PHS boys, South girls are area’s best
By: Justin Feil
The first Mercer County Championship in two seasons proved to be a solid ending to the winter track season and a good kick-start to the spring track season for many area teams and individuals.
Held at Widener University on Sunday, the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls and Princeton High boys each finished third in the team standings. The Pirates trailed winner Trenton and second-place Hopewell Valley while PHS finished behind Trenton and Ewing.
"We did great," said PHS boys’ head coach John Woodside. "The kids were terrific. They grew up as a team today. We went into the meet and the goal was to get third and we did it, and we did it convincingly without everything going smoothly. It was a great all-around day for the kids."
Mike Huse led the way with a win in the two mile. Matt Susan was second in the 55 dash with teammate Josh Huang coming in sixth. David Silbergeld was fifth in the 800. Carlos Espichan was fifth in the mile and sixth in the two mile. Calvin Reed was fifth in the high jump. Princeton’s 4×400 team, despite losing its top two runners Susan and Huang to hamstring injuries in the 55 dash, came in second.
"Mike won the 3200 and he ran a terrific, fantastic race," Wood side said. "He took them down. Matt Susan is running terrific. Outside of (winner) Aiden Sanderson, he was clear of the rest of the field. He ran his best time. He ran a 6.61, which is quite a bit faster than what he ran last week at Groups. He’s really coming along.
"Carlos had a breakthrough in the 1600. He was fifth and ran a best for indoors, 4:45. He also doubled back and ran well in the 3200. Calvin Reed placed in the high jump. Dave Silbergeld ran his best time ever and was fifth. He ran a terrific leg in the relay."
Woodside couldn’t stop beaming about the second-place finish in the 4×400 by a team he’d hoped would finish third with all its healthy runners.
"I had to substitute after I took my two fastest guys out of the relay," he said. "The kids ran fantastic. They came up big. We really came down the stretch to finish it off.
"We had good performances up and down the board. Our hurdlers all had their best times and in the day, I believe everyone had the best times. We had a really good day."
The PHS girls were fourth, the West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys were fifth and the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North boys finished in a tie for ninth. The WW-PN girls did not score.
"It was a marked improvement from a week ago," said PHS girls’ head coach Andre Bridgett, whose squad didn’t qualify anyone for this coming Sunday’s Meet of Champions from last week’s Group III meet.
Sunday, there were far more highlights for the Little Tigers. Alison Crowley was third in the 55 hurdles in a new school record 8.94, well below her season-best and former record of 9.20. She also finished fifth in the 55-meter dash.
"I was very pleased with that," Bridgett said. "She was third behind two girls from Trenton."
Simone Awor was second in the high jump, though she and Notre Dame’s Lauren King each cleared 5 feet. King won, however, because she had one less miss. Eleanora Spinazzi was fourth in the two mile, while Meaghan Lynch was fifth in the mile and sixth in the 800. Kia Anderson was sixth in the 400.
"I was really pleased with the accomplishments we had," Bridgett said. "It was a pretty good day for some of the kids. I thought it went pretty well. Alison had a good day. Simone had a good day. Meaghan Lynch had a good day. We had girls who had great days, but didn’t finish in the top six. I’m hoping for the young ladies who were able to finish among the best to be able to carry that over to the spring season."
The Little Tiger girls had a chance for third place, but South and Lisa Miller had just enough of a kick to hold them off in the 4×400.
"The girls realized that they were third going into the relay," said WW-PS head coach Todd Smith. "The girls knew they just had to beat Princeton to hold on. The girls came out of the second heat to finish third and stay ahead of Princeton."
It didn’t hurt that earlier in the meet Miller outkicked Hopewell’s Kate Willever for a photo-finish win by one-hundredth of a second in the mile, then returned to win the two mile by almost 22 seconds over Ewing’s Carolyn Calhoun. She also teamed up with Allison Warner, who took third in the 800, and Michelle Barbarasch and Emily Piuggi for the third-place 4×400 team.
"Her mile time was a little slow," Smith said. "But her two-mile time was 11:40, which was just about what she’s been running. We went out with a plan and she stuck to it and ran well. She got the Most Courageous Runner Award."
Christina Brocker was sixth in the two mile to round out the Pirate girls’ scoring.
For the WW-PS boys, Joe Ennis was second in the two mile and third in the mile, Ted Mavraganis was fifth in the 400 and Mavraganis, Robert Owens, Ruddy Lopez and Dan Zeilberger teamed up to finish fifth in the 4×400 and secure fifth-place overall.
"We did very well," Smith said. "It’s still an extremely young team. On the boys’ side, the guys stepped up. Joe Ennis ran well and Ted stepped up. It was good. They were excited and pleased to see us do well. The boys were really happy with fifth."
Gabe Cheng picked up all four of WW-P North’s points with a fourth-place finish in the shot put.
"That was a three-foot PR," said WW-PN head coach Brian Gould of Cheng’s 43-feet, 5¾-inch throw. "He came out of nowhere. He was fifth out of six going into the finals and when he got his three extra throws, he threw 43-5.
"We weren’t expecting to score a lot of points. But all of them came up with a lot of personal records. It was nice for Gabe to go first and get some excitement up when everyone saw Gabe score. Vance Williams finished in the top 10 in hurdles and Rebecca Pierson finished in the top 10 in the mile. They all did really well."
All that’s left for most area winter track athletes is looking forward to the spring season, and Gould is enthused about what the Knights could have this spring.
"Gabe is only going to get better," he said. "As far as the girls go, the distance team was just five girls. A lot of the cross country girls didn’t come out. When Rebecca has some faster girls to train with, she’ll get better. They got a taste of success this winter. And hopefully we can build off that for the outdoor season."
Of the area competitors, only Lisa Miller in the mile and two mile and Matt Susan in the 55 dash have qualified for the Meet of Champions that will be held 11 a.m. Sunday at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym. From Somerset County school Montgomery, Steve Laporta will run in the 55 hurdles and the Cougar girls’ 4×400 team will also compete to close the winter track season.

