By: Bill Williams
With an eye on this weekend’s state sectional meet, the Monroe cross country teams finished up their regular season Tuesday in winning fashion.
The girls knocked off South Plainfield 22-39, while the boys picked up a 23-36 victory. It meant the girls finished 8-3 and the boys accumulated a 9-2 record.
Both records are certainly good, though a bit bittersweet according to coach Frank Bonich, who noted the girls were coming off an undefeated campaign and the boys finished 8-2 last year. However, Bonich observed that the Falcons added a tough J.P. Stevens team to the schedule this year and one of the boys’ losses was a narrow loss to Bishop Ahr.
Regardless, it was important to finish the regular season strong, which is something the Falcons accomplished Tuesday, according to Bonich.
"We had a good day," he said. "We got two wins, but more importantly, top to bottom, the kids ran really well."
Senior and GMC champion Ely Segarra placed first in 19 minutes, 59 seconds, followed by her sister Damaris, a sophomore, at 20:46 in third place. While the Segarra sisters and senior Allie Push (who sat out Tuesday’s race) have attracted a lot of the attention this year, the rest of the girls squad has continually performed well, Bonich said.
On Tuesday, the rest of the Falcon girls’ times were: junior Marie Nemeth (22:24), senior Stephanie Harris (22:38), junior Rachel DeBaun (23:45), freshman Erica Korsak (24:37), sophomore Allison Karas (24:41), freshman Dina Mangarella (26:38) and junior Nicole Chasen (27:34).
"They’ve all been improving and working hard all season," Bonich said.
On the boys side, senior Scott Roman ran away with the race, finishing first in 16:41. Behind him were sophomore Ryan Brown in second at 17:24, freshman Joe Ruopoli (18:08), junior Adam Modzelewski (18:13), sophomore Kyle Zablocki (18:19), senior Ken Stanley (18:30) and sophomore Nate Smith (18:31).
Bonich noted that Ruopoli’s time was a personal best and Zablocki blew away his goal of breaking 19 minutes with 41 seconds to spare.
"The underclassmen on the boys team have really been stepping it up lately, which bodes well for the future," Bonich said.
But in the immediate future, the Falcon squads will take to Holmdel Park this Saturday for the state sectional meet. For the girls, it will be the Segarra sisters, Push, Nemeth, Harris, Jackie Barclay (who missed Tuesday’s meet due to illness) and Korsak. The boys will send out Roman, Brown, Ruopoli, Modzelewski, Zablocki, Stanley and Smith.

