Friedman, Andreyko set county records
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High track athletes made the New York City Armory their own personal highlight center in last week’s Public School Athletic League Championships. In fact, the Raiders were so impressive in winning three of the four team titles that the New York schools may not want them invited back.
"We had a great day; we killed everybody," HHS head coach Rich Refi said. "We were winning so many medals, it was unbelievable. We finally turned the corner."
Refi had been waiting for his team to erupt. The Raiders were coming off a tough day at the State Group 4 Relays in Princeton but more than made up for it with a stellar performance at The Armory.
Hillsborough swept the varsity meets, rolling to the boys’ and girls’ titles by lopsided margins. The HHS freshman boys also won their division crown.
"We brought home three plaques," Refi said. "If you take the top two (New York) public schools, we still outscored them. Our girls beat Jackson, which was nice."
The meet, which was held on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, serves as the indoor track and field championship for New York City. The city also invites a handful of schools from surrounding states, which brings the attendance figures up to about 100 teams. The meet offered a variety of events and lasted nearly 10 hours.
"There was so much going on," Refi said. "We were in every heat and we won so many medals, it was hard to keep track."
Two Hillsborough athletes set Somerset County records to highlight the team’s impressive performance. Senior Franklin Andreyko erased a 19-year-old standard in the long jump and sophomore Robin Friedman became the first girl in county history to clear 10 feet in the pole vault. Senior Jenizah Melendez broke her own school record in the shot put with a huge throw of 37 feet, 11½ inches.
Andreyko, who already has broken his own indoor and outdoor school records several times, added 6 inches to his prior best with a monster leap of 23 feet, 10 inches. Andreyko broke Franklin High standout Tony Bolton’s record (23-5¾) that was set back in 1985.
"It feels pretty good," Andreyko said. "I knew that it was possible for me to jump well. If I can break a record, so be it."
The Armory is known for its fast running surface, but Andreyko also enjoys the long jump area. He travels to New York twice a week to practice with his personal coach.
"From the first time I went to The Armory this year, I knew it was possible," he said. "I knew I could hit it as long as I got my mark down and got a good landing."
Andreyko hit 23-10 on his last of three attempts. The competition was limited to a flight round, so he didn’t get the usual three additional jumps. Still, Andreyko and fellow senior Bryan Fox (19-2) combined for a winning mark of 43 feet.
Friedman continued her steady climb in the pole vault, winning the event by clearing 10 feet. Friedman, who also broke her own school record of 9-8, teamed with Eileen Cafferty (9-0) to win the relay event.
"Eileen and I help each other out at meets," Friedman said. "We work together really well."
They also push each other to keep going higher. So far, Friedman has been leading the way in the pole vault, while Cafferty has been having a solid season in a variety of events. Like Andreyko, Friedman seems to flourish at the Armory.
"Robin’s been to the Armory twice and won both meets (Holiday Classic and PSAL)," Refi said. "And she can go higher."
The HHS boys (44 points) and girls (35 points) scored in almost every event to win the team titles rather easily. Hillsborough’s onslaught featured nine gold medals, five for the boys and four on the girls’ side.
Hillsborough swept the 1-mile runs, with sophomores Brian Dennis (4:36.73) and Allison Marcsisin (5:19.50) crossing the line in first place. All the other events were relays.
Both Raider distance medley teams also prevailed. Joe Brennan, Aneil Sahota, Fred Kain and Dennis all had a race on their legs but managed to win with a solid time of 11:04.59. Ashley Uniszkiewicz, Lauren Watts, Cafferty and Marcsisin combined for a time of 13:11.36 to produce gold. A second girls’ distance medley team (13:51.19) of Kelda Nelson, Sylvia Tyksinski, Diana Marazzo and Lauren Van Cleef placed fifth.
The HHS boys added victories in the 3×55 shuttle hurdles (23.98) with Tim Szwarc, Tyler Szwarc and Andreyko and triple jump (81-9½) with Fox and Lem Brown. The freshman boys won the shuttles (29.06) with Mike Argueta, Mike Coscia and Dan Millemann, while the freshman girls lapped every other team in the field at least once while capturing the distance medley with Caroline Lynott, Allison Buerkle, Rachel Rosenblum and Jess Pfeiffer.
"It was good stuff," Refi said. "We didn’t really have any expectations. There were over 100 teams there, but we had a great meet."
The Raiders produced other highlights, even in events they didn’t win. The girls finished second in the triple jump with Melendez (34-4) and Colleen Maloney, who hit 31-6 in her first competition ever in the technically challenging event. Melendez also anchored the third-place shuttle hurdles team (27.38) with Melissa Arango and Watts and used her school-record shot put throw to carry a third-place finish with Golda Danquah.
Pfeiffer shattered her personal-best by over 10 seconds in the 800, running a 2:35.8 split to help the 4×800 team (10:15.51) finish fourth with Uniszkiewicz, Lauren Van Cleef and Cafferty. Watts and Arango combined for 14-6 in the pole vault, which placed second behind Friedman and Cafferty.
The HHS boys added two second places and three fourths to complete their assault. Adam Mallet and Matt Bitten teamed for second in the pole vault (21-6), while Chris Berezansky and Tim Ultee combined for second in the shot put (82-3).
Fourth places produced two additional team points for the 4×800 team (8:23.98) of Brennan, Erik Szabocsik, Kain and Jeff Meltzer, the 4×400 unit (3:35.82) of Mallet, Sahota, Tim Szwarc and Bitten and the B distance medley team (11:35.33) of Andrew Rath, Mike Smolinka, Chris Dennis and Szabocsik.
"We lost a lot of key people, but a lot of young people have stepped it up," Andreyko said. "We’re starting to run strong and looking good in our events."
Anyone who doesn’t believe it should have been at The Armory for last week’s Hillsborough show.