By: Rudy Brandl
BOUND BROOK — Manville High’s track athletes won’t see this brand of competition again unless they qualify for the Meet of Champions.
A handful of MHS runners, jumpers and throwers competed in last week’s Somerset County Championships, battling a talented field of larger schools that includes powerhouse Hillsborough, which swept the boys’ and girls’ titles for the third consecutive year. Teams like Somerville and Franklin also were dominant in certain events, leaving Manville to compete against their own personal times and distances.
The Mustangs showed some improvement and even managed a few season-bests, a good sign entering this weekend’s Central Jersey Group 1 Championships in Neptune. Veteran head coach Tony Treonze knows the competition will be more on his team’s level.
“This is a good preparation for the sectionals,” Treonze said. “They won’t be as tough as this meet. The sectionals are more like the conference meet, where you’re competing against teams your own size. These big schools like Hillsborough are tough.”
Treonze was disappointed that two of his top athletes didn’t compete in the meet. Drew Corsilli, a potential scorer in the long jump and javelin, sat out with a sore back. Hurdler John Rydzy also did not compete. Both upperclassmen had a school-related conflict as well.
The MHS senior roast forced the postponement of a tri-meet with Dunellen at Middlesex. Treonze said he would have rather gotten his team the extra work in a tri-meet. Instead, a handful of athletes faced the county’s elite.
“They shy away from this meet because they know it’s tough,” Treonze said. “We have to stick together and get ready for the sectionals.”
Corsilli should be a factor in the long jump, javelin, 100 and 4×400 relay this weekend. Rydzy will run both hurdling events and either the 200 or relay. The rest of Manville’s sectional lineup includes Ryan Gilmore (400 hurdles, high jump, 400, relay), Rich Weber (1,600, 3,200), Pat Gorbatuk (400 hurdles, relay), Jacek Jakubowski (discus), Mike Piorkowski (shot put) and Marcin Zala (high jump).
Gilmore was the only MHS athlete to score in the county meet. Gilmore cleared 5-6 in the high jump to finish in a two-way tie for fifth, earning 1.5 points for his team. Gilmore missed his first two attempts at 5-6, which prevented him from moving up to fourth place. Treonze gave him some instructions prior to his third attempt, which made a difference.
“He looked like he was flat those first two times,” Treonze said. “He needed a little more speed.”
Gilmore then missed all three tries at matching his personal-best (5-8) and settled for the fifth-place tie. Moments after his final miss, Gilmore ran the 400 hurdles and experienced some difficulty. He completed the race in a slow 62.0 because he had to clear an extra hurdle that fell from a neighboring lane.
Weber ran his best time of the year in the 1,600 meters, using another strong kick to finish in 4:58. The junior distance standout is hoping to surpass his personal-best (4:55) this weekend.
“My goal is to stay under five minutes,” Weber said. “This is a lot tougher meet than I thought. The conference is much easier than this.”
Piorkowski (37-6) and A.J. Asher (36-0) competed in the shot put but did not place. Jakubowski hit his personal-best in the javelin (144-2) but came just three feet shy of advancing to the finals. The distances posted here prove the extreme competitiveness of this meet.
Corsilli, who won the MVC javelin title with a 152-0, would have needed to duplicate that distance just to finish sixth in the county. Corsilli’s personal-best throw would have only squeezed into the money by two inches, while Jakubowski’s 144-2 would have ranked second in the conference meet.
Manville should score some points this weekend, with all athletes placing in the top six moving on to the State Group 1 Championships. Both the sectional and state meets are two-day affairs. This weekend’s session takes place in Neptune, while all State Group meets will be held June 2-3 in Egg Harbor.
