Crowley hoping for continued success in states
By: Justin Feil
Alison Crowley doesn’t want Saturday’s Mercer County Track Championships to be the last time she faced the girls of Trenton High this season. But the only way for the Princeton High junior to get another shot at them is by making the Meet of Champions.
"I want to run against those girls again," Crowley said, "So that’s what I have to do."
Crowley showed Saturday that she’s not far behind the Tornadoes. She ran a school-record 14.9 in the 100 hurdles to place second behind two Trenton runners, finished the 200 in 26.5 behind three Trenton runners, and led off the PHS 4×400 relay that ended up third behind winner Hopewell Valley and Trenton.
"I was so happy about the hurdles," said Crowley, who went successively faster in each of her three heats. "It was the first time I’ve gone under 15 (seconds). I hope to go faster with it. I’m hoping this is a warm-up for states.
"I didn’t run it perfectly, that’s why I think this is a warm-up," she explained later. "The seventh and eighth hurdles were a little sloppy. I think I can go faster between hurdles. And I think I can run faster if I don’t look at the other runners. I’ve worked so hard at it and it’s paying off now."
After Princeton hosts Allentown 3:45 p.m. today in a make-up meet, Crowley and the Little Tigers will compete in the Central Jersey Group III sectional championships Saturday. Crowley and PHS are coming off their best showing since a third-place indoor county finish two years ago.
The Little Tigers were third Saturday with 35 points to trail four-time champion Trenton and runner-up Hopewell.
"It’s great to see we’re moving in the right direction," said PHS girls’ head coach Andre Bridgett, whose team finished 13th last year and 8th the year before. "To finish behind the defending Group III and Group IV champions is great. It’s a major improvement and this is a young team."
Crowley was the only returning Little Tigers to score points. All of PHS’ other points were picked up by newcomers. Simone Awor won the high jump, Meaghan Lynch was fourth in the 800, Elesha Casimir was sixth in the 200 and the three along with Crowley combined for the third-place mile relay finish. Freshman Eleanora Spinazzi was fourth in the 3200. None were Crowley’s teammates until this year.
"The girls on the team has such a positive attitude," said Crowley, who did not score at counties last year after finishing third in the long jump and sixth in the 200 as a freshman. "My whole mentality has changed with them. We did well today. Everybody on the team had a great day. I’m proud of them."
West Windsor-Plainsboro South, with all 18 of its points scored by Lisa Miller who won the 3200 and was second in the 1600, was ninth.
"We didn’t know what Lisa was going to do in the 3200," said WW-PS head coach Todd Smith. "She hadn’t run many this year, and she came out and ran 11:09 for a PR. I think a lot of that is we’ve been working on her speed. She came back with a good second mile. And she came back with a PR in the mile of 5:16.
"It was a good experience for the boys," he added of the 12th place finish on the other side. "Joe (Ennis) was sixth in the mile and he ran hard in both races. Ted Mavraganis ran very well in the 400, and Mark Barbaglia was in the discus final."
West Windsor-Plainsboro North was the top boys’ area finisher as Joey Mastrangelo was fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200, Albert McCullan was fifth in the 200, Mike Pilgrim fifth in the 400 hurdles, fourth in the high jump and sixth in the 400 and John Garrett was fifth in the shot put. The Knights were eighth on their home track, which was used to host because Steinert’s stands renovation has not been completed.
"I have a renewed respect for the Steinert staff," said Mike Jackson, Knight boys’ head coach. "It’s hard to coach and do this, and they’re still doing a lot of the work. We’re just more of the maintenance staff. It’s been a great experience.
"We’ve had some solid performances," he added. "Our young guys are consistently coming in fourth, fifth and sixth places and when all these seniors graduate, those fourths, fifths and sixths will become firsts, seconds and thirds. I think we can finish in the top four."
The WW-P North girls were 12th led by Gretchen Kieling’s fifth-place in the 200, Jackie Marks’ fifth in the discus and Jade Phame’s fifth-place tie in the high jump.
"We had a number of personal bests," said WW-PN head girls’ coach Paul Glass, who was there at 6:30 a.m. to set up. "The difference when you host is you don’t get to coach as much as you should. You don’t realize how much work it is to do.
"Our kids really enjoyed running at home. A lot more parents had the chance to see it and hopefully maybe this gives us a little more interest (from the North students). I don’t think there are any negatives to it."
The PHS boys were 12th with Mike Huse finishing fourth in the 3200 and Tim Tsoi being sixth in the shot put.
"Overall, I think the guys performed well," said PHS head coach John Woodside. "Most everybody has been getting PRs in their events. It’s a pretty good performance. They weren’t getting a lot of places, but I didn’t expect any coming in. I’m glad to see some guys breaking through though."
For Crowley, the county meet was a breakthrough. Her previous best in the hurdles was 15.8 seconds. It’s just the latest achievement in a huge year for her and the Little Tigers. In April, the mile relay captured its heat at the Penn Relays easily in 4:08, just missing the school record.
"We did so well in Penn Relays," Crowley said. "We got a plaque for our school. I usually run the lead-off leg because I get out of the blocks the strongest. Our coach lines up the relay differently. We put our fastest first and second-fastest last. Everyone’s doing great. We have a freshman, Elesha Casimir, who is doing awesome. My team is young, but we’re working hard and we’re not losing anybody.
"I can’t wait for other teams to notice us. We’re up against Allentown on Tuesday and then we have states next."
Crowley is making it hard not to notice the Little Tigers. She’s everywhere.
"She could probably run the 800," said Bridgett, "but that would be too much. She had a lot of heats today with the 200 and hurdles."
Crowley would like to switch things around a little in sectionals. She’ll still compete in the 100 hurdles and the mile relay, but she’ll also enter the open 400 for the first time and the triple jump, with which she reached the Meet of Champions last year.
"My splits (in the 400) are 60s, so I’m hoping to do better than that," Crowley said. "Maybe I can get to 58. I’ve been working on my triple jump more lately. Trenton won’t be there, but I’ll have to look out for Franklin (in the hurdles). Instead of a third place, maybe I can get a first place."
It wouldn’t surprise Bridgett one bit if one of his most versatile athletes continues her improvement.
"She’s placed ever since she was a freshman," he said. "She broke the school record every time she ran today. I was glad to see that. And she can get faster. When she realizes she can go faster, that kind of confidence takes people a long way in life. When you know you’re putting in the work, you know you’ll get the results."
Alison Crowley hopes her hard work takes her back to another race against the girls of Trenton this year, in the Meet of Champions.

