By: Sean Moylan
While always appreciated by his teammates on the Bordentown Regional High School boys’ varsity track and field squad, "Marvelous" Marvin Carter has always been one of the Scotties’ most under-rated superstars. Carter’s terrific performance at the Bridgeton Relays this past Saturday, however, had everyone taking notice.
Carter showed his incredible stamina by competing in the distance medley relay, the 4×200 relay, the sprint medley relay and the 4×400 relay. In fact, Carter’s 23.2 second split time in the 4×200 relay helped the Scotties take second place in that race with a school record 1:33.3 time.
"The girls on the bus were calling him (Carter) "the Beast" because he took part in so many events," said Bordentown Coach Tony Haneman. Of course, the Scotties’ other superstar runners "Dangerous" Dan Millan (a 23.1 second split in the 4×200), Prince Kim (24.3) and Mike "Super Sonic" Steffen (an amazing 22.6 second split time) all ran extremely well in the 4×200.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was that the Scotties explosive 4×400 relay team (Millan, Zach Bohanan, Carter and Steffen) ran just a 3:30.1 to place second in the event. While 3:30.1 is a great time, the Scotties 4×400 team has gone 3:19 in the past so they expected to do a little better. But it was their last race of the day and the legs can handle only so much.
In the DMR, a Scotties crew of Max Bohanan (1,200), Zach Bohanan (400), Carter (800) and Chris Phipps (1,600) placed fifth overall. Dave Morton, who is usually a thrower, Z. Bohanan, Carter and Prince Kim comprised a Scotties’ SMR team which placed seventh overall.
It could be argued that Donnell Hayden had the best overall day for Bordentown. Hayden tossed the discus 139 feet 4 inches as he and Steve Melton combined for a 261 foot 2 inch mark to placed second in the discus team event. Hayden also teamed up with Sidney Tucker to take third in the shot put event with a combined 82 foot 3 ½ inch throw.
"At the Bridgeton Relays everyone did the best they could," said Haneman, who is doing a good job of mixing and matching to fill out some of his relay squads. "We can do even better at the Willingboro Relays (scheduled for this Saturday)."
The Bordentown boys’ varsity track team was scheduled to have competed in a meet at Maple Shade yesterday (Wednesday). The Scotties’ girls’ varsity track team was scheduled to have hosted Maple Shade on the same date (April 19).
NBC
After several false starts the Northern Burlington County Regional High School boys’ varsity track and field squad finally got its season underway with a meet at Burlington Township last Wednesday. And while the Falcons topped the Greyhounds 78-52, NBC coach Tim Tedesco was encouraged by his team’s opening day performance.
"We had six (key) guys out with injuries so we didn’t want to push them," noted Tedesco, who knows it’s a long season. Nonetheless NBC did have its share of winners, including Saidu Mustapha, who ran a 52.2 second time to win the 400 meter race.
"He (Mustapha) jogged it. The kid’s a stud," said Tedesco.
According to the NBC coach, Michael Bowden also cruised to an easy victory in the 3,200 with a 10:30 time and Bowden placed second in the mile behind teammate Matt Melillo, who posted a 4:42 time in the 1,600. Ben Case won the shot put with a 42 foot 3 inch hurl while Keith Jones was victorious in the high jump. Chris Tomori placed second in the 400 intermediate hurdles and Ben Berben was the runner-up in the 800 race.
Superstar Steve Makuka would have certainly won the pole vault had he not recently dislocated his elbow. Nonetheless, Makuka is currently looking to change to an event which doesn’t require the use of his arms. He’s such a gifted athlete he’ll excel anywhere the team puts him. While some guys are still banged up, NBC is looking forward to doing well at this Saturday’s Willingboro Relays. On Tuesday NBC is scheduled to host Moorestown.
On the girls’ side NBC hosted both Rancocas Valley and Burlington Township last Wednesday (April 12th). Unfortunately, RV came away with a 87-40 win while Burlington Township beat NBC 74-50. Nonetheless, NBC sophomore Kelly Walsh had an excellent day with overall wins in the 1,600 (5:47.5) and the 3,200 (13:01).
"We swept the 400 meter race versus Burlington Township," added Steve Alustiza, NBC’s coach. Kasey Bush, Cheyenne Cort and Timaura Barfield were NBC’s top finishers in that event. Meanwhile Northern’s Morgan Golden, Megan Molnar and Ariel Woodard-Stephens swept their Burlington Township opponents in the 100 race. Golden was also the second overall finisher in the long jump with a 14 foot 7 ¾ inch leap and she placed third overall in the high jump too. The NBC girls’ team is also scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Willingboro Relays. It has a regular season meet scheduled at Moorestown on Tuesday.

