Raider athletes keep busy at prestigious meet
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High boys’ distance medley team didn’t go to the Penn Relays to compete against Hunterdon Central. They were shooting for a fast time and a possible medal at the prestigious event.
When the Raiders fell just over two seconds behind Central for sixth place, they felt like they had given it their best shot. Since medals were awarded to the top five finishers, losing to Central didn’t cost the Raiders any hardware.
Hillsborough left everything on the track and finished just fractions of a second off their qualifying time with a 10:28.86.
"We could’ve beaten Central if we were just thinking about beating them," said HHS anchorman Mike Klueber, who finished up with a 4:26.9 effort for the final 3,200 meters. "We were thinking about getting the best position possible. I went after the top guys and wound up paying for it, but I ran with those guys."
Having pre-qualified for the marquee Championship of America race on Friday night, the Raider foursome went to work in front of a crowd of 39,104 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Junior Nick Vaccaro led off with a stellar 3:09 in the 1,200 and Tony Flores moved into second place with a sizzling 49.9 showing over 400 meters. Senior Matt Lunemann dropped back into fourth place in the 800 leg with a 2:01 split before handing it over to Klueber.
"When I got the stick, there was so much confusion," Klueber said. "Matt was boxed in so he went off to the side. He was right in the center of six kids running and everyone was trying to get the best position."
Klueber took off and ran too fast on his first lap, posting his fastest first lap split (62.0) ever. He settled back into fourth place and still had a shot to make a surge at the front runners but didn’t have enough energy at the end.
"I was in position to win it and I held off for a while but then I couldn’t get a kick," Klueber said. "They put in their kick and a few guys passed me on the final straightway."
One of those runners was Central anchor Chris Pannone, who ran 4:21 on the anchor leg to propel the Red Devils. Klueber and his mates still enjoyed a great experience.
"It was really exciting," Klueber said. "You could see the stadium building up with people. The place was filled."
North Penn (Pa.) won the race in 10:17.47, followed by a pair of New Jersey teams Haddonfield (10:20.30) and St. Benedict’s Prep (10:22.30).
While Friday’s conditions were ideal for the Raiders, the HHS girls ran in cold rain in Thursday’s opening day of action. Senior Jaci Pfeiffer didn’t mind the conditions, finishing second in her heat and ninth overall in the 400 hurdles (1:04.50).
"It was freezing, but I like running in the drizzling rain so it didn’t really bother me," said Pfeiffer, who also competed in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays later in the day. "I just watched the Trenton girl and made sure I beat her to every hurdle."
Teammate Lauren Kloss placed 15th overall in 1:07.63 and also ran on the two relay. Kloss and Pfeiffer joined Caitlin Kosec and Erin Crawford in the 4×400 (4:06.62) and ran with Crawford and Ebony Foster in the 4×100 (51.61).
NOTES Former Raider distance star Kristen Meyer, now a freshman at the University of Connecticut, enjoyed a little reunion with her high school coaches and teammates at Penn… The 2001 HHS graduate competed in the steeplechase and finished 14th overall with her best time… Meyer will run in the Big East Championships on her home campus in Storrs, Conn. to wrap up her first college season.