Hopewell Valley outdoor track
By: Jim Green
For years, the Hopewell Valley Central High School girls track team has been showered with much-deserved praise and recognition for its many accomplishments at the county, state and even national level, while the HoVal boys team remained in the background, waiting for its time to shine.
On Saturday, the Bulldog boys sent notice that their time is closer than ever, coming through with a fine performance at the Mercer County Relays at Steinert. The Bulldogs captured a first-place in the shot put and placed in eight other events, putting them solidly in a group of quality teams that should rank just behind a stellar Notre Dame squad in the county this year.
"It went very well," Hopewell coach Phil Novack said. "It’s a really good team. They’re just a bunch of great kids. For a team I like to consider to be in a building phase, I thought it was very good."
Paul Wagner continued his emergence, teaming with Alex Pepperman to take first in the shot put at 99-0. The foursome of Odeani McBean, Jared Henrie, Brandon Thompson and Kevin DeLucca teamed to place third in the 4×100 (45.5) and fourth in the 4×200 (1:33.8).
Mike Batanian, Tom Marsh, Dave Siuta and Matt Hilderbrandt teamed to place fourth in the 4×1,600 (20:13.4), while Henrie, Thompson, McBean and Andrew Freeman were second in the sprint medley (3:45.9), and Dan Petty, Freeman, Nick Jourjine and Hilderbrandt were fourth in the distance medley (11:26.8). Ricky Fletcher and Roger Tower tied for sixth at 19-0, and Wagner and Ryan Mil were fourth in the discus at 247-10.
The Hopewell girls team, meanwhile, won three events and placed in four others, as the Lady Bulldogs rested some of their better athletes. Natalie Mapp, Megan Fitzpatrick, Miriam Khan and Marisa Greco all took part in multiple first-place relays.
The boys team’s outstanding day was powered by a quality crop of seniors, including McBean, Henrie, Batanian, Fletcher and Petty.
"A huge strength of this team is our upperclassmen," Novack said. "We really count on our seniors for a lot. These guys are my squad captains. They’re great role models for the team. They’ve worked hard for the success they’re starting to see this year."
While none of the results caught the coach off guard, some did exceed his expectations.
"I knew we would do well in the sprint relays I just didn’t know how well," Novack said. "For a Hopewell boys team to place third in the 4×100 is pretty impressive.
"In the throwing events, the athletes only get better. As they get older, they get stronger physically and mentally."
The performance gives the team confidence as it charges toward the Mercer County Tournament, which will be held May 14.
"What I’m going to tell them is that they’re capable of achieving whatever they set their minds to," Novack said. "Notre Dame will be very strong, and West Windsor South will have a very strong team. After that, it’s kind of wide open. If we get a day when all of our guys are on, they can achieve something."
Hopewell swept a dual meet at Ewing on Tuesday, with the boys winning 86 ½-53 ½, and the girls winning 89-51.
The Lady Bulldogs (2-0) received wins from Mapp in the 100 (12.0), 200 (24.7) and 400 (57.5), Kristen Volpe in the pole vault (9-0) and triple jump (31-10), Fitzpatrick in the 1,600 (5:22.7), Greco in the 3,200, Khan in the 400 hurdles (1:09), Jackie Barrett in the long jump, Abby Harris-Shea in the high jump (4-10), Allison Fletcher in the shot put (32-1) and Meredith Rutledge in the javelin (105-2).
The boys squad had victories from McBean in the 100 (10.7), 200 (22.1) and 400 (52.6), Freeman in the 800 (2:08.1), Batanian in the 1,600 (4:55), Siuta in the 3,200 (10:59), Fletcher in the pole vault (11-6) and Wagner in the shot put (47-1) and discus (130-10).
"We went in there pretty confident about our chances of winning it," Novack said. "We tried to get by this week without making them all go all-out. It went very well. These kinds of meets are just meets where they need to stay focused. They know they can get the victory. They just need to go in and get the job done. That’s exactly what they did."