Takirambudde among MOC qualifiers
By: Justin Feil
Like a lot of area track athletes, Sunday could have been a sleepless night for Sifiso Takirambudde.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South junior finished seventh in the 55-meter hurdles at the Group III individual championships Sunday morning. That left him one spot shy of an automatic berth in the Meet of Champions.
He had to hope for one of the six wild card spots to be chosen from the top six remaining best times from Group III and the Group II meet that was contested late Sunday night.
"It wasn’t a rough night," Takirambudde said. "I came in seventh, and I was only off by two hundredths of a second. I was pretty confident. It was kind of tough sleeping."
Takirambudde found out early Monday morning that he had advanced, earning the fifth of six wild card spots to reach his first Meet of Champions.
"I thought this was my season," he said. "Last year, during spring, I got to Groups, but I didn’t stand a chance against the older kids. I anticipated this would be my season to run hard and make it.
"We have a fairly small track team. The people that usually do well are the distance runners like Lisa Miller and Joe Ennis. It’s good to be one of the sprinters from South going to the Meet of Champions. I’m excited about that."
Takirambudde will join a contingent of area athletes who made the Meet of Champions out of the Group III meet, several that came via the similar sweat-it-out wild card route. Brad Forbes of Montgomery High earned the fourth wild card in the 200 meters with a time of 23.69 for 10th and earned a second wild card with a finish time of 53.14 for eighth in the 400 meters. Ryan Trupin of Princeton High and Chris Treble of MHS advanced on wild cards after tying for seventh in the high jump with a best of 6-feet.
"In one of the jumps, he was over 6-2 but he sort of ran through the bar," said PHS head coach John Woodside. "He has come very close. He’s been working on a longer run-up. He’s been working on getting better speed. This is his first time in a big meet and he jumped 6-feet. I think that’s a good step for him. I would love for him to have another chance to compete. The more he does, the better he gets."
Others won’t be so lucky to have a chance to compete at the Meet of Champions. PHS’ Robby Begin, who was 11th in the 200, just one spot behind MHS’ Forbes, missed the MOC by three-hundredths of a second. West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Mike Page ran a solid 4:38 for ninth in the mile, but missed by three spots a wild card position. MHS’ Eleonora Spinazzi also missed by three spots a wild card in the girls’ mile after running 5:26 for ninth.
"It’s frustrating for the kids when it’s not in their hands," MHS head coach Mike Harnett said. "It’s going to drive a few of them nuts. Hopefully they get up early and find out."
Better off were those that took care of business on Sunday by finishing in the Top 6 in their event. Jade Phame of WW-P North was fourth in the girls’ high jump with a best of 5-feet while MHS’ Jenn Carson was sixth with a clearance of 4-10.
"She’s been at 5-foot a couple times," said WW-PN head coach Brian Gould. "She took a couple quality jumps at 5-2. It’s the closest we’ve seen her to making it. She jumped very well. That was definitely expected."
On the boys’ side, Montgomery’s Chris Kondorossy was sixth in the shot put. WW-P South’s Ennis was fifth in the 3200 and WW-P North’s Roland Bisio was sixth.
"I think Joe was having a tough day," Pirates head coach Todd Smith said. "He had a tough day in the mile, but he battled back and ran a good two-mile. He came back and ran a good last 400. He was sitting in eighth going into the last 400 and he caught three of them. It was his first time running the two-mile this year, so hopefully he’ll keep getting better."
Gould hopes that Bisio will continue to follow Ennis in his improvement.
"I put him in at 9:59 and he was the 13th seed," Gould said. "Two guys broke away early. Then there was a pack of 10 guys fighting for four spots. Ennis came around and nipped Bisio. That benefited him because he was trying to catch Ennis. He just got the last spot. He fought real hard and earned it. We had to wait to see if he out-leaned (Ocean’s Greg Kremler) for that sixth spot."
Bisio will be joined at the MOC by teammate Joey Mastrangelo, who finished fifth in the 200 meters and just missed out on a wild card spot for the 55 meters. They’ll be looking to build on their performances at the MOC that will be held at the end of next month. For first-timers like Takirambudde, the goals are simple.
"Running a time under eight (seconds), and just competing well," the Pirate junior said. "I want to compete as best I can. I’m getting a feel for the competition at this level. I’ve never run at this level before."
Takirambudde will have that chance after progressing each year since he joined the Pirates program. A former basketball and football player, he’s become a dedicated track athlete with most of his focus on hurdling though he also runs the 400 and 200 in winter track relays.
"When I first came out for the track team freshman year, I was fairly small," Takirambudde said. "I tried sprints, running the 100 and 200, but I was a little slow and Coach Smith decided for me to try hurdles. Slowly but surely I picked it up. Sophomore season, I made it all the way to Groups. I ran with the gift I got."
That gift has moved him into position to aspire to competing among the best in New Jersey. He’s hoping to return to the 7.9s that he’s run before.
"The main thing I focus on is getting a good start," he said. "If I go over the first hurdle and feel I have a constant pace, and I’m in a good rhythm, I feel good."
Takirambudde’s focus is on feeling good going into the Meet of Champions. He felt fine while cruising to the third seed in the preliminaries Sunday but a nagging hip injury caught up with him at the finals.
"I was disappointed because lately I’ve been having a little hip injury," Takirambudde said. "I couldn’t push myself as hard as I wanted. I’m looking forward to the month before the Meet of Champions to heal up a bit."
Knowing that he made it to the highest level should give him an added push. And it should allow for some peaceful sleep.