Strong start for MHS girls

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   At Monroe Township High School on Tuesday, the Lady Falcons’ track and field team put their best feet forward, winning their first dual meet of the 2005 season 83-57 against the Lady Tigers of South Plainfield.
   "It’s my first official dual meet with Monroe in the spring," Jim Cox, the girls’ new head coach, said. "I think they did well. I challenged the girls to have more kids step up, and obviously the kids did."
   Freshman Nicole Ragucci led the way in two areas, winning the 100 and 200 meter sprints, and the long jump. Sophomore Kellie Grinzo and Ragucci went 2-3 in the pole vault with both clearing 7-0. That is a new school record for the girls’ vault.
   Another name added to the school record board is Serena Tsang who jumped 27-7 in the triple jump. That event has been added to dual meets for the first time this spring.
   Stephanie Harris won the 1600 with a personal best time of 6:03, and Sara Beth Moke posted her best time in the 100 high hurdles (18 seconds). The other first place finishers for Monroe were Eli Segarra (800), Ali Push (3200) and Ali Baumlin (discus).
   Cox noted that he doesn’t have to rely on a few upperclassmen for points this year.
   "Some of the younger kids are starting to step up and perform," the coach said. "And that’s what we want. If we’re going to win the division this year, we’re going to win it as a team, with everybody contributing, which is exactly how we won (Tuesday)."
   A string of bad breaks led to an opening day heart-breaker for the Monroe boys. They lost at South Plainfield 71-69. A combination of too few officials, a couple of disputed results, and an injury to a key runner left the Falcons a whisker short of the victory.
   "It could have gone either way," boys’ head coach Frank Bonich said. "It was there for the taking, and we were really looking forward to this. If we could have gotten the win against South Plainfield, it would have set us up for a nice season, but it’s still early."
   In the reverse of the past few years, the Falcons won every thing on the track, and missed first place in all the jumps and throwing events. The top point-getter was senior sprinter Rob McGowan who won the 100 (11.4), the 200 (23.5) and the open 400 (50.8). He also anchored the victorious 4×400 relay squad.
   "(South Plainfield’s) Mike Williams actually had him by about 20 meters at the hand-off," Bonich said. "Rob tracked him down and wound up beating him."
   The other members of the 4×400 were Billy Phillips, Victor Amato, and Adam Modzelewski. Senior Bryan Walsh doubled, taking first in the 110 hurdles, and the 400 intermediate hurdles. Scott Roman aced both the 1600 and 3200. A. Modzelewski won the 800.
   There were a few positives in the throwing events. Junior Matt Sussman threw 144 feet and change in the javelin, improving on his best distance by 15 feet. Justin Tsang, who had gotten up to 38 feet in the shot put during the winter season, hit 40 feet on Tuesday.
   The big disappointment was not having Zach Theinert on the track. The sophomore injured a knee on landing the triple jump on his third attempt, and could not compete in his regular events.
   "If Zach didn’t get hurt, it would have been a comfortable win," Bonich said. "He’s our best mile guy, and he was going to run the 800, too. He’s one of our top two half-milers. He would have gotten at least a first and a second, probably two firsts. That would have been at least eight points our way."
   The boys are hoping their luck changes in time for next Tuesday’s dual meet. Both boys and girls are home against Woodbridge. Before that, both squads will be down at Notre Dame High School for the WROTO Relays this coming Saturday.
   FOOTPRINTS: The varsity events scheduled for last Saturday in the Rebel Relays in Howell had to be postponed due to rain. The boys will go to the rescheduled meet on Apr. 23, but the girls will be at Hamilton that day…The boys did very well in the freshmen/sophomore events in Howell which went off as scheduled on Friday night. The Falcons won the sprint medley (Phillips, A. Modzelewski, Amato, Theinert), and took second in both the 4×100 (Phillips, Amato, Mike Barzcz, Edan Farah) and the distance medley (Theinert, Phillips, A. Modzelewski, Ryan Brown).