Gorka, Crowley among track winners

Several advance to state track meet

By: Justin Feil
   In a meet in which personal bests sometimes weren’t enough, Tara Gorka’s season-best equaling 1:06.14 in the 400 hurdles was good enough to capture Montgomery High girls’ track and field’s first gold medal ever in a Central Jersey Group II sectional Friday to lead a contingent of strong local performances.
   "It was definitely a nice win for me," said the Cougars sophomore, who also qualified as part of the mile relay Saturday. "I was happy that I won, and I didn’t even know it was the first time our school had won in Group II."
   Gorka wasn’t the only MHS athlete to claim an historic gold. MHS’ Steve Kondorossy became the first MHS male to capture a Group II sectional win when he threw the discus 151 feet, 6 inches.
   "I was really happy," said MHS girls’ coach Jim Goodfriend, who also helped out with the boys team when boys’ coach Jen Riddell was ill this weekend. "Our goal, we knew we weren’t going to win, was to get as many people as possible to qualify for Egg Harbor (site of the state Group meets). We have six girls and five boys going."
   And MHS was far from the only team to do well in less than ideal weather conditions. In Central Jersey Group III girls, Princeton High’s Simone Awor won the high jump and Alison Crowley claimed the triple jump at 35-feet, 1-inch for a school and meet record and the 100 hurdles, while the Little Tigers’ 4×400 relay of Crowley, Elesha Casimir, Awor and Meaghan Lynch set a new school record of 4:03.86 to finish third. Eleanora Spinazzi’s fifth-place in the 3200 rounded out the girls who will advance to the Group III state meet in Egg Harbor on Saturday.
   "I was really pleased," said PHS girls’ coach Andre Bridgett. "Every kid who was on the track ran a personal best or jumped a personal best. We finished fourth in the team scoring, which was good.
   "I was hoping we would have made a stronger showing in the middle distances, but he middle distances were tough to move on to the Group meet. And the sprints were tough with the presence of Franklin. Overall, I was very pleased."
   Just as pleased was West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys’ head coach Mike Jackson after his team came in seventh.
   "We did great," Jackson said. "We have four guys that have qualified in seven different events."
   The four guys — Joey Mastrangelo, Albert McCullan, Ricky Pyfrom and Mike Pilgrim — combined for an impressive third place in the mile relay, ahead of one of the state’s top 10 relays, South Plainfield. In addition, Mastrangelo was fifth in the 100 and 200, McCullan was sixth in the long jump and 200 and Pilgrim will compete in the Group III meet in the 400 hurdles after finishing second and the 400 after finishing fifth.
   "Last year, we scored two points," said Jackson, whose team had 22 Saturday. "We multiplied that by 11 this year. I’m happy with our sprints and our long sprints. And our distance guys ran well also."
   For the WW-P North girls, Gretchen Kieling’s fourth-place finish in the 400 hurdles and sixth-place 400 showing and Jackie Marks’ third place in the discus were the highlights.
   "We had a pretty nice day," said WW-PN girls’ coach Paul Glass. "It was tough. We had people like Vanessa Gibens in the 3200, who was only a couple seconds off what she ran last year, and she got ninth. They ran times that are comparable, but with new girls coming in and other kids getting better, you just can’t stay the same.
   "We’re young. We only have three seniors. We’re looking for good things in the future. All in all, we had a good day."
   The WW-P South girls were led by Lisa Miller, who came in third in the 3200 after just missing qualifying in the 1600 despite running a personal best. The Pirate boys’ were led by Langston Clark, who was sixth in the 100.
   The Princeton High boys will send five boys to the Group III state meet after the mile relay of Josh Huang, Zac Przysiecki, Louis Abramson and Dave Silbergald came in fifth, just behind South Plainfield, and Mike Huse finished sixth in the 3200.
   The Montgomery boys, however, finished an area-best third overall as a team. Kondorossy will be joined by Alex Willis who was second in the high jump and fourth in the 100 hurdles, Craig Donnelly who was third in the 800, Brad Pottorf who was third in the 400 hurdles, Dan Nguyen who was third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump and Chris Treble who was sixth in the high jump.
   Gorka will be joined and pushed in Egg Harbor by Catherine Singley, who finished second in the intermediate hurdles in 1:07.50 and was second in the high hurdles as well as running a leg of the 4×400 relay that qualified to advance.
   "She has been my competition this year," Gorka said. "It’s really great to have her running close to me. I use her and push myself. I have been beating her all through the year, which has really surprised me because she’s really strong too.
   "We had no idea we could go 1-2. We just wanted to run for place and make it on to Egg Harbor. We had not idea we’d finish as we did. I had no idea I’d come in first."
   Gorka was fourth last year in the 400 hurdles, when she was just beginning to get the event down. Her improvement this season helped the Cougars finish sixth as a team. Other MHS girls making the state Group II meet are: Christine Nystrom who was fifth in the 3200, Jenn Carson who returned from an injury to finish sixth in high jump and Laura Singley and Casey Hartnett who joined Catherine Singley and Gorka on the fourth-place mile relay team.
   "Our mile relay could have run better," Goodfriend said. "We got stuck in no-man’s land. There was Voorhees and Monroe and Hopewell all out there and then us."
   "Hopefully, we can improve our time," Gorka said. "The weather hasn’t been that nice, but hopefully we can work to improve our times considerably next week."
   For Gorka, the relay puts her in a tougher spot than the 400 hurdles just because she’s the anchor leg.
   "I do feel there’s extra pressure," she said. "A lot of times, I’m more nervous for the 4×400 than my individual events. I have to come in and make the best time of it for the team."
   Saturday, Gorka’s anchor leg was good enough to put the MHS girls into the state Group II meet. On a day in which it was tough to advance, it was just one big performance by her, and one of many impressive performances by an area athlete.