Senior captains MHS track team
By: Justin Feil
With freshmen making up nearly half of the Montgomery High boys’ winter track and field team, it’s hard to find much experience among the team. It’s what makes Brad Pottorf so important to the Cougars.
Pottorf is a co-captain along with Steven Laporta and he has been competing on the track since he was a middle schooler in Ohio. And just as important to MHS as his great speed is, his experience may be just as valuable.
"I’ve run all four years of winter (track) here," said the MHS senior. "And in middle school I ran a little. I’ve been running track for six years. And I’ve done outdoor track for four years as well. And I’ve done cross country for two years."
But even as Pottorf has added cross country’s distance running to his fall schedule, he’s moved more toward being a dominant sprinter.
"He’s our top sprinter, and he was one of our top distance runners," said MHS head coach Jen Riddell, who was a cross country assistant coach. "It’s a little different. He’s a man of many talents."
Pottorf came off his best season of cross country yet, in which he was in the Cougars’ top five. And he’s showed early that he hasn’t lost any of his sprinter speed.
Pottorf anchored Montgomery’s 4×200 relay that won at the Somerset County Championships held at Lehigh University on Monday. He also anchored the 4×400 relay that came in third. At the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational, the 4×200 team was third. And in their dual meet with North Brunswick, he won the 800.
"I’m winning a lot more than I was last year," Pottorf said. "I’m willing to go anywhere below the 1600."
"He was very dependable in cross country," Riddell said. "He’s stepping it up for winter track. He can run the 200, the 400, and I have him in the 4×400. If we need points, I’ll have him in the 800. He seems very excited for this year."
That excitement stems as much from being a leader for the Cougars as it does from looking forward to his senior season.
"I wanted to be a captain last year when we didn’t have many seniors," Pottorf said. "I was disappointed when she didn’t make me a captain. I’m probably the one with the most experience on the team. Other guys come to me and ask, ‘How should I run my race? How should I come out of the blocks? How should we hand off?’"
They’re the same questions that Pottorf had as a freshman who alternated on the Cougars’ top 4×400 team. Now he’s providing the answers as he looks to prepare for a career in college.
"I want to run the 400 in college," he said. "In middle school I was mostly focused on the 800. I used to run the 800 really well. I was fourth in the district as an eighth grader in a much bigger district. I’ve been used to running distance, but I just got better at the 200 and 400."
In his freshman year at Montgomery, his focus began to change to the shorter distances when he finished the 400 in 56 seconds. Last year, he made some of his biggest strides when he steered away from distance training.
"Last spring, the coach wanted the distance guys to run a lot of miles on the road," he said. "I thought that would be too far, so I didn’t do nearly as much as them. I focused on what I was good at. I improved my 400 time by three seconds and my 800 time by two seconds."
By season’s end, he had lowered his best 400 time to 52 seconds outdoors. Pottorf is hoping to pick up where he left off in the spring, and with his strength already established from cross country as well as some weight lifting this year, he’s off to a good start while continuing to mix in some distance training with sprint work.
"I’m doing really well right now," he said. "I hope to run as well as I did in outdoors. It’s tougher indoors (because of the tighter turns), but maybe I can do 52 indoors. That would break the school record.
"I want to bring the 4×400 to the Meet of Champions and break the school record. And I want to bring the 4×200 to the Meet of Champions."
That would be quite an accomplishment with all that’s been on Pottorf’s schedule. In addition to putting together an impressive track resume, he’s been applying to colleges and finishing up his Eagle Scout project.
"I’ve found a little time to run," he said. "I figured I have the mileage base (from cross country), and I’ll still be in good shape. Cross country is just to stay in shape, get a varsity letter and win conferences, which we did for the first time this year."
Pottorf is hoping for similar success on the track this winter and it’s looking more and more possible. The 4×400 team has found two capable replacements to team with Laporta and Pottorf, and the 4×200 team has a good mix of young and old.
"I knew we always had a good 4×200 team," Pottorf said. "Last year, we got placed in the wrong heat. I knew we’d have a fast enough team, but we didn’t have the competition to push us. I think we could have made it if we had the competition."
It’s part of the motivation to make this season his best yet. It wasn’t one of his most pleasant memories, but its something that Brad Pottorf hasn’t forgotten. On a young MHS boys’ winter track and field team, any experience is invaluable.

