Leake clears 5-2.
By:Sean Moylan
Latasha Leake and Ashley Platz left fans of the Northern Burlington County Regional High School varsity girls’ track team "jumping" for joy when their combined mark of 10 feet earned them first place in the high jump relay at Saturday’s Group III NJSIAA Relay Championships at Jadwin Gym.
"Technically, Tasha (Leake) won overall (with a 5-foot-2 inch jump) on an individual level," noted NBC head coach Steve Alustiza. Leake cleared 5-2 on fewer tries than anyone else in the competition.
While none of the Greyhounds’ other relay teams medalled, there were several notables. NBC’s distance medley relay squad of Nikki Salenetri, Rachel Bumbera and Suzy Wichtel placed 11th overall with a 13:43.54 time, while NBC’s 4 x 800 squad (Nikki Salenetri, Carley Pogorzelski, Tawny Barin and Suzy Wichtel) took 16th place with its 10:56 mark.
In the 1600 sprint medley, Lyndsay Mouse, Caitlin Crawbuck, Nicole Sieck and Nicole Conger combined for a 4:56 25th-place time.
On the boys’ side, NBC’s Danny Alustiza and Jon Snell just missed medalling with their seventh-place finish in the high jump. Nevertheless, they should do well in the individual meet in a couple of weeks.
Northern Burlington’s 4X200 relay team (Matt Dunaway, Ben McWha, Eric Munoz and Willie Munoz) and its 4X55 shuttle hurdles squad (Danny Alustiza, Jon Snell, Brandon Coleman and Billy Warren) each placed 17th overall. In the 1600 sprint medley, the Greyhounds (Matt Dunaway, Eric Munoz, Willie Munoz and Ben Berben) came in 22nd place.
While Coach Alustiza has been pleased with the success of this winter’s track program, he’s able to keep the proper perspective.
"Winter track to me is keeping them in shape for spring track," noted Coach Alustiza.
The Group III individual championships will be held on February 2nd. Then the Meet of Champions will be held on February 16th. Both are at Jadwin Gym.
BRHS
Despite a lower than expected 12th seeding, Rob Novak ran a 4:45 time to medal in the 1600 meter race at Sunday’s Group I NJSIAA Indoor Individual Track Championship at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.
The Bordentown Regional High School varsity track star was one of the only local competitors to advance to the Meet of Champions out of Group I.
"I was pretty happy (with Novak’s finish)," said Bordentown Coach Charlie Miller. "He was a 12th seed and he ended up in sixth, which was good. He started in a California start running in the outside lane for the first lap which affected his time. Still, that time (4:45.60) is good for mid-January."
Coach Miller believes that Novak can lower his time to 4:36 by February 16th’s Meet of Champions.
While Novak was the only member of the Scotties to medal, Nickos Angelopoulos deserves a lot of credit for pushing Novak in practices and running a fine 5:03 time in the 1600 this past Sunday.
Novak, Angelopoulos and Mike Gibson (who ran a 59 second time in the 400) arrived at Princeton at 1:30 p.m., but the 1600 meter race did not get underway until 6 p.m. Therefore, they did well just to stay warmed-up.
Courtney Clemens, Bordentown’s great hurdler and jumper, has an injury so she chose not to compete.
If Novak can keep his concentration and maintain his training regimen, he should do well in the Meet of Champions.

