Track teams set for another big year

O’Connor, Dennis among returning stars

By: Nick Vaccaro
   
   The Hillsborough High indoor track and field teams are gearing up for another season. Both teams are the defending conference champions and hope to keep their titles at home in Hillsborough.
   Both the boys’ and girls’ teams are primarily composed of experienced juniors and seniors, but there are several youngsters that will chip in here and there for head coach Rich Refi’s squads.
   On the boys’ side, there are a handful of returning letter winners that are expected to add to their stellar performances of last year’s indoor season. The sprints and hurdles will be dominated by a group of juniors who will be led by standout Tyler Szwarc. Szwarc’s efforts will be complimented by juniors Mike Bitten, Dave Eilbacher, Brandon Lane, Dan Millemann and Miles Petrock.
   While the sprinters and hurdlers are composed of juniors, the distance events will be handled by four-year veterans led by distance star Brian Dennis. He will be joined by seniors Fredy Irizarry, Paul Bernardo, Kyle Figard, Eric Rind, Tom Visicaro and Adam Walzer and junior Joe Bernardo. This crew is coming off of a stellar cross country campaign where they placed fourth as a team at the Meet of Champions in late November.
   There are no returning varsity letter winners in the throws, but junior Patrick McNally and sophomore Rocco Mazzagatti plan on contributing for the Raiders. The pole vault will be led by seasoned veterans Phil Jasina and Steve Theroux. Joining these two seniors will be sophomore Mark Ksiezopolski.
   Some of the newcomers who show promise include junior Dan Reiss in the hurdles, sophomore Mike Lunemann in the distance events, sophomore Alex Szela in the sprints, and freshmen Jordan Magath and Vinny McEnroe in the distance events.
   On the girls’ side, the sprints and hurdles will be spread around among a collection of seniors, juniors and sophomores. Seniors Melanie Gingras, Sylwia Tyksinski and Lauren Watts will lead the group, while juniors Melissa Arango and Ali Leifer and sophomores Stephanie Ogrodnik, Anna Spaniol and Erin Suozzo will also contribute.
   The distance events will be tackled by five experienced seniors including standouts Kelda Nelson and Allison Marcsisin. Their long time teammates include Megan Davin, Nicole Filipowicz and Cassandra Steel. These distance harriers like the boys, are also coming off of a strong cross country season in which they placed sixth in the Central Jersey Group 4 meet.
   The throws are arguably the strongest area for the HHS girls. A fine group of five throwers, all of whom can hit over 30 feet in the shot put, are led by the 1-2 punch of Taryn O’Connor and Ingrid Berrio.
   O’Connor, a junior, won the conference title last year, while teammate and senior Berrio took second. Joining them in their efforts will be seniors Colleen Maloney and Ali John and sophomore Angela Davia. O’Connor, Berrio, Maloney and John are all returning varsity letter winners.
   Other Raiders who will lend a helping hand include sophomore pole vaulter Jaclyn Marangella and an array of newcomers expected to turn some heads. In the high jump, a pair of juniors including Isis Bonney and Jess Pfeiffer will help along freshman Allison Moran.
   Victoria Ifan, Brittany Payne, Dana Rokoszak, and Lindsey Watts compose a foursome of sprinters who are expected to excel nicely. Freshmen Meredith Mayes and Robyn Paterno will be watched closely under Refi’s wing as they will compete in the distance events, while fellow freshman Sam Schwalje will compete in the sprints and hurdles.
   Refi stressed how it’s too early to set any clear-cut goals for the season, for his teams are still developing and he has yet to see what other teams have, but he does have a few general ideas of what he’d like his teams to do.
   "We have so many newcomers on the boys side. We’d like to qualify for Penn Relays in the 4×800 and distance medley relays." Refi said. "On both sides, we’d like to see how we can do in the county and conference. We’d also like to see how many relays we can get qualified for nationals." It may be too early to state any definite goals, but if this season goes as well as this program’s past seasons, great things will inevitably happen.