MHS sophomore leads way in sectionals
By: Rudy Brandl
HOLMDEL Sasa Todorovic enjoyed his first cross country race at Holmdel Park in last Saturday’s Central Jersey Group 1 Championships.
Todorovic wasn’t intimidated by the state championship race course. He didn’t let all the rumors of hard hills and tough wooded terrain get in his head. Todorovic simply went out and ran the 3.1-mile course and finished in a very respectable 18th place with a time of 19:42.
"It’s fairly easy except for the bowl," Todorovic said, referring to the steep incline in the middle of the course. "Overall, it was great running it."
Todorovic has emerged as Manville’s top runner this fall. The first-year runner was hoping to crack the top 10 and advance to this weekend’s State Group 1 Championships but ran about 30 seconds behind the final qualifier.
Former MHS standout Mike Andreyko, who graduated last June, finished 11th in the last two CJ 1 meets and just missed the State Group 1 cut by one place. Todorovic was hoping to change the team’s recent hard luck at the sectionals. After Saturday’s performance, there’s good reason to believe Todorovic will advance before his scholastic career ends.
"He did very well for his first time on a large stage," MHS head coach Jim O’Connor said. "I was hoping he’d be top 10, but I knew that was a reach. We were looking for him to run with Keansburg’s third and fourth guys, but they got away. Sasa ran a good race."
Keansburg put five runners in the top 10 to win the CJ 1 team title easily with 20 points. The Mustangs did not compete as a team because they only had three boys at the meet.
Sophomore Erik Lubas was the only MHS runner who had competed at Holmdel before and he finished in about the same place as last year. Lubas finished one position back from last year in 56th overall in a time of 23:27, which was 38 seconds slower than last year. Junior David Le, in his first Holmdel race, finished 64th in 24:22.
"We don’t train on hills, so it’s tough when they get here," O’Connor said. "Four of the five kids who came down here had never seen this course before. This can only help them in the future."
MHS entered two freshmen in the girls’ meet. Casey Shields finished 38th in a time of 28:10 but Kate Harodetsky dropped out of the race. Shields charged to the front early but paid the price later in the race once she realized it wasn’t the flat lands of Manville ahead of her.
"Casey went out too fast," O’Connor said. "Halfway across the meadow, she was in second place. She got excited, just like everybody else who gets here."
The good news for Manville is that all five runners who competed Saturday are eligible to come back to Holmdel at least one more time. If they stick with running and work out in the off-season, the Mustangs can expect those times to drop significantly by next November.

