Manville harriers face tough county foes

Todorovic, Shields lead way

By: Rudy Brandl
   BERNARDS – Manville High’s cross country runners had to make many adjustments while competing in last week’s Somerset County Championships.
   Although the MHS boys and girls have run more races in larger fields in the team’s first year of Skyland Conference action, they weren’t completely ready for all of the challenges at Pleasant Valley Park. The Mustangs had to deal with a very muddy course, plenty of hills and some of the state’s toughest competition.
   Six boys and four girls represented Manville, which fell one runner short of competing as a full team in the girls’ event. The MHS boys finished last in the team standings, while the girls hope to field a full team when the Mustangs return to Pleasant Valley for Thursday’s Skyland Conference Championships.
   "The hills make it tough," Manville head coach Jim O’Connor said after the completion of both varsity races. "The kids who improved had racing experience from last year and did a little more training. For some other kids who haven’t done this before, it gets tough this time of year."
   Several Mustangs, especially on the girls’ side, are nursing injuries late in the season. That’s part of the reason only 10 Manville runners competed in the county meet.
   Sophomore Casey Shields has been suffering from a hyper-extended right calf, but that didn’t stop her from leading the girls with a 25:32 time that was good for 74th place. Shields doesn’t particularly enjoy Pleasant Valley Park and the soggy conditions didn’t help.
   "It was very muddy and I don’t really like this course," Shields said. "And the big hill back there (before the final stretch) always slows me down."
   Shields was hoping to break her personal-best time of 24:16, which she ran early this season at Belvidere. She ran 25:19 in a dual meet at Pleasant Valley and only ran 13 seconds slower in the county race.
   "It’s tough because I always feel like everyone’s passing me," Shields said. "Then I remember that I’m just here to beat my personal best."
   MHS junior Sasa Todorovic didn’t beat his personal best but ran faster than his previous Pleasant Valley race in leading the boys’ team. Todorovic placed 66th in a time of 20:00 flat.
   "I wanted to break 20," Todorovic said. "The pace of the race was much faster. Coach wanted me to stay with the runner from Bound Brook (Tom Fitzpatrick) and he just finished right in front of me. I want to stay ahead of him the next time (at the Skyland Conference meet)."
   Todorovic is still enjoying cross country in his second year as the Manville team leader. He even likes Pleasant Valley Park, mud puddles and all.
   "It’s my favorite course," Todorovic said. "It has all the elements of running. It has hills and a lot of downhill. It has a little bit of everything."
   Todorovic attacked the course according to O’Connor’s plan.
   "Coach wanted me to stay with the pack through the first half and then put in a kick and pushed it more in the second half since it’s mostly downhill