Experienced MHS boys are hoping to keep busy

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   The Monroe High School girls’ winter track program enters the season under the direction of a new head coach. Early in November, Jim Cox stepped into the opening left by the retirement of long-time coach Lew Stonaker.
   The Lady Falcons are getting a gentleman who has extensive experience in the sport as both a participant and a coach. Cox ran for St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, and continued his career at Norwich University in Vermont. A distance man, Cox has run every race from the 800 meters to the longer 5,000 meters (college), but he usually competed in the 1600 and 800.
   Cox has coached high school track for more than a dozen years in schools around New Jersey, including Montgomery and Red Bank Catholic. Currently employed in the private sector, he is applying for a teaching certificate, and hopes to teach in Monroe Township.
   Although this will be his first job in the Greater Middlesex Conference, Cox has a natural affinity for the area.
   "I’ve always followed Middlesex County track, being a Middlesex County raised kid," the new coach said. "So, I’ve always known a lot about the program. But this is my first introduction to the kids, and seeing how they work."
   Cox is taking over a well-established program, and he’s inheriting a good core of returning athletes among a roster of 35 out for the sport. The Lady Falcons lost mostly sprinters when eight seniors graduated last June, but also a key shot putter in Asya Perry and top distance runner Kristi Motyka.
   The sprints will be a little thin this winter, but senior Debbie Stelmaszczyk will show the newcomers the ropes. Sophomore Katie Mazzio is a returnee, and freshmen Nicole Ragucci and Monica Polick looked good in preseason.
   As in past winter and spring seasons, Cox expects his team to be strongest in the distances. That squad will be led by junior Eli Segarra in the 1600 and 3200. Classmates Kellie Grinzo and Megan Allen will concentrate on the 800. (Allen also high jumps). Freshman Demaris Segarra, Eli’s younger sister is following the family tradition.
   Another area that looks pretty good is the weights where junior Megan Boyce is expected to place in the conference championships. Another girl who could score in the shot put is senior Sara Bartley.
   Last winter, the hurdle squad was in a rebuilding phase, and while still young, this group could surprise. Senior Natasha Bennet returns from last spring, and a trio of sophomores (Marie Nemeth, Kelley Campbell and Sara Beth Moke) will be the backbone of the hurdle squad for the next few years. Boyce is planning on trying the event this winter, and freshman Victoria Bartley (Sara’s sister) in another newcomer.
   Cox is joining the GMC at an interesting juncture. The conference has decided to eliminate dual meets for winter track. Each of the three divisions in the conference will hold its own championship meet at an indoor facility at the end of January, and those meets will also serve as qualifiers for the GMC Championship. That meet will be held Feb. 14 at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
   One goal for the Lady Falcons is the same as it’s been for several years: to win a division title. The girls moved from being Blue Division Champs to White Division Champs, then had the disappointment of not having division titles awarded last year because the dual meet season was destroyed by the weather. However, Monroe did claim a ninth relay title, and they will be working hard to bring home the first trophy as a winner of a big White Division Meet.
   "The second goal I have is to not just compete for the division, but to also make some noise in the GMC itself," Cox said. "We want to move up into the upper echelons and be known like teams such as Piscataway, Old Bridge and South Brunswick. Those are the teams that we look at as the strongest in the GMC and those are the teams that we want to compete against year-in-and-year-out."
   Cox would also like to see several girls qualify to move on to the state Meet of Champions out of the Central Jersey Group III Meet.
   FOOTPRINTS: The Lady Falcons’ schedule is the same as the boys’ this year . . . Stelmaszczyk, Bennet and S. Bartley are this year’s captains.