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.”