MHS track teams sweep sectional titles

North’s Mastrangelo, PHS’ Gengel and McKinley win crowns

By: Bob Nuse
   Jim Goodfriend thought it everything went right, his Montgomery High girls’ track team had a shot at a North Jersey, Section 2 Group III title.
   Jen Riddell, head coach of the Montgomery boys’ track team, figured even if everything went right for her team, winning a sectional title might have been too much to ask.
   As it turned out, everything went right for both Montgomery teams. The end result was a pair of sectional championships, the first for Montgomery in track and field since the Cougar boys won the Central Jersey Group I title in 1992.
   "It was just a great weekend for Montgomery," said Goodfriend, whose team scored 104 points to easily outdistance second place Ridge, which finished with 69Ð points. "Everything went right for both the boys and the girls. It was an incredible two days."
   While the girls wound up coasting to a win, it wasn’t quite as easy for the boys, who needed a win in the final event, the 4×400 relay, to top Red Bank, 63-57. Scotch Plains finished third with 56 points.
   "When it ended people were coming up to me and I didn’t know what to say," Riddell said. "I was actually speechless. It came down to the final event and we needed the points there, I just wasn’t sure how many. They had the standings posted, but it was only after 13 events and it said we were first. But the same thing happened earlier at the county meet and we wound up finishing fourth."
   The team titles for Montgomery highlighted a good weekend for Packet-area athletes at the sectional meets. In addition to the team titles for the Cougars, three other athletes won individual titles in Central Jersey. Princeton’s Natalie Gengel set a sectional record when she won the CJ III pole vault with an effort of 10-feet, 6-inches. Princeton’s Tom McKinley won the pole vault in CJ III with a 12-6 effort, and West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Joey Mastrangelo finished first in the CJ III 200 meters.
   For the Montgomery girls, the effort in winning the sectional title was dominating. The Cougars scored in every event but the pole vault and relay, with Casey Hartnett and Amy Lum each coming away with wins.
   "We had an incredible two days," Goodfriend said. "We did everything you could possibly figure to do right. Deanne Repollet has been throwing about 97-feet in the discus. She goes out and throws 114-feet, which is a personal best by 17 feet. That’s incredible. She was in first the whole way until she got beat on the last throw.
   "It was just incredible. Even when we didn’t win, people set pr’s. We set the school record in the 4×400 relay and came in seventh. I think that was the only event we didn’t score in the whole meet. We had three girls in the finals of the hurdles. It was just one of those meets where everything went right."
   Hartnett was first in the 100 meters, third in the 200 meters, and fourth in the triple jump, whole Lum finished first in the long jump. Kandi Givner was second in the 200 meters, third in the 100 meters, and third in the 400 meters. Deanna Repollet was second in the discus, third in the javelin, and fifth in the shot put, while Tara Gorka was second in the 400 hurdles and fourth in the 800 meters. Eleonora Spinazzi was fifth in the 3200 meters and sixth in the 1600 meters. Amanda Herrmann was fourth in the 3200 meters, while Sharon Tompa was second in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the high jump. Hilary Copeland was third in the 100 hurdles and Jenn Carson was sixth in the high jump.
   "Before the meet, I told the girls the main thing was to qualify for the next meet," said Goodfriend, who will take all of the top six finishers to the state Group III meet in Egg Harbor Friday and Saturday. "If we did what we were supposed to do and everyone that could qualified, I thought we had a chance to win. Every kid did their job.
   "I knew we had a good team. But I figured we could win the Somerset County meet earlier and we did not do well there. I thought if we did what we had done at the Somerset relays, we had a chance. I thought if we did everything right, we could score 90 points and that might be enough to win. We wound up scoring 104 points. Everyone did great."
   While the boys did not have as many athletes place, the Cougars were led by a pair of dominating performances. Brad Forbes won the 200 meters and 400 meters, was second in the long jump, and anchored the winning 4×400 relay team. Chris Kondorossy was second in the shot put and third in the discus.
   In addition, Ryan Warner was fifth in the 400 meters, Chris Treble was third in the high jump, and Ben Copeland was sixth in the 110 high hurdles.
   "Guys would be coming back to me and saying Red Bank finished here or Scotch Plains finished here," Riddell said. "I was trying to figure out all the possibilities. It was very emotional and very intense. Forbes and Kondorossy had tremendous days and we knew we would get points from them. But the big thing was we were getting the points for the fifth and the sixth places, those turned out to be such important points because it was so close.
   Ryan Warner in the 400, Ben Copeland in the hurdles. We had a great effort from the top kids, but we also had great efforts from the other kids as well. Every event was big for us. Our depth made a big difference."
   And it was also dramatic, as Forbes took the baton in fourth place on his anchor leg of the relay and wound up first.
   "It was a very good day," Riddell said. "Going into the last relay, I wasn’t sure if third or fourth would be enough for us. We were fourth when Brad started and then he got up to third. Then he just made the decision to go and he wound up winning. I had him for a 47.8 on his leg. There were a couple people there that had him even faster."
   In CJ III, Gengel set a new sectional record with her pole vault of 11-feet, 6-inches. She broke the previous record, which had been 11-3.
   The Princeton girls, who finished eighth as a team, also placed in several other events. Libby Bliss was fourth in both the 400 meters and the 800 meters; Elesha Casimir was sixth in the 200 meters; Kelly Curtis was fifth in the high jump; Zoe Sarnak was fourth in the javelin; and Caroline Sholl was sixth in the javelin. The relay team of Bliss, Casimir, Sholl and Alex Johnston finished fourth.
   The Princeton boys finished 11th as a team in CJ III. McKinley won the pole vault with a height of 12-6. Ryan Trupin finished tied for second in the high jump, Adam Brunner was fifth in the discus, while TR Johnson was sixth in the shot put.
   Mastrangelo led the WW-P North boys to a fourth place finish in CJ III with his victory in the 200 meters. He was also fourth in the 400 meters and fifth in the 100 meters. Roland Bisio finished second in both the 1600 meters and the 3200 meters. Mike Page was fourth in the 1600 meters and Jerome Leslie was fifth in the triple jump.
   The WW-P North girls finished 14th in CJ III. Jade Phame was tied for third in the high jump, Jackie Marks finished fifth in the discus, and Megan Cream finished sixth in the pole vault.
   In CJ IV, the WW-P South boys finished ninth as a team. Sifiso Takirambudd was third in the 110 high hurdles and 400 meter hurdles; Brian Soltau was third in the 400 meters; Joe Ennis was fourth in the 1600 meters and 3200 meters; and the relay team of Stuart Adams, Takirambudd, Ennis and Matt Barbarasch finished fifth.
   The WW-P South girls finished 14th in CJ IV. Sammy Howell finished tied for second in the high jump, while Laura Goodman was sixth in the high jump. Lauren LaDolcetta was sixth in the triple jump. The relay team of Kelsey O’Conner, Joni Roberts, Khara Lewin and Emily Piuggi finished sixth.