By: Redd E. Patrick
Monroe Township High School boys cross country coach Frank Bonich is one of the most diehard Mets fans you’ll ever meet.
That means he hates the Yankees with a passion. With that being said, Bishop Ahr must be his new New York Yankees.
When Bonich took over the Monroe Township program six years ago, the team didn’t win a meet. The Falcons won two races the next season, then became instant contenders for Greater Middlesex Conference division titles ever since. There just seems to be one obstacle Bishop Ahr.
Losing out to the Trojans by close margins year after year, with the GMC’s White Division title usually on the line, that trend continued again on Tuesday at Thompson Park as the two battled on opening day. Bishop Ahr wound up winning, 25-30.
"It’s frustrating," Bonich said. "We get better and better as a program each year, but we lose to them by a couple of points every year and it usually winds up being for the division title."
Although Bonich was frustrated, he was also proud.
"All you can do as a coach is to ask your kids to work hard and do their best," Bonich said. "And that’s what they did. All of our kids ran well, as I expected, so I will not fault the effort."
Bishop Ahr went 1-2 as veterans Ted Brinkofski and Joe Hauchmacher ran 17:43 and 18:30. But the Falcons took spots 3-4 with juniors Ryan Brown and Nate Smith running 18:41 and 18:55.
Senior Adam Modzelewski (19:38), sophomore Joe Ruopoli (19:39) and senior Nick Garibaldi (19:59) rounded out the top five by finishing 6-7-10.
"I knew it would be close again," Bonich said. "I was satisfied with our performance, just give Bishop Ahr credit."
Bonich also received solid efforts from sophomores Ben Wendel and Dan Lemelman, who ran 20:35 and 21:01.
REDD ENDS: In last week’s article, it said there was not a runner named Roman on the team this year. Steve and Scott Roman had led the team as the No. 1 runner in years past. As it turns out, there is a Roman on the roster after all as freshman Jon Roman is running for the varsity team. In Tuesday’s meet, Roman ran 21:20. "Jon surprised me," Roman said. "His passion is hockey, but he has that Roman running gene.’
Monroe has changed the course layout at Thompson Park dramatically. Bonich said it is about 20 seconds slower.
The Falcons will compete in a tri-meet at Merrill Park on Tuesday vs. Colonia and South Plainfield. Then they will compete at the Colts Neck Invitational on Friday.
The girls were expected to have a meet with Mother Seton on Tuesday at Thompson with Jim Cox expected to make his head coaching debut with the Falcons. Well, Cox is officially 1-0, but he didn’t have to do too much because Mother Seton from Clark never showed up. Monroe didn’t compete against Bishop Ahr like the boys because they are in different divisions.
"We waited and waited and waited," Cox said. "But they never showed up. We finally called them and they just said "Oh, no, we’re not coming.’ If they had told us 10 minutes earlier, we could have competed in the meet with Old Bridge, East Brunswick and South Brunswick. It would have been unofficial, but it would have been a great experience. But as we were waiting for Mother Seton, that race took off."
The Falcons will train through this weekend before competing in the Colts Neck Invitational on Friday.
