By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The Monroe Township High School winter track teams came away from this year’s Greater Middlesex Conference Relay Championships with a pair of division titles, and a couple of school records. The Lady Falcons tied for fifth place overall, and the boys’ finished in eighth place in the conference. However, since each squad was also the top White Division team in their respective flights, the Falcons are now White Division Relay Champions for 2004-2005.
This is the first track title ever for the Monroe boys’ program.
"We had a pretty good showing," boys’ coach Frank Bonich said. "We have no (track) banners in the gym. And now the boys’ winter track team has won the White Division Relay Championship."
The GMC Relay Championship Meet took place over two days last week with the shot put and high jump held at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday. The running events went off Thursday at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The boys earned 12 team points by placing in three of the track races.
In a race down to the wire, Monroe finished second in the 4×800 meters with a school record time of 8:28.7, eclipsing the old mark of 8:45. Rob McGowan led off, passing the baton to Diego Delgado, Adam Modzelewski and Zach Theinert. St. Joseph’s took the gold by a whisker (8:28.0).
Two Falcon relays came in fifth. McGowan ran the first leg of the 4×200, followed by Billie Phillips, C.J. Ragucci and Vic Amato. They clocked a 1:40 flat. In the 4×400, it was Phillips to Modzelewski, to Amato. McGowan ran anchor this time, bringing it home in a school record time of 3:41.0.
While the boys are looking forward to hanging their first track banner in the gym, the Lady Falcons have enough flannel on display to cover the walls of an average Monroe living room. They racked up 15 team points, and tied with Metuchen for fifth in the conference. The Falcons got a head start with a third place in the shot put on Tuesday (Megan Boyce and Christina Leili), then followed that up with two fourth place finishes on Thursday.
In the sprint medley, Debbie Stelmaszczyk opened with the 400 leg, handing off to Nicole Ragucci and Katie Mazzio for the 200’s. Eli Segarra took the 800 anchor leg, crossing the line in 4:34.9. Segarra then ran the opening 1200 leg of the distance medley. She passed off to Megan Allen for the 400, and Ali Push took the 800. Anchor duties fell to Demaris Segarra for a total time of 13:52.4.
"It was a very good meet for us, as far as winning our division," girls’ head coach Jim Cox said. "The girls didn’t run as well as we had hoped, but whenever you can walk away with a title, which is one of your goals in the beginning of the year, you have to be happy."
This week, area track teams are together again for the GMC individual championships. This time, the field events were held at Old Bridge High School on Wednesday evening, and the track races were back at FDU on Thursday (after press time). As with the relays, overall winners and team champions will be crowned, but the scorers will also split out the top finishers from each of the three sub-divisions (Red, White and Blue), and division titles will be awarded based on those scores.
Due to the boys’ good performance in the relays, Bonich was optimistic about the individual meet.
"We’re looking to win the division there, too," the coach said. "I think we have a real good shot, so that’s our goal."
The Falcons were counting on McGowan to place in the 400, Bryan Walsh in the high hurdles, and Scott Roman in the 3200 and 1600. On the division level, a talented group of sophomores should pick up points, including Phillips (55 dash), A. Modzelewski (800) and Z. Theinert (1600). Freshman Ryan Brown, who lettered in cross country last fall, is a dark horse possibility in the 1600 and 3200. Bonich is also looking for the 4×400 squad to place, or at least take the school record down a bit more.
On the girls’ side, Cox was hoping Boyce and Leili would place in the shot put, and Megan Allen in the high jump. On the track, the people to watch included E. Segarra (1600, 3200), D. Segarra (800, 1600), N. Ragucci (55), and Stelmaszczyk (400).
CORRECTION: It was incorrectly reported that no one from MTHS had qualified for this year’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions. In fact, McGowan, a senior, moved on in the 400. He placed third in the Group III flight with a time of 52.05. That was a little slower than his personal best of 50.3. This year’s MOC is scheduled for Sunday, February 27th, at Jadwin Gym in Princeton.

