By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The Monroe High School track and field teams may have been new participants in the annual Jersey Shore Relays sponsored by Wall Township High School over the winter break, but they weren’t shy about stepping into the limelight.
Competing in the large school division, Lady Falcons Cristina Leili and Megan Boyce set a new school record for the indoor shot put relay, winning that event with a combined distance of 61 feet, 8 inches. The girls added four feet to the former school mark, and Leili’s throw of 31-8 was also a new school record for an individual.
In the girls’ high jump, Kelley Campbell and Kellie Grinzo jumped into fourth place in that event, and in spite of competing on an unusual surface for track, the runners also had a good day.
"It was run on a tennis court, basically," Lady Falcon head coach Jim Cox said. "What they did was just put lines around the tennis courts. So, I was more impressed with the performances than I was with the times. Once I saw what we were going to be running on, I knew we weren’t going to get spectacular times out of it. But what it was going to do was give the kids a chance to run indoors, and it gave me a chance to see how they’d compete in a situation like that. And I was very impressed with the aggressiveness and the whole attitude towards improving, and going as hard as they could. That’s what we drew out of it."
The top five finishers in each event earned medals. The Lady Falcons took home second place medals for the distance medley race. Eli Segarra led off with the 1200 meter leg, handing off to Grinzo for the 400 portion. Demaris Segarra took the 800, and Ali Push ran the 1600 anchor leg.
The 4×800 squad scored a fourth place finish, with the baton going from E. Segarra to D. Segarra, Stephanie Harris and Jenna Hetzell. Monroe also picked up a set of medals for a fifth place finish in the 4×200 (Debbie Stelmaszczyk, Nicole Ragucci, Serena Tsang and Katie Mazzio).
In the boys’ competition, the 4×800 squad of Diego Delgado, Rob Phillip, Adam Modzelewski and Rob McGowan came in second in the 4×800 with a time of 9:11. The Falcons had a fourth place finish in the 4×200 (Bryan Walsh, Victor Amato, C.J. Ragucci and McGowan) with a time of 1:47.5. Another fourth went to the four-man shuttle hurdle squad of Phillip, Stephen Modzelewski, David Sorkin and Walsh (37.8 seconds).
Monroe is still getting used to its designation as a "large school." At the Jersey Shore Relays, the Falcons competed with athletes from schools like East Brunswick, Manalapan, Red Bank Regional, Howell and Roselle.
"We’re a Group III school now, so we’re going to be grouped in with the larger schools," Cox said. "It’s going to be a real test for the program because we don’t have the numbers that most of the larger schools have. We have 30 (girls). A lot of the schools have 60 or more. But it shows that we’re moving in the right direction that we’re still able to compete on the larger scale."
Both Monroe squads picked up dual meet victories against South Plainfield just before the winter break. The boys’ total of 40-28 was helped by first place finishes from Walsh (8.3, 55 hurdles), Diego Delgado (2:09, 800), Zach Theinert (4:58, 1600) and Scott Roman (10:57, 3200). The 4×400 relay (Billie Phillips, A. Modzelewski, Phillip and McGowan) posted a winning time of 3:46.
McGowan took a tenth of a second off the old school record in the open 400, winning that event in 50.7. The former mark was about five years old.
The Falcons had a few dual meets scheduled for this week. The girls expected to be at Sayreville on Wednesday, and the boys hosted a tri-meet with South River and Spotswood the same day. Boys head coach Frank Bonich was hoping for some home-town support against the former Blue Division rivals.
This Sunday, the Falcons will be at Jadwin Gym in Princeton for the NJSIAA Group III Relay Championships.
