MHS harriers run out of gas at MVC meet

Third race in eight days too much

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   Manville High cross country coach Jim O’Connor knew it would be difficult for his runners to improve upon their last performance at Pleasant Valley Park in last week’s Mountain Valley Conference Championships.
   While all the Mustangs have improved throughout the season, it simply wasn’t realistic for them to run a big race for the third time in eight days. Manville competed in its final regular season meet at home Nov. 1, then battled the rigorous terrain of Holmdel Park in the Central Jersey Group 1 Championships Nov. 5. That set the stage for a tough Nov. 8 assignment at Pleasant Valley.
   Last fall, the Mustangs showed major improvements in their second visit to the Bernards Township course. They experienced their first taste of it in the conference meet and returned for the Somerset County Championships.
   This year, the MVC meet was postponed due to rain, making the county event the first for the Mustangs at Pleasant Valley. O’Connor originally thought this would benefit his team because it extended the season, but it actually created a very tough trifecta for the Mustangs.
   "Three-mile races take a lot out of you," O’Connor said. "You’re using up a lot of your energy reserves. Just about everyone ran slower, but we’re looking at their third race in eight days. That’s more than we should be doing right now."
   O’Connor used the analogy of going to the bank too often to make a withdrawal when there’s not enough left in the account. Without depositing all the mileage as a solid base earlier in the season, there’s not enough remaining to call upon at the end.
   Many runners in top-notch programs have experienced the dilemma of when to peak. Those that run their best races in October are unlikely to make an impact in the series of state meets in November. Those that train through the October meets are usually more competitive at the end. It’s very difficult to run a hard 3.1-mile race every week.
   Manville sophomore Sasa Todorovic entered the race with high expectations after two impressive performances. Todorovic had won the individual title in the team’s tri-meet vs. Belvidere and South Hunterdon at Manville and finished a very respectable 18th in the Central Jersey Group 1 Championships at Holmdel Park.
   Todorovic simply ran out of gas at the MVC meet. He finished 29th in a time of 20:34, which was 13 seconds slower than his county time at the same course. O’Connor was expecting his No. 1 runner to go under 20 minutes, which would have placed him around the top 20.
   "He was in fair position but he got a stitch in his side," O’Connor said. "He was running with a kid from Bound Brook (Errik Malloy) for a while and he wound up around 19:30. We wanted him to stick with some of the Bound Brook kids based on the times they ran at the dual meet against us. He was with them and ran a pretty good pace but he couldn’t keep up with them."
   Todorovic emerged as a very solid rookie runner for the Mustangs this fall, but his lack of pre-season work finally caught up with him in the very last race of the season. The MHS sophomore has already pledged to run 100 miles per week next summer to make sure he has a stronger base for his second cross country campaign.
   Junior David Le was the only MHS runner to post a faster time in the team’s second trip to Pleasant Valley. Le was Manville’s second finisher in the meet, placing 39th in 23:26, six seconds faster than his county clocking.
   Sophomore Erik Lubas (40th, 23:33), junior Ron Skirkamish (41st, 24:58) and sophomore Nick Pillsbury (42nd, 27:50) ran around a half-minute slower than their county times. Freshman Casey Shields was the lone MHS girl to compete and she finished 24th in 26:21, which was 34 seconds slower than her county race.
   "Initially, I was disappointed in the times but it’s understandable," O’Connor said. "It wasn’t a lack of effort. They just reached back and there wasn’t enough left."
   Union Catholic rolled to the team title behind race winner Brian Guterl, who coasted to victory in 17:09, nearly a minute ahead of everyone else. Manville finished sixth in the team standings with 183 points.