By: John E. Powers
The Monroe Township High School cross country team felt it missed a great chance in its opening meet against Greater Middlesex Conference White Division foe Bishop Ahr.
The Falcons didn’t slip in their second big opportunity Tuesday against Sayreville.
Monroe (3-1) knocked off the Bombers 24-32 in Sayreville as junior Ryan Brown won the meet in 18:33, beating Sayreville’s Jon Vedia by five seconds. Falcon junior Nate Smith was third in 19:06 followed by senior Adam Modzelewski in 19:15. Sophomore Joe Ruopoli was seventh in 19:36 and sophomore Ben Wendel was eighth in 19:36 and senior Nick Garabaldi was 10th in 20:08.
Falcons coach Frank Bonich said his team was a bit surprised as Sayreville extended its course and made it rougher, slipping in a few rolling hills. But the Falcons dominated.
"We’re excited about it; in my five years here it’s the first time we’ve beaten them," he said. "It was actually a difficult course. We changed our course at Thompson Park so we have a couple of more hills to make it more of a challenge and the kids have been practicing hard. It (Sayreville’s course) was pretty tough, tougher than anticipated. But the kids responded."
The Falcons are scheduled to compete in the Cougar Invitational at Colts Neck High School Friday before returning to the Greater Middlesex Conference White schedule Tuesday with a meet at Woodbridge against Woodbridge and Perth Amboy.
"We were there last year and the kids ran well; the course is flat, so the times will be pretty good," he said. "Everybody knows how good Colts Neck is, so there’ll be some good competition there. There’s a wide range of schools."
The girls were beaten by Sayreville 19-50. Damaris Segarra finished third overall in 22:08 behind second-place Shannon McKenna (21:54) and Heather Miara, who ran away with the race in 19:56. Miara would have placed ninth in the boys race..
Erika Korsak and Val Bogue were ninth and 10th respectively for Monroe in 24:37 and 24:51.
"There were simply a better team and more experienced," said Monroe coach Jim Cox.
Miara finished seventh in the Greater Middlesex Conference championship race last year. Cox expects her to possibly win the county meet later in the season.
"I think our kids were a little intimidated by how good Sayreville is," Cox said. "We didn’t run as well as I know we can."
Cox said he had considered canceling a meet at Mother Seton at Warinanco Park Wednesday since Seton didn’t’ have a complete team, but he said he thinks a quick turnaround will help his team’s psyche after the Sayreville loss. The team will also compete in the Cougar Invitational at Colts Neck Friday before running at Woodbridge next Tuesday.

