Boys track
By: Steve Feitl
The Lawrence High School boys track team has built a 4-3 record by being competitive in every meet, but seemingly losing a close decision to a rival school each and every time out.
For example, the Cardinals beat McCorristin 118-112 April 26, but were edged out by Hamilton, 67-64. They followed that performance Tuesday by defeating Nottingham, 91.5-39.5, and losing to West Windsor-Plainsboro, 77-54.
But it is in these past two meets that Cardinal coach Robert Chandler sees signs of hope.
He believes the team’s knack for coming close against highly-regarded opponents may soon be changing to defeating those same opponents.
“At this point of the season, 4-3 is nice, but we’ve had some close meets and we wish our record was better,” Chandler said. “We’ve got a week until the Mercer County Championships on May 13. We’re going to try to improve so we can beat some of these teams we’ve had these close meets with.”
One of those teams is definitely Hamilton, who squeaked by the Cardinals by just three points April 26. In coming close against the Hornets and defeating McCorristin, the Cardinals swept several events.
Dale Emde, Rakiq Bashir and Isaac Johnson finished 1-2-3 in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, while Bashir, Aaron Mason and Johnson combined to sweep the high hurdles.
The Cardinals were also dominant in the 200, posting three spectacular times, according to Chandler. Justin Reed finished in 22.4 seconds, while Ricky Wojo ran a 22.8 and Johnson ran a 23.8.
In other races, Chris Carroll won the mile in 4:42 and the relay team of Wojo, Emde, Josh Ben-Asher and Doug Murray finished first, with Wojo turning in an impressive 52 for his leg of the race.
“We knew the meet was going to be close so we had to put together a good relay team,” Chandler said. “Our relay team won with a 3:40, which is a pretty good time for us these days. That was very exciting.
“McCorristin doesn’t have a real deep team, so we weren’t that surprised with the win, but Hamilton is a really good team. Coming that close to them was encouraging.”
In the meet Tuesday, Cardinals Reed, Wojo and Johnson swept the 100 against West Windsor-Plainsboro, while a Nottingham runner notched a third-place finish.
Reed and Wojo returned to place first and second in the 200 with times of 22.5 and 23.3 respectively.
Emde took second in the 400 intermediate hurdles with a 59.6.
Carroll also stayed a few steps in front of three Pirate runners down the stretch to take the mile in 4:36 — his fastest time of the year.
In the 800, Lawrence took third and fourth with Bryan Ovalle (2:07) and Brian Sturm (2:11) posting their best times of the year.
Aaron Beaber also ran a personal best 10:31 in the two-mile to collect a third-place finish.
Mason won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches, while Mike Holmberg won the javelin with a throw of 132-8. Chris Wilk finished third in the javelin with a throw of 132-8.
Justin Lampley took second in the shot put, with a throw of over 41 feet, while Jarred Collins finished third. Lawrence scored a second with Brian Brokaw’s throw in the discus.
Overall, Chandler was pleased with his teams performances, but had hoped they would the Cardinals would fare a little better against West Windsor-Plainsboro.
“Our program is improving and we’re closing in on some of these other teams,” Chandler said. “We have a great young weight team and an improving distance unit. In the sprints, we have a great 1-2 punch, and our jumps are coming through.
“We’ve got a few meets after the Mercer County Championships, but right now we want to aim for that. We want our best showing to be there and we want a top five finish in the county."