By: Sean Moylan
The best individual race in this past Saturday’s Central Jersey Group III cross-country sectionals may have been one between two teammates. Northern Burlington High’s Matt Melillo, a junior, and Michael Bowden, a freshman, both zoomed to the finish line in an effort to grab the last qualifying spot in this coming Saturday’s Group III race at Holmdel Park.
Bowden’s kick was just a little stronger when the two emerged from the woods and he ended taking the all-important 10th spot with a stellar 17:23 time. Melillo took 11th place with a time of 17:24.
NBC Coach Steve Alustiza, who had mixed feeling about the race because he was cheering for both of his boys to catch the ninth-place finisher, commented, "I feel bad for Matt (Melillo) but he just ran out of gas. He finished just behind Mike (Bowden)."
The Greyhounds’ other top finishers in the race were Greg Scott (39th place with a 18:17 time), Daniel Bowden ( 42nd place with a 18:17 time), Matt Mayo (19:15) and Daniel Lucy (19:30). NBC finished in eighth place with 167 points. The Greyhounds were without the services of a couple of their better runners, who were taking the SATs on Saturday.
On the girls’ side, Brandy Price was NBC’s top finisher with a 21:32 time, which earned her 26th place. Carli Snyder, the Greyhounds’ best runner, went all out and ran right with the top runners before hitting a wall.
"Brandy’s time, that surprised the heck out of me," said Alustiza, who was hoping for some runners to step up. "Carli (Snyder) said that she just went out way too fast. But Brandy ran what Carli was going to run and Carli ran what Brandy usually runs."
Even so, most runners in the race would have gladly taken Snyder’s 22:27 time. Michelle Reed (23:00), Laura DeBennedetto (23:12), Suzanne Bumbera (23:16), Katrina Tenor (23:31) and Kelly Stiles (25:17) also ran well for the Greyhounds, who placed seventh as a team with 231 points.
While none of the Greyhound girls advanced, Alustiza is excited about the team’s future and he remarked, "On the girls’ side, we bring everyone back."
This week Alustiza and his assistant Billy Kostenko will work with Bowden to trim some seconds off his time. Some of the team’s runners are sticking around to help him out, including Melillo.

