Raider track teams sweep county meet

Crawford stars with four gold medals

By:Rudy Brandl
   
   The Hillsborough High boys and girls used different recipes to win titles at last week’s Somerset County Track and Field Championships. Both HHS squads did what was necessary to complete sweeps of the local meets with another resounding performance at their new home facility.
   Despite boasting only two individual county champs, the Raider boys held off Franklin by a 137-121 score. Tremendous team depth, with 16 different individual involved in the scoring, propelled Hillsborough to the crown.
   Erin Crawford dominated the girls’ meet with a stellar four-gold performance. Teammates Allison Marcsisin and Nicole Humphrey also produced individual titles for the HHS girls, who piled up 159 points to more than double runner-up Franklin (70).
   "I just wanted to go out and do my best to get the job done for the team," Crawford said after winning the 400-meter dash in a time of 59.2. "I don’t think I did anything special time-wise, but I just had to win for my team. That’s what it’s all about at a meet like this."
   Crawford opened the meet with a victory in the 400 hurdles (1:05.8). The senior star later won the 100 hurdles (15.3) and triple jump (35-5) to complete her 40-point assault. Only five entire schools managed as many as 40 points.
   Marcsisin, a freshman who opened many eyes by running a 5:10 in the 1,600 at the Skyland Conference meet, didn’t equal that fabulous feat but won her first county title with a solid performance. Marcsisin and junior teammate Ashley Uniszkiewicz planned to run together and finish 1-2 and that’s exactly what happened.
   "Coach (Rich) Refi told us the distance points would matter in the final score, so that was our motivation," said Marcsisin, who crossed the wire first in 5:17.7. "We wanted to make sure we finished 1-2."
   While Marcsisin made her first big splash at a county meet, Uniszkiewicz simply continued her role as a primary contributor to the program’s great success. The HHS junior, the school’s top cross country runner the past two years, finished the 1,600 in 5:24.9 but has run as fast as 5:13.
   "When I was a freshman, I remember being nervous but now I realize I can walk out there with confidence," Uniszkiewicz said. "I realize I’m part of an awesome team. We train really hard and we have an established team. It pushes me to live up to that."
   Humphrey wrote a piece of history in winning the pole vault. The HHS junior set a county record and new school standard with a 9-6 performance that added six inches to her previous best.
   "I just tried to jump and run as fast as I could and I did it," said Humphrey, who also added points for finishing sixth in the long jump (15-8¼) and high jump (4-8). "It felt really good. I knew I was over it."
   Humphrey tinkered with her turn in practice and concentrated on perfecting the drill for the county meet. She’s not prepared to stop here.
   "This is still a new event and I hope to set even higher records," Humphrey said. "I’d like to do a 10-foot jump at the Meet of Champions."
   It was a long time between first places for the HHS boys after Tony Flores opened the meet with his third consecutive county title in the 400 hurdles (55.4). It wasn’t until three hours later when junior Franklin Andreyko pulled out a victory in the long jump on his final attempt that the Raiders returned to the winner’s circle.
   Thanks to balance and depth that saw the team score multiple places in eight different events, the Raiders stayed in the lead. Andreyko’s winning leap of 22-7, which set a new school record, put the icing on the cake.
   "I really just needed to relax," said Andreyko, who carried a 19-9 into the finals but soared past the entire field on his final jump. "I was real tense and my legs were bothering me, but I felt a lot better in the finals."
   Andreyko, who also finished third in the 100 (11.1), fourth in the 200 (23.2) and fifth in the triple jump (40-1) to finish the meet with 22 points, felt the sprints helped his jumping. Trying to catch Franklin’s Porter brothers, sprint triple champ Joe and 110 hurdles winner Jeff, loosened Andreyko’s legs for that pressure-packed final leap.
   "There’s a lot of pressure on your last jump," Andreyko said. "I’ve had a lot of experience with bad jumps and that helps you stay relaxed and focused."
   Andreyko has made a huge impact in his first two championship meets in a Hillsborough uniform. The transfer from Manville had a great sophomore season but wasn’t involved in many big meets where his team was counting on him. Andreyko’s conference title in the long jump produced more than the margin of victory and last week’s 22 points in the county meet did the same.
   "It’s a good feeling helping out the team," Andreyko said. "Last year, I was doing it for myself. Now, I have a second thing to accomplish – helping the team win."
   The vaunted distance duo of seniors Mike Klueber and Nick Vaccaro went 2-3 in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. Klueber (4:26.8) and Vaccaro (4:27.3) tried to chase down Bridgewater’s Kyle Eckman (4:24.3) in the 1,600. Klueber (9:33.5) and Vaccaro (9:45.6) weren’t able to catch Ridge’s Gerard Ganey (9:31.1) in the 3,200.
   Flores placed third in the 200 (23.0) and 110 high hurdles (14.4) to finish with 22 individual points. Other HHS boys who contributed to the balanced attack included Mike Barberio in the 400 dash (3rd, 51.3) and 400 hurdles (3rd, 58.2), Jeff Meltzer (3rd, 1:59.2) and Roland Lane (4th, 1:59.7) in the 800, Joe Brennan in the 1,600 (6th, 4:29.7), Bryan Fox in the high jump (6th, 5-10) and triple jump (4th, 40-3), Fred Kain in the 400 hurdles (4th, 58.4), Jim Morley in the triple jump (2nd, 40-9), Nick Confuorto (3rd, 12-6) and Adam Mallet (4th, 12-6) in the pole vault, Hector Tirado (3rd, 50-7½) and Chris Berezansky (6th, 45-1½) in the shot put and Frank Livelli in the javelin (6th, 151-8).
   The HHS girls scored in every event except for the 100 and 200 and featured multiple place-winners in eight events. The list of non-winning scorers included Jess Tsai (2nd, 2:25.4), Uniszkiewicz (3rd, 2:25.8) and Katie King (4th, 2:26.2) in the 800, Marcsisin in the 3,200 (2nd, 11:13.3), Caitlin Kosec in the 100 hurdles (3rd, 16.2), 400 hurdles (4th, 1:08.8) and triple jump (2nd, 35-4), Lauren Kloss in the 400 hurdles (3rd, 1:07.9), Jenizah Melendez in the long jump (4th, 16-3), triple jump (3rd, 33-9), shot put (4th, 33-3¼) and javelin (2nd, 111-8), Eileen Cafferty (3rd, 8-0) and Robin Friedman (4th, 8-0) in the pole vault and Colleen Maloney in the discus (6th, 88-11) and javelin (5th, 99-6).