Nguyen wins race to ignite team at South River
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High cross country team wasn’t shown very much respect when it stepped off the bus prior to last Friday’s dual meet at South River.
It’s not too intimidating when a half dozen boys get off a little bus and start warming up for a race. The Rams figured they had this one in the bag.
Not so fast.
The Mustangs (1-1) ran an inspired race, taking just enough higher places than their rude hosts to squeak out a 27-28 victory. Every runner showed improvement from the season opener earlier in the week, a 15-48 loss at New Providence.
Veteran head coach Tony Treonze wasn’t expecting to beat New Providence but figured his club had a 50-50 shot at South River. The Rams have better numbers and a few quality runners, but the Mustangs showed heart and determination to produce a victory that could go down as the season highlight.
"We pulled one out," Treonze said. "Those guys saw six guys get off the bus and they thought it was a win. We went out and did a great job. I’m very happy with the team."
Nghi Nguyen and Luis Martinez were running 1-2 for a good chunk of the race before Nguyen pulled away and won the race in a time of 19:50. That was a 12-second improvement over his time at New Providence.
"Nghi did a nice job," Treonze said. "He was close with Luis but Nghi looked strong. He really looked good."
Martinez settled back into third place, just four seconds behind the race runner-up. Martinez’s time of 20:48 was 17 seconds faster than his prior race.
Jason Zydallis became the third MHS runner to beat a South River athlete by taking fifth overall in 21:04. The Rams put some pressure on the back end of the pack by going 6-7, but Dan Volpi ran 22:20 to finish eighth.
That left the race on the legs of junior Joe Zuza, who wound up making the difference. South River placed the ninth runner and could have won the meet with a 10th-place finish despite Manville’s early dominance. Zuza charged forward and shaved over a minute off his New Providence time to take 10th in 22:37.
"Joe did a great job," Treonze said. "He wants to be called ‘Split Decision’ now after running that race. He made a big improvement over the other day."
The biggest improvement, however, came from a non-scoring runner. Marc Casamassina rewrote his personal-best by over four minutes, hitting the wire in 24:36.
Manville’s personal improvements were even more noteworthy on what Treonze considered a pretty challenging course.
"It was a hilly course," Treonze said. "You had to run up the same hill three times and that was tough because they had to repeat it."
The MHS boys battled the elements and defeated the opponents with a spirited effort. The bus ride back to Manville was a happy celebration.
"It was great," he said. "We put something together today. They should be proud of themselves."
EXTRA LAPS Nguyen interrupted New Providence’s attempt at a 1-7 sweep, taking sixth in 20:02 … other MHS finishers were Martinez (11th, 21:05), Zydallis (14th, 21:36), Zuza (18th, 23:43) and Casamassina (19th, 28:50) … this week’s schedule includes home tri-meets with Bound Brook and Oratory Prep and then Dunellen and Dayton.