RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
Erin Crawford ran another electrifying race in last week’s Ridgewood Varsity Classic at the New York City Armory.
The Hillsborough High junior, fresh off her double-silver medal performance at the Meet of Champions and double-gold medal night at the Skyland Conference Championships, finished second to state rival Tawana Watkins of Paterson Kennedy in the 800-meter run.
Crawford and Watkins, who also won the 800 at the Meet of Champions, locked in another classic speed duel on the Armory’s fast track. Although she finished just 1.1 seconds behind Watkins, Crawford established yet another new HHS record with a sizzling time of 2:15.9.
The Hillsborough girls broke their own school record in the 4×400 relay later in the day. Jaci Pfeiffer (62.5 split), Caitlin Kosec (63.6), Lauren Kloss (59.5) and Crawford (56.8) posted a time of 4:03.2 that finished third in the race.
Pfeiffer, who set a school and county mark in the 55 hurdles (8.2) at the Skyland meet, finished seventh at the Varsity Classic in 8.5 seconds. Pfeiffer didn’t place in the 200 but set a school record (26.3) in the event. Kloss tied her school mark with an 8-0 in the pole vault.
Ashley Uniszkiewicz took 12th overall in the 3,200 in 11:48.6 and anchored the 4×800 team to a solid 10:08.1 showing. Uniszkiewicz (2:33.2 split) was joined by leadoff runner Jessica Tsai (2:29.2), Katie King (2:30.9) and Lauren Van Cleef (2:35.4).
Two Raider boys’ relay teams ran well to finish in the top 10 at the Varsity Classic. The 4×800 team of Nick Vaccaro (2:01.8), Mike Klueber (2:03.2), Dave Berry (2:06.5) and Matt Lunemann (1:58.9) finished seventh in 8:09.9, while the 4×400 unit of Tony Flores (51.8), Vaccaro (53.0), Mike Barberio (51.5) and Lunemann (53.7) took eighth in 3:28.7.
HHS also ran a B team that posted a solid time (3:43) in the 4×400. Asmor Green and Aniel Sahota opened with 54.9 splits, followed by Jeff Meltzer (56.1) and Berry (57.4).
Three Raiders broke the five-minute mark in the 1,600 meters Joe Brennan (4:42.3), Jared Lewinski (4:54.2) and Erik Szaboscik (4:53.4).
Hillsborough’s track athletes are looking ahead to the Easterns (Feb. 26) at the Armory and the Nike Classic national meet (March 9-10) in Maryland.
Wrestlers finish
with two victories
The HHS wrestling team responded after its tough loss to South Brunswick in the quarterfinal round of the Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs by defeating two other Middlesex County teams.
Road victories at Piscataway (29-22) and East Brunswick (45-13) allowed the Raiders to enter the District 18 Championships on a two-match win streak and finish the regular season with a solid 12-6 record.
Junior 103-pounder Andrew Gewain ran his record to 22-2 by pinning Piscataway’s Ian Forrester in 3:21 and beating East Brunswick’s Corey Ritchings in a 5-1 decision. Other Raiders posting victories in both dual meets included Randy Van Cleef (125), Mike Detsis (130), Jared Wagner (135-140), Pat Jastrzebski (145-152), Kristian Molloy (160-171), Dan Miller (171-189) and heavyweight Antonio D’Amelio.
Van Cleef notched a pair of major decisions, Detsis scored two decisions, Wagner posted a major and a standard decision and Jastrzebski won two close ones. Molloy, Miller and D’Amelio all registered close decisions to make the difference at Piscataway. Molloy and D’Amelio pinned their opponents at East Brunswick, while Miller won by technical fall.
Kevin Herlihy (119) added a big pin at Piscataway, while Tye Wagner (112), Chris Damiano (140) and Phil Lavoie (152) provided points against East Brunswick.
Hoop teams sweep
at Montgomery
Both Raider basketball teams established a little momentum heading into the weekend before the Somerset County semifinals by defeating stubborn Montgomery squads in a road girl-boy doubleheader.
The HHS girls extended their win streak to 17 straight with a 47-40 triumph over the upstart Lady Cougars. The game was tied at the half but Hillsborough took the lead in the third quarter and held Montgomery to seven points in the fourth quarter to win it.
Jenn Geigert hit four 3-pointers and four free throws to lead all scorers with 16 points. Tiara Simpkins and Janet Henry supported the winning cause with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The HHS boys made it a clean sweep with another exciting victory in the nightcap. Jon Leonard’s three with eight seconds remaining propelled the Raiders to a 44-43 triumph.
Leonard finished with only six points on two threes, well below his season average, but he connected from downtown when it counted. Teammates Mike Malko (15) and Danny Phillips (10) led the scoring. Malko and Chris Haas (8 points) each added a three for the winners, who trailed by 14 points at the break but finished the game on a 19-8 tear.