Florence girls’ track to hold first meet

Meet was scheduled for Thursday in Burlington City

By: Sean Moylan
   "This Thursday (today) is the first ever all girls track meet for Florence at Burlington City," said Florence Coach Mike Flynn, who is proud to have finally put together a full girls’ squad, which will compete for meets. "It will definitely be history making."
   Coach Flynn is especially excited because each score his girls’ team posts will be a school record. However, he already has a pretty good varsity track and field team in the boys’ squad.
   In fact, this past Tuesday at Florence, the Flashes boys’ team crushed New Egypt, 112-10.
   Joey Oros was a big winner for the Flashes with victories in the 100 and 200.
   "He’s (Oros) a power runner," said Coach Flynn, who claims Oros uses his muscular 170-pound frame to generate his speed.
   Murjani Rawls, who is more slight of build than Oros, but almost as talented, placed second in the 100 and the 200.
   Laron Thomas, perhaps Florence’s greatest all-around weapon, won the intermediate hurdles and the high jump. Bryan Miller was victorious in the shot put event, while Chad Kessler won the javelin. In the distance races, Kenan Kol took the 1600 while Florence teammate Mike Van Norman captured the 3200. Jim Melnyk crossed the finish line first in the 800.
   "I think this year we’ve proven we’re a pretty consistent team," said Coach Flynn.
   Last Thursday Maple Shade defeated Florence, 100-31.
   "Joey Oros won in the 100 and 200 and that was about it," said Coach Flynn of the meet versus a very talented Maple Shade squad.
   On Saturday, both Florence’s boys’ (4-3) and girls’ teams will compete in the divisional meet at Northern Burlington.
   "After Thursday we’ll get a better idea of where we stand," said Coach Flynn.
   Then on Tuesday, Florence is scheduled at Riverside.
   BRHS
   This past Tuesday’s meet between the Bordentown Regional High School boy’s varsity track and field squad and Cinnaminson pitted two of South Jersey’s best milers against each other in Cinnaminson’s Jon Anderson and Bordentown’s Rob Novak.
   Novak ran his best time of the year with a 4:32 mark. However, Anderson was flying and took first place honors with a sparking 4:28 time in the meet, which was held at Cinnaminson.
   "Rob (Novak) . . . he just went out too fast," said Bordentown Coach Charlie Miller, who believes Novak will be running better than a 4:28 by season’s end.
   Cinnaminson won the overall Meet, 80-51, even through Bordentown posted some of its best marks of the season. Nevertheless, Bordentown’s Kelvin Barnett captured the 100 and 200 while teammate Mike Malone won the pole vault (12 feet 6 inches) and Rob Higgins took the discus.
   Novak also came in second in the 800. To use an example of just how competitive the meet was, Bordentown’s Steve DiLemme ran a splendid 4:39 mile and that was only good enough for fourth place.
   "That’s (4:39) a great time," said Coach Miller, who looked on as DiLemme posted a great 10:21 time in the 3200 only to come in second.
   Furthermore, Bordentown’s 4 x 400 relay team (Barnett, Mike Steffen, Fred Mendenhall and Novak) ran its best time in 15 years, a 3:30.4, yet it still lost for the first time this season.
   Even so, there were other bright spots for the Scotties. Cody Scott posted second-place finishes in the high hurdles and the long jump (19 feet 11 inches) and he won the high jump (5 feet 8 inches). Mike Gibson placed second in the 400 with a 54.4 second time. Bordentown is 4-2 on the season.
   Novak will get a chance to race Anderson again when the dynamic duo compete against one another at this Saturday’s divisional meet at NBC.
   At the past Saturday’s South Jersey Invitational Novak came in fourth in the 800 with a 1:57.8 time, which was the identical time as the second and third place finishers. Anderson won the race.
   On the Bordentown girls’ side, Lenore Crummel placed third in the 400 with a great 59.3 second time at Saturday’s Ike Willis Relays.
   Then on Tuesday, Cinnaminson beat Bordentown, 71-51, at Bordentown.
   NBC
Once again, the Northern Burlington County Regional High School girls’ varsity track and field team’s great stars came up big to win a 65-57 meet at Allentown last Wednesday (April 30) and a 86-28 home meet versus Pemberton this past Tuesday.
   Allentown, a team stronger in the events NBC is a bit weaker in, offered the greatest challenge.
   "Basically, I knew they (the Redbirds) had good sprinters and they did," said the Greyhounds’ long-time head coach Steve Alustiza.
   "I told the girls it would be a close meet."
   NBC won because its stars all had great days. Erica Davis won the shot put and discus events easily and Aleyna Shafer posted a win in the javelin. Latasha Leake had a great day, which included wins in both the high jump and the high hurdles. Nikki Salenetri captured the 800 while Sarah Grossman took the 3200 and Suzy Wichtel was victorious in the mile.
   NBC had a much easier time defeating Pemberton on Tuesday.
   Davis, of course, won the shot put event (36 feet 8 ¼ inches) and the discus (128 feet 4 inches) while Shafer took the javelin with a 105 foot 10 inch toss. Ashley Platz had about as good a day as an athlete can have without winning any events. She took second in the discus, javelin and high jump and third in the high hurdles.
   Latasha Leake won the high hurdles (16.9 seconds), the long jump (15 feet 5 inches) and the high jump (5 feet 6 inches). She rarely loses any of these events. NBC’s Suzy Wichtel, Grossman and Madison Turanin finished 1-2-3 respectively in the 1600.
   NBC’s distance team, known for its incredible class and dignity, made Tuesday’s two-mile race a special one.
   "They (Grossman and Wichtel) made it possible for Madison (Turanin) to win," said Coach Alustiza.
   Turanin always runs a strong 3200 but usually she places second or third. On Tuesday, Grossman (who placed second) and Wichtel (who came in third) worked as good teammates to make sure Turanin, a great kid, came out on top because she deserved it.
   Meanwhile, Salenetri placed first in the 800 and Carley Pogorzelski was the runner-up. Katie Norton won the 400 and placed third in the 200. Casey D’Arcy was second in the 200 and thirdrd in the 100. Andea Alford (second in the shot), Terran Leake (second in the intermediate hurdles) and Megan Koenig (third in the javelin) also had good days for Northern Burlington, which now has a 3-2 record for the season.
   NBC is scheduled to host Saturday’s divisional meet.