Nguyen leading improved pack
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High cross country team didn’t exactly enjoy a home course advantage last week. In fact, the Mustangs have run their best collective team race of the year on a very tough course on the road.
MHS was coming off a thrilling 27-28 victory at South River the previous Friday, but the same team didn’t show up for last Tuesday’s home opener vs. Oratory Prep and Bound Brook.
Both visiting teams had an edge in experience and depth, so the Mustangs weren’t considered a favorite against either opponent. However, MHS head coach Tony Treonze expected his boys to run faster.
"It was like watching two different teams," Treonze said. "That (South River) course was tougher and their times were better. The effort just wasn’t there. It was like night and day. We did the same thing last year when we ran a very good race against South River and then had a letdown."
The Mustangs were beaten twice, losing 18-36 to Bound Brook and 17-38 to Oratory, which swept the tri-meet. Oratory isn’t known for excellence in too many sports, but the Rams always field a solid cross country squad.
"They get more kids out for cross country because they don’t have a lot of other sports," Treonze explained. "They don’t have football to draw the kids away like we do."
Imagine how deep Manville’s cross country team would be if a handful of football players joined the program. Some of Treonze’s better track athletes are members of the MHS football team.
One bright spot in the double loss was the performance of sophomore Nghi Nguyen, who has established himself as the school’s top runner. Nguyen, who finished fifth in a time of 19:43, continued his consistent improvement with an even faster time in Thursday’s meet against Dayton.
Nguyen cut five more seconds to reach a new personal-best against the Bulldogs. He trailed for most of the race but took the lead in the final mile and hit the home stretch on the track by himself.
"He got tired and I just passed him," Nguyen said. "I was going as fast as I could around the last lap."
Nguyen hit the halfway mark in 9:20, which put him in second place. He stayed near the front and made his move at the right time.
Freshman Luis Martinez was 20 seconds behind at the midpoint but wound up all the way back in sixth (21:06) after a hard sprint down the track that left him a meter shy of fifth place. Martinez improved on his Tuesday time by over a minute.
Senior Jason Zydallis finished closely behind in seventh, hitting the wire in 21:13. Dayton placed seven of the top 10 runners to win the meet easily. Sophomore Dan Volpi (11th, 22:40), junior Joe Zuza (14th, 24:11) and freshman Marc Casamassina (15th, 27:08) also competed for Manville. Zydallis and Volpi also ran over a minute faster than in the previous meet.
The young Mustangs were scheduled to run at least one more dual meet, with the possibility of make-ups against North Plainfield and Dunellen also on the horizon. That leaves the three big championship meets the Mountain Valley, Somerset County and Central Jersey Group 1 races.
The MVC and county meets will be held at Pleasant Valley Park, a hilly and sometimes soggy terrain. The CJ 1 meet will be run at the state championship course at Holmdel Park.
Most of Manville’s runners will be new to this brand of competition. It won’t be a group of 15-20 runners, but a significantly larger field that runs these big races.
"The whole goal there is to not get intimidated," Treonze said. "Our goal is to run better times every time out. (Pleasant Valley) is not an easy course to run on. We’re just going to try to keep improving."

