2006 Scotch Plains Outdoor Group 3 Championships

The spectators watching the Group III shot put gasped as the powerful Scotch Plains Fanwood sophomore threw the 16 pound metal ball further than anyone else, but the excitement quickly turned to groans as the officials ruled that Mike Alleman had just barely fouled.

The victory went to Lacey Junior Vinnie Elardo, who had trailed Alleman until his final throw of 56-01 nipped Alleman’s 55-05.75 effort.

“It was tough to lose after being ahead the whole way,” said Alleman.

“I thought the last throw was a winner.”

“Mike deserved to win the meet,” said Raider Coach Jeff Koegel.
“He had the most consistent series of throws of any athlete and his final throw was a winner, too.”

“Mike’s a tremendous competitor. He will definitely use the loss as motivation to beat that guy next time,” said Raider Weight Coach Ken Hernandez.

“Next time” was this past Wednesday at the Meet of Champions in South Plainfield where Alleman will begin as the fifth seed, pretty impressive for someone who threw 46
feet a year ago.

Alleman’s tough loss was emblematic of a snake bit two days for both the boys and girls teams. Alleman will be one of only two Raiders competing in the Meet of Champions, joined by senior Max Carow who finished fifth in the pole vault with a leap of 13 feet.

“Max had a good series of jumps. He just missed at 13'6", too. He was over the bar, but came down on it with his chest on the way down,” said Koegel.

The most surprising of the missing Raiders will undoubtedly be Junior Kyle Rowbotham,
who had qualified for the Group Championships in the Triple Jump, Long Jump, 110 Meter and 400 Meter Hurdles but failed to qualify in any of the events.

“He just had a sub-par meet and looked very tired out there. He fouled twice by less
than an inch in the triple jump trials. Both jumps would have been
good enough to make the finals, and probably place him high,” noted Koegel.

“He has been doing four events in pretty much every meet since the week before Christmas. That takes its toll on you,” added Koegel.

“Kyle did still qualify for nationals in the triple jump. We are giving him a few days
off to re-charge his legs and clear his mind and then (Head Coach) Rich (McGirff) will get back to basics with him. He only has one event to train for instead of four, so he will be able to get some good quality jumping in if the weather so permits.”

In addition to Alleman some of the top performances came from the strong girls’ weight team. Junior Lauryn Adams broke her personal best in the discus several times, ending with a 109'9" throw, finishing seventh in Group III and missed the last wild card qualifier for the Meet Of Champions by one foot with the seventh best throw of all of the
non-medal winners combined.

“This is a girl who we didn't even take to the state sectionals last year. She has improved a great deal this season, and I wish it was a few weeks longer, because I don't think
she's done developing yet,” said Hernandez.

Carlaya Jones just missed making the finals in the shot out and Hernandez was also
proud of her performance last weekend.

The third member of the Raider weight trio, Sophomore Erin Rossi, did not qualify in the weight events but had a personal best of nine feet in the pole vault.

“The silver lining was she got to do a lot of vaulting this week. We
were hoping for 10' (she cleared 9'6" in practice a few days prior),
but the conditions didn't really cooperate. It was near impossible to
keep their pole grips dry in that weather, and just as difficult to get
warm and stay loose,” said Koegel.

Freshman Brittney Veeck once again lowered her school record in the 1600 to 5:14.06, which placed her fourteenth in the ultra competitive Group III race. Veeck’s time would have won Group II... Veeck’s next race will be at the freshman mile at The Nike Outdoor Nationals. .

“She is really starting to learn how to run the race. Unfortunately for
her, we have a loaded group. She’s done very well for someone who has only been running the event since January. Her splits were a lot better this week than last,” said Koegel.

Summarizing the current state of Scotch Plains Track and Field Koegel said,
“Doing well at this level is about having stars. We think a lot of our young athletes made progress towards reaching that level next year .”