Knitowski soars at MVC meet

Mustangs make noise on track, in field

By: Rudy Brandl
   BERKELEY HEIGHTS – Mike Knitowski couldn’t wait for the competition in his first individual championship meet of the season. Once he got it, the Manville High junior proved to be one of the elite track and field athletes in last week’s Mountain Valley Conference Championships at Governor Livingston.
   Knitowski captured two gold medals and a silver in the Valley Division while hitting two personal bests in one of the finest performances of the three-day meet. He started his dominant jumping exhibition with a first-place in the triple jump by breaking his own school record with a mark of 39 feet, 11¼ inches.
   On the next day, Knitowski won the high jump despite a subpar 5-6 performance. Although he didn’t complete the three-event sweep last Wednesday, Knitowski finally cleared the 20-foot mark he’s been chasing all year in the long jump. He finished second with a personal-best mark of 20-3½.
   "It feels pretty good," Knitowski said. "I thought I could come in here and win a couple. I want the competition. If somebody jumps better, I just have to do better. I don’t like losing."
   Knitowski defeated all his Valley foes in the triple jump and high jump and let Bound Brook’s Deven Baker (21-2¾) push him in the long jump. He wasn’t too upset with finishing second as long as he cleared 20 feet. Mission accomplished.
   Nobody came within two feet of Knitowski in the triple jump. He continued to improve his marks and work his way to 40 feet in last week’s competition. Knitowski has added two feet to his triple jump distances so far this spring.
   "I just got to where I wanted to be," he said. "I take my step and hit the long jump board. I knew I was going to carry it out there."
   Knitowski certainly wasn’t satisfied with his performance in the high jump. Ever since clearing six feet in a dual meet at New Providence, he’s been looking to go higher. Although he won the Valley Division crown last week, Knitowski wasn’t happy with the 5-6 showing.
   "I was mad even though I won," he said. "Every time I went up, I kept slipping when I cut to go up. I widened out and tried to slide over the bar. I wasn’t going up and over."
   Knitowski wasn’t the only Manville athlete to shine in the school’s final MVC competition. Several teammates, both male and female, scored points at the meet.
   The Manville boys finished fourth in the team standings with 48 points. New Providence won the Valley title with 183 points, followed by Bound Brook and David Brearley. MHS finished in front of Technology, Oratory, Roselle Park and Dayton.
   Manville head coach Michelle Mongillo was thrilled with the overall performance of the program. There were many personal-bests by both the boys and girls. Mongillo got a real charge when the public address announcer read the team standings midway during the first day of the meet.
   "We were second in points for a while," Mongillo said. "That was nice to hear."
   Senior Rafal Brozyna, junior Jack Calvo and sophomore Sasa Todorovic shined in their first MVC meet. All three Manville athletes are first-year track and field competitors.
   Brozyna finished third in the high jump (5-4), Calvo placed fourth in the 800 (2:12.8) and Todorovic took fifth in the 1,600 (4:56.2) and third in the 3,200 (10:43.2). Junior Mark Manderski hit a personal-best (38-4) to finish fifth in the shot put.
   "Some of them are peaking," Mongillo said. "It’s the competition and just being here."
   Calvo showed guts in the final 100 meters of his race, sprinting all the way to the wire to grab a medal. Manderski continued his progress in the shot put and scored the team’s only points in the weights.
   The MHS girls made a little noise and finished seventh in the Valley standings with seven points. Junior Marzena Brozyna placed in two events, taking fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:15.9) and sixth in the long jump (14-1¼) and sophomore Lucy Yakobchuk finished fourth in the triple jump (29-1¾).
   Marzena Brozyna qualified for the finals but saved her best long jump marks for the end, when she soared into the scoring mix with a couple of 14-foot efforts. She came out for the sport because her older brother decided to join the team and is happy she did.
   "I was just thinking I should beat the first one (jump)," Marzena said. "That was my motivation."
   Many long jumpers suffer from fatigue once they reach the finals. Brozyna does lots of running so her legs don’t tire as quickly.
   "The running helps a lot," she said. "I do everything at practice."
   The Manville athletes did their team and school proud in their final Mountain Valley Conference competition. The head coach certainly was impressed.
   "They did better than I expected," Mongillo said. "I expected a couple of places but they did really well. A couple of them were hesitant to come in to this meet but look at what they did."