By: Sean Moylan
While most people don’t look at this year’s Northern Burlington High School boys’ varsity track and field team as a juggernaut, it did take home four gold medals in the large schools division at this past Saturday’s Willingboro Relays.
With a team of Chris Tomori, Saidu Mustapha, Dave Specca and Mike Bowden, NBC won the sprint medley relay on Saturday and the Greyhounds’ distance medley relay team (Dan Bowden, Tomori, Mustapha and M. Bowden) was also triumphant. The Greyhounds’ David Robinson posted an 18 foot 11 inch jump to win the long jump and Tomori became a three-time winner on Saturday with his victory in the high jump.
Although Moorestown defeated NBC, 80-51, in Tuesday’s regular season meet at Northern Burlington, NBC Coach Tim Tedesco was very optimistic and pleased with his team’s overall performance. "We ran very well. but we had some spots we couldn’t fill," said Tedesco.
One place where the Greyhounds really lived up to their nickname was in the sprints. In fact, Irving Fryar Jr. posted a brilliant 11.3-second time to win the 100 meter race and he also was a winner in the 200 (23.3). Mustapha won the 400 race going away in a time of 52 seconds. He was a second place finisher in the 200 (23.7).
Tomori won the 400 intermediate hurdles with a blistering time of 57.2 seconds. He also was the runner-up in the high jump and the 400 (54 seconds).
NBC’s Keith Jones won the long jump with a stellar 19 foot 8 ½ inch leap and he placed second in the 100. Ben Case won the discus (111 feet 5 inches). And M. Bowden just barely missed placing first in the mile.
NBC is scheduled at the Rowland Relays on Saturday. Next Tuesday NBC is scheduled to host Rancocas Valley.
BRHS
In previous seasons the talented Bordentown Regional High School boys’ varsity track and field team enjoyed only modest success at the prestigious Willingboro Relays given the strong field that usually attends the event. But this year Bordentown Coach Tony Haneman saw something special in-between the drain drops which drenched the Chimeras’ track this past Saturday.
"On Saturday, I told our guys that we were going to be opportunists," said Haneman. The Scotties went out and used the elements and the low turnout, team-wise, to their advantage and won five gold medals in the small schools competition.
Mike Steffen won the long jump at 18-11. Of course, he and Dan Millan, Zach Bohanan and Marvin Carter captured gold in the 4×400 meter relay with a stellar 3:31.7 time. Steffen, Millan and Carter also combined with Prince Kim to win the sprint medley relay with a 3:41.9 time. Carter actually ran a brilliant split time of 2 minutes flat in his 800 leg of the race. Those four also placed third in the 4×200 with a mark of 1:35.5. Meanwhile, Kim, Dan Romano, Maurice Mendenhall and Jonathon Millan finished third in the 4×100 (48.5 seconds). In the distance medley relay, the Scotties’ Chris Phipps (1200), Z. Bohanan (400), Gregg Pontious (800) and Max Bohanan (1,600) teamed up to place third overall for bronze and Bordentown’s 4x 800 team won a gold medal.
In past years, the Scotties have struggled in the throwing events. But this season Donnell Hayden, who has been working closely with Bordentown assistant coach Keith Horbatuck, won the shot put with a 46 foot 1 ¼ inch throw and he also placed third in the discus. Bordentown’s Steve Melton placed second in the discus (129 feet 9 inches) while teammate Sidney Tucker was third in the shot.
As wonderful as the Scotties’ performance at Willingboro was, their 67-64 win at Maple Shade on April 19 was perhaps even more exciting.
"It was dramatic," said Haneman. "We had to win the 4×400 meter relay and Dan Millan had to win the high jump. Otherwise, we’d lose."
While the Scotties won the 4×400 relay fairly easily, Millan was pushed where he had never gone before in the high jump. Millan had to jump 5 feet 8 inches, a height he had never previously reached in competition, just to keep Bordentown in the meet. Millan not only reached that height, he won the high jump with a 5 foot 10 inch jump. Millan also out teammate Mike Steffen for first place in the 400. Steffen placed first in the 100 and the 200 meter races. Millan placed second in the 200 while Kim took third. Justin Gaines was the runner-up behind Steffen in the 200.
Hayden dominated the throwing events with wins in the discus and the shot. Bordentown’s Joe Megher captured the top spot in the javelin while Tucker placed third in the discus.
Bordentown was scheduled to have competed in a regular season home meet yesterday (Wednesday) versus Holy Cross. Bordentown’s 4x400m relay squad is scheduled to compete in the Penn Relays on Saturday. On Tuesday Bordentown is scheduled at Cinnaminson.
FLORENCE
The Florence High School boys’ varsity track and field team totally dominated in a 111-20 win over Trenton Catholic Academy on Tuesday.
The undefeated Flashes (3-0) showed unbelievable depth in the meet as no one athlete dominated the overall competition.
Shaquan Virgil won the 100 (11.3 seconds) and placed second in both the 200 (25.1) and the high jump (5 feet 6 inches). Florence’s D.J. Pittinger won the 110 high hurdles (15.2 seconds), was the runner-up in the 400 intermediate hurdles (1:05.3) and placed third in the high jump.
Joe Laureti and Brian Phelan placed first and second, respectively, in the 800 and they also were members of the Flashes’ winning 4×400 relay squad (Joe Ugowe and Ovi Druteru were the other runners). Ugowe was also the runner-up to teammate Justin Stone in the 400 race. Florence swept the mile with Dave Jones (5:18.6), Jim Karwacki (5:22) and S. Worstall (5:40) all posting solid times. Florence’s Alex Kline, J. Bartosh and K. Kurt were the top finishers in the 3,200 race.
Matt Belcher was victorious in the 400 hurdles (1:04.4) and he placed second in the 110 high hurdles (16.3 seconds). Jared Schuster ran 25 seconds flat to win the 200. Quentin Loftin placed second in the long jump.
Florence also dominated in the throwing events. Adam Pernice won the shot put (35 feet 11 inches) and placed second in the discus. Chris Salaga won the javelin (149 feet 1 inch) while Jon Allen took first place in the discus (106 feet 10 inches). The Flashes won every single point in the discus, shot and javelin.
The Florence girls team pummeled TCA, 104-22, on Tuesday.
Both Florence teams are scheduled to compete in a regular season meet versus Burlington City tomorrow (Friday).
