even more.

“This was better than last year because the boys also won,” said Koegel.

Westfield finished eighth with 37 ½ points. The top finishers were the 3200 meter relay (second in 10:02), the 6400 meter relay (second in 23:05.7), sprint medley (second in 4:24.3), distance medley (third in 12:47), and team javelin (fourth in 231-6).

Running on the 3200 team were sophomores Stephanie Cortinhal and Catherine Cognetti and freshmen Aileen Grogan, and Bridget Grogan. The 6400 meter relay members were Ravenna Neville, Rose Driscoll, Jen Danielsson and Jayne Ruotolo. The second place sprint medley team contained Erica Ammermuller, Alison Fleder, Christina Obiajulu and Ayn Wisler.

The Distance Medley team of Rose Driscoll 1200 (her 3:51 split was a PR by 25 seconds), Cortinhal, Meg Driscoll and Wisler had the second fastest time in school history with a brand new line up

Karolyn Cook, Lauren Brachman, and freshman Arielle Burns comprised the javelin team.

The 3 x 400 IH team of Tessa Schaaf, Marlena Sheridan, and Neha Limaye set a school record in addition to placing 6th. (they dropped the record from 3:43.8 to 3:37.3)

“We were very pleased with our performances. We scored more points than last year, and scored in more events than last year and set two school records in the process,” said Westfield Distances Coach Jen Bucino.

2006 Scotch Plains Boys Union County Outdoor Relays

After successfully protecting their remarkable 23 year unbeaten dual meet winning streak for another season earlier in the week, the Scotch Plains Fanwood Boys Track team showed off their depth Saturday at the Union County Relays at Hub Stine Field in Plainfield.

As expected, the Raiders overwhelmed the competition with an impressive 102 points to capture their first title since 2001 and as was the case in their 5-0 dual meet mark the points and performances came from numerous events. The point total was the highest ever for the Raiders.

Sophomore Mike Alleman paced first place finishes in the shot put and discus relays with throws of 53-0 1/2 and 131-7 respectively. Junior Kyle Rowbotham ran a meet-best 55.4 in the boys 400 hurdles and anchored the shuttle hurdles in 14.4 to lead the Raiders to triumphs in both races and anchored their third place 4 by 400 team. On Thursday Rowbotham set a personal best of 46-7 1/2 and combined with senior Nehemiah Burney-Porter(42-5 1/2 ) to obliterate the old record in the triple jump set a year ago by the same duo.

“It was a well rounded effort. We didn’t have many disappointments at all” said Boys Coach Rich McGriff.

“We try to preach balance and teamwork and that’s what this meet brought out” added McGriff, who won his first title since 2001.

The victory was even sweeter after last year, when the Raiders were edged by Union, 69-64. A big part of the Raiders’ increased strength has come from their group of weight throwers that has seen their long hours of practice pay off.

“Their hard work has had a lot to do with their success, “said Weight Coach Ken Hernandez, whose practices often run over four hours.

“This was a conservative number for the boys in this meet, they know they can do better,” added Hernandez.

“We’re a tight group. We all pull for each other,” noted Alleman, who was a little disappointed in falling short of his personal bests achieved in the past two weeks.

Junior John Badala, who would be the top weight man on most high school, teams ably
supported Alleman in the discus and shot put and also participated on the javelin team that finished second. Badala threw the shot put 46-7.5 , tossed the discus 126-6 and led the javelin with a 142-1 heave

The third member of the shot put and discus were Anthony Nelson and Matt Hazel respectively. The javelin trio also consisted of Russ Brand and Joe Jacobi.






Rowbotham, who has become one of the state’s top all around athletes, is so outstanding that he often overshadows several other fine all around athletes. Junior Tom Pennella joined Rowbotham on both winning hurdles teams and combined with Max Carow to finish second in the pole vault relay. Senior James Alfano was also on both winning hurdles teams and Burney-Porter added to his triple jump gold medal by being leading off for the shuttle hurdles team.

Burney Porter also long-jumped 19-11 to lead a 58-9 effort for the long jump trio which garnered a surprising second. Freshman Justin Emmanuel, who was not even going to jump in the meet until the past week contributed a 19-7 ¾.

“The boy’s long jump was a very pleasant surprise. We had some new people who have really improved,” said McGriff.

Not to be outdone, the Raiders also captured a gold medal in the 4 by 1600 relay breaking Cranford’s eight year stranglehold. Sophomore Dan Sapienza and freshman Martin Sweeney handled the first two legs before handing off to senior JZ Zinman who ran a personal-best 4:38.0 to give anchor Adam Biner a big lead. The Raiders’ time of 19:03 averaged under 4:46 per runner.

Overall the Raiders scored in 14 of 16 events, including an incredible 58 of a possible 70 points in the seven field events.

Westfield, which finished fifth with 43 points, had a gold medal effort in the high jump
with Adam Bergo, Rich Scialebba and Tyler Maccubbin combining for 17-2.

The other top Blue Devils’ performance predictably came from senior Jeffrey Perrella,
who ran a personal-best 4:13.8 in the distance medley to bring Westfield across second in 10:39.4. Perrella also split a 1:58.8 to move sprint medley team from fourth to second.

A week after finishing sixth in a personal best 8:30.3 at the Penn Relays 3000, Perrella feels optimistic that he is starting to peak at the right time.

“I felt good today. We would have liked to have won the races but the competition was strong.”