The Rams are trying to better last year’s marks of 3-8-1 (boys) and 6-6-1 (girls).
By: Neil Hay
If numbers alone mean anything, then with 60 athletes the Hightstown boys’ track team should do well this spring.
Numbers alone, of course, is not the only criterion head coach Jim Firtek and assistants Tom McCafferty and Katie Dahlquist can point to this season. There are plenty of talented runners, jumpers and throwers on the roster, giving rise to optimism that the Rams can improve upon last year’s 3-8-1 record.
"We are looking pretty good right now," said Firtek after Hightstown split its opening double-dual meet of the campaign back on April 2.
"We will have a productive season. The older guys are helping the younger ones. We hope to have a winning season. Time will tell. Everyone is working hard. There is not a team out there we can’t give a good fight to."
On opening day the Rams defeated Allentown, 88-43, but lost to West Windsor-North, 72-58. The meet was held on Hightstown’s track.
In the 100 Mike Demko was second overall in 11.2. Jamal Neptune (53.2) and Scott Moultrie (53.3) went one-two in the 400. Josh Sheldon’s 2:06.1 was best in the 800, with Dan Indellicati (2:09.5) third. Demko (23.9) ran third in the 200, and Graham Apgar’s 10:48.6 was second in the 3200.
Also, Brian Waller (117-3) and James Forkin (110-5) went one-three in the discus, Chuck Burt (128-6) took third in the javelin, Moultrie’s 22 10½ won the long jump, Forkin took the shot put at 48-5, Jarrell Brown high-jumped 5-10 for third place, Chris Stibol’s 11-0 won the pole vault, and Neptune, Sheldon, Bassil Salman and Demko went 3:41.5 for second place in the 4X400.
The locals had some solid finishes in the Mercer County relays at Steinert on April 5. Demko (200), Moultrie (200), Neptune (400), and Sheldon (800) won the sprint medley in 3:47.5. In the high jump relay Moultrie and Burt’s 11-4 gave them first place. Moultrie and Brown also long-jumped a combined 35-9, good for second place. And Forkin’s 51-7 was the first time he broke the 50-foot mark in the shotput.
This past Saturday the Rams competed at Hamilton in the Hall of Fame Classic. In the freshmen-sophomore section of the meet, Nhat Nguyen and Loren Tinger won the discus with a combined throw of 188 7-1/2. Randall Hunt and Nguyen added a second place in the shot put with a combined 71-1. Demko (11.4) and Sam Salter (11.8) took second and third, respectively, in the 100. Salman (55.5) was second in the 400. Demko’s 24.1 was third in the 200. Salman, Indellicati, Demko and Neptune placed third in the 4X400 with a time of 3:44.
"That’s pretty good for four freshmen," said Firtek.
In the junior-senior portion of the meet, Moultrie and Mike Bailey won the long jump at 37 ¾, and went 11-10 in the high jump for second place. Forkin and Greg Scheman placed third in the shot put at 88-10.
"It was a good day for us," summed up Firtek.
Boys returning include seniors Moultrie (sprints, jumps), Stibol (pole), Forkin (shot, discus) and Peter Klapsogeorge (mile, 2-mile), juniors Brown (high jump), Arthur Gorka (vault), Jason Moehringer (800), Sheldon (800, 1600), Scheman (shot, javelin) and Waller (shot, discus), and sophomore Apgar (800, 1600, 3200).
New additions include freshmen Demko (100, 200), Simon Gordonov (mile), Indellicati (800), Neptune (400, 800), and Salter (100, 200, long jump), and sophomores Chris Donelan (100, 200), Burt (javelin), Hunt (shot), Nguyen (discus, shot) and Salman (200, 400).
Tuesday the boys were at Princeton to face the Tigers and Ewing Blue Devils. The Rams defeated the Tigers, 88-43, but lost to Ewing, 93-38, and are now 2-2.
The mile was won by Sheldon, whose 4:47 was best overall. Moultrie (6-2), Brown (6-0), and Bailey (5-10) went one-two-three in the high jump. Moultrie also won the long jump (19-7) and was third in the 200 (24.2).
In the 100 Demko’s 11.2 took third place, Neptune placed third with a 53.6 400, Gorka’s 9-0 was third best in the pole vault, Burt (141 5-1/2) and Scheman (126-8) went two-three in the javelin, and Forkin was second in the shot (45-7) and discus (110-7).
GIRLS
With a large squad of 52 athletes, including 17 returning letter-winners, Hightstown girls spring track coach Don Hess expects his team to be able to contend with just about every team on the schedule.
