Randal forced to wait in his pursuit of record
By: Carolyn M. Hartko
Talk about being all dressed up with no place to go.
All the area track teams were assembled under a very threatening sky at South Brunswick High School this past Tuesday afternoon for the first half of the Greater Middlesex Conference Relay Championships. With just one event concluded (the boys’ 400 meter hurdle relay), threat became reality as thunder and lightning forced officials to clear the Viking stadium and eventually postpone the meet. Tuesday’s schedule was shifted to Wednesday, and Wednesday’s events are scheduled for today (Thursday), starting at 4 p.m.
Although only the boys’ hurdle race was complete, everything resumed on Wednesday at the point of stoppage. That was particularly important to the athletes in the field events who had already recorded good throws or jumps. But according to Viking boys’ head coach Dan Kerekes, his squad was still disappointed with the delay.
"Our kids were really looking forward to this meet," the coach said. "They want to prove to the other teams around that we’re actually a quality team. I guess some of our kids feel like we’re not getting any respect right now, and this is our opportunity to show people that we can contend."
One Viking squad felt the disappointment a little more than their teammates. The meet halted in the middle of the girls’ 400 meter hurdle flight, and the next event up would have been the boys’ 4×1600.
Stretching out on the infield, and ready to hit the track were Dan McDonald, Ankush Patel, Scott Yeager and senior anchorman Matt Randal. The Viking milers had a double mission: win this race and knock off the old school record for the event. The foursome was just two or three seconds shy of the mark at the Pinelands Relays earlier in the season (18:37).
As an individual, Randal is 1.5 seconds short of catching South’s long-standing 1600 record of 4:22.5. That will go nicely with his sophomore and junior class records in the 800. A three-season runner, Randal has also collected a few stats in cross country. He holds the Viking records for the following courses: Holmdel (16:44), Monmouth Battlefield (17:02) and SBHS (16:27).
In spite of Randal’s prowess in cross country, he always concentrated on the 800 meter distance (approximately half a mile) for winter and spring track. But that’s changed this year.
"I used to be a half miler," Randal said. "I’ve run the half mile twice (this spring), but it wasn’t individually. It was a split. So, basically, I’m a miler now."
Randal expects to stick with the longer races in college. He’ll be running the mile, two mile, and possibly the 5K for the College of New Jersey next year. He plans on majoring in sports management, or health and physical education. It’s not hard to imagine where he got his interest in those fields.
A career direction isn’t the only thing Randal has gotten out of his participation in high school sports.
"First of all, you have all these guys with you all year, every year, so you make a lot of friends and you have special bonds with them," Randal said. "And sports makes you better overall. It makes you a hard worker. You realize that you have a certain time to run, and practice, and then other times it’s academics and stuff. So, it makes you a more organized person in school and outside of school."
As with most high school athletes, Randal has little free time outside of schoolwork and his sport. But with what spare time he has, he joined Interact, an SBHS community service organization last year, and this past fall he volunteered with the local Democrats around election time.
"We helped hand out flyers, and we put up signs and stuff like that," Randal said. "And we did a phone canvas – those courtesy calls where you (remind people) to vote."
But this spring, all the effort is being put into finishing off his high school track career with a bang. And according to his coach, he has the attitude to pull it off.
"Matt has that drive to just do whatever he can, always, to win," Kerekes said. "He’s got the motivation for that extra little push to finish a race. A perfect example is the Holmdel relays when he was 30 meters behind. He came and caught the guy and won. He’s got that determination. A lot of people would give up on it, but Matt thrives on that."