Allentown prepares for first winter track meets
First-year team generating plenty of interest
As the assistant athletic director at Allentown High School, Maureen Nosal has been pushing for the creation of a winter track team for years.
Nosal, who along with Doug Hunt oversees the cross country program at Allentown, thought a winter track program would attract a substantial number of athletes looking to improve their physical conditioning, while also searching for another outlet to quell their competitive spirits.
Well, this year, through the help of some creative budgeting, Nosal got her wish, and based on the numbers, she appears to have been correct in her assumption that Allentown students would respond to the team’s formation.
"We’ve got about 22 kids on both the boys’ and the girls’ teams, and we’re off to a great start," she said. "The kids are very excited, and they’re working hard. We’re writing the record books this season, and they’re eager to compete."
The Redbirds will only compete in four major meets, since there are no indoor facilities available for schools in Mercer County to hold dual meets.
But those meets will offer a great opportunity for the Allentown athletes to compete against some of the state’s top track stars.
The first meet will be Jan. 6 at Princeton University when Allentown competes with the state’s other Group II schools at the NJSIAA Group II Relays. It will allow the Redbirds to see how they match up with other schools of similar size throughout the state.
From there, they’ll head to the Colonial Valley Conference Relay Championships at Lawrenceville Jan. 16.
Then on Jan. 20, the individual leg of state competition will take place, as they will return to Princeton to take part in the NJSIAA Group II Championships.
And on Feb. 1, they will complete their inaugural indoor track and field season by competing in the CVC’s Individual Championships at the Peddie School.
Competing in such high-level atmospheres could be a bit intimidating for first-year competitors, but Nosal explains that winning championships is not the primary goal of her team as it gets its feet wet.
"We’re just looking for the kids to be dedicated and committed to the sport," she said.
"We’ve had some wonderful practices thus far, and we’re really just looking to give the kids a chance to actualize their potential. It’s an individual team sport, but our main goal is just to see them improve and have fun.
"Hanging banners in the gym is not the main objective here," she added.
"This is about the journey more than the destination. But if the championships fall into place later, that would be a bonus," she continued.
For now, Nosal is just hoping her girls team has as much fun competing as she is coaching them.
And from what she’s seen so far, she has a slew of gifted athletes who appear to be ready to compete.
"We have a great core of distance runners from the soccer and cross country teams," she said. "And we’re in the process of developing some sprinters and field event specialists."
Leading the list of field event participants is senior Karen Fiscol, who will be a leader of this team once they reach the competitions.
The crew of distance runners, all of whom will be competing in one of three events (the 800 meters, and 1-mile and 2-mile races) includes juniors Liz King, Dana Burke, Nicole Mann, Lauren Farrel and Christina Amodel.
As far as the sprint events go, Nosal will look to freshman Dominique Zolney, as well as Jessica Archer, Kristie DePinto and Meghan Skeehan.
Mann and Zolney will also compete in the high jump and hurdles, while sophomore Jessica Falco and Sarah McCarthy are two up-and-coming shot putters.
With just the four meets to key on, Nosal admits it’s been somewhat difficult to keep her girls enthused for the past month about coming to practice and working hard.
But she noted that as Jan. 6 approaches, she sees the girls beginning to concentrate a little more with each passing day.
"It was hard to keep focus for the past month, so we’ve been practicing every other day, and trying to keep it fun," she said.
"But the kids see the light at the end of the tunnel now, so they’re beginning to get excited."
Both Nosal and Hunt (the boys’ coach), are pleased with the progress of the winter track program thus far, and are especially proud of the effort their athletes have made to make this a successful venture.
"I just don’t want any kids to leave high school wishing they could have competed more," she said. "This is the kind of start that Doug and I foresaw when we pushed for the program, so we’re excited about it."
And with 44 kids jumping aboard at the program’s inception, it appears that the formation of this team was a good idea after all.