This spring is different from past years in that Hightstown will face only teams from its own Valley Division. Not until the Mercer County championships on May 10th will the Rams compete against the likes of Trenton, West Windsor-South, Notre Dame and the other Colonial Valley schools.
Hess and assistants Ray Britton (distances) and Sam Turner (weights) are hoping the Rams better last spring’s 6-6-1 record. Having 17 veterans back is a good start in that direction. The returnees include seniors Claire Baumann (sprints), Nicole Allen (sprints), Colleen DeLuca (hurdles), Latoya Ellis (sprints), Kristen Ewer (discus, shotput), Kristin Healey (javelin), Jen Ewins (discus, shotput), Sonii Kollie (hurdles), Katie Lawler (distances), Sarah Mitchell (javelin), and Elena Tous (distances).
Also back on board is junior Stephanie Pinney (distances), and sophomores Chrissie Baumann (sprints), Anne-Lise Cossart (hurdles), Amanda Marshall (discus, shotput, javelin), Victoria Schemelia (distances) and Natalie Nunez (sprints).
Of the remaining 35 girls, several are being counted on to score points right from the opening meet. One of the key new additions is senior transfer (from Ohio) Kathleen Beachler, who competes in the sprints and triple jump. Other important newcomers include the freshmen twins Kelly (weights) and Kristen (distances) Bircsak, soph sprinter Tanya Gordonov, freshman hurdler Morgan Woroniecki, senior hurdler Carly Steele, senior distance runners Danielle Klapper, Wendy Niedleman, and Rebecca Wilusz, sophomore distance runner Melanie Wolfson, and freshmen Monica Holness (sprints), Karina Martinez (distances) and Jessica Vansant (sprints).
"We have a nice group of girls. With seventeen letter-winners I am optimistic we will have a decent season. We have a large group of underclassmen who are working very hard. I am very pleased."
The 2003 spring season began back on April 2 with the Rams hosting a double-dual meet. When the day’s running, jumping, and throwing was over Hightstown had a 65-57 win over Allentown, and a 61.5-60.5 loss to West Windsor-North.
First places in their respective events against Allentown and North went to Woroniecki (18.2 100 high hurdles), Tous (12:18.3 3200), Marshall (38 1¼ shot put; 109-2 discus), and Mitchell (117-6 javelin). Beachler (32 8-1/4) also won the triple jump, added this year with the pole vault as non-scoring events.
In other top three results, Kollie was third (74.8) in the 400 intermediate and second (19.1) in the 100 high hurdles. Tous second in the 1600 (5:42.2), Allen second in the long jump (15 11-3/4), Beachler third in the long jump (15-6) and Martinez third in the 800 (2:37.7). Also, Chrissie Baumann, Nunez, Lawler, and Kristen Bircsak placed second in the 4X400 in 4:36.3. Marshall was second (98-5) in the javelin, Healey third (94-0) in the javelin and Ewins was second (31 3-1/4) in the shot and third (87-3) in the discus.
The Rams placed an unofficial third in April 5th’s Mercer Relays at Steinert. Mitchell and Marshall combined on a 209-0 to win the javelin relay, Ellis and Beachler scored a first place in the triple jump with their 57-1 effort, and Ewins and Marshall gained the top showing in the discus when they went 193-8.
In other results, Marshall and Ellis placed second in the shot with their 69 3-3/4. Cossart, Kollie and Woroniecki raced to a third place finish in the 3X400 hurdles with a 3:58.2. Allen and Beachler long-jumped 26-9 for third place.
There were over 80 teams at last Saturday’s Huskie Relays at Matawan High School. Competing in Division II, Hightstown placed eighth with 25 points.
Marshall and Ewins doubled for the Rams, winning the shot put relay with a combined 65-11 and the discus with their 170-7. In the shuttle hurdles, DeLuca, Woroniecki, Kollie and Steele placed sixth in 1:19.9.
Tuesday the Rams split at Princeton, defeating the Tigers 64-58 while losing to Ewing 77-45. The girls are now 2-2.
Mitchell (119-2) sparked a sweep of the javelin, with Marshall (98-11) and Healey (86-11) two-three. Marshall doubled by winning the shot (36 9-1/4) and discus (109 9-1/2), another Hightstown sweep with Ewins (82-6) and Kristen Bircsak (68-11) filling the next two spots. Ewins (32 2-1/2) also took second in the shot.
In other results, Kollie scored a second overall in the 400 hurdles (72.4) and thirds in the 100 hurdles (19.1) and long jump (13-10). Ellis’ 13.5 was third best in the 100, as was Martinez’ 2:37.3 in the 800. DeLuca added a second when she high-jumped 4-10.

