Forkin, Brown place 2nd at Mercer track meet

The Rams finished sixth at the county track and field championships.

By: Neil Hay
   With the likes of Trenton and Ewing running away from the field, the most the Hightstown High School boys’ track team could hope for at Saturday’s Mercer County track and field championships was a respectable finish in the top half of the 14-team field at West Windsor-North High School.
   With 27 points, good for sixth place, that is exactly what the Rams got.
   Only sixteen points separated the Rams from third place Hopewell Valley. In between came Notre Dame and Hamilton. That was good enough for coach Jim Firtek.
   "That was a great meet," Firtek noted. "Sixth place is really a good finish for us. We wanted to be in the top half and we were. Teams like Ewing and Trenton are a step ahead, but we are getting there."
   Hightstown notched all its points in the field events. Jarrell Brown scored a second place for the Rams went he cleared 6-2 in the high jump. Also taking a second in his event was James Forkin, who registered a 53-5 in the shot. Scott Moultrie placed in two events, his 20 5½ claiming third in the long jump, while his 6-0 was fifth best in the high jump. In the pole vault Chris Stibol’s 10-6 was sixth best. And in the javelin it was Chuck Burt, who took fifth at 153-1.
   Although the Rams were unable to net a point in the sprints, distances, hurdles, or relays, there was more to it than that.
   "We had a decent day on the track with many personal bests. Most of our runners are freshmen or sophomores. There are a lot of great runners in the county. This was great experience for our runners. (Tomorrow’s) freshman-sophomore meet should be a good one for us," predicted Firtek.
   As to his team’s strength in the throwing and jumping events, "We got points where we expected to. Everyone who we expected to place placed. It was big step forward for the program."
   The Rams closed out the regular season – and prepared for next week’s state sectional meet – with a double dual meet at Hamilton Wednesday afternoon. The Rams defeated Pemberton, 76-55, but lost a close one to the Hornets by a 70-61 final.
   The Rams finished the campaign with a 4-3 record and will place no worse than third in the CVC Valley Division standings.
   Forkin’s 50 10½ in the shot was the day’s best effort in that event. In the javelin, Burt (139 4-1/2) and Greg Scheman (134-1) recorded the two best throws. Moultrie won another long jump competition when he exceeded twenty feet. And Josh Sheldon (2:06), Jason Moehringer (2:08), and Dan Indellicati (2:10) swept the top three places in the 800.
   In the 1600 Graham Agpar came home first in 4:54, ahead of third-place Nacho Tous’ 4:58. And Stibol (10-6) and Andrew Feeney (9-6) went one-three overall in the pole vault.
   In other results, Mike Bailey came in third in the 400 hurdles in 62.2, Mike Demko had thirds in the 100 (11.4) and 200 (23.6), freshman Jamal Neptune had an "excellent time" of 52.6 when he placed second in the 400, Dan Montferret (11:10) and Simon Gordonov (11:14) were two-three in the 3200, and Brown (6-2) and Moultrie (6-0) went two-three in the high jump.
   "It was a good day," said Firtek afterwards. "Whenever you lose a close meet it hurts, but we’ll see Hamilton next week at states (Central Jersey Group III at South Plainfield). We’ll get another chance at them. It’s something to strive for. It will be good motivation. The guys respond well to that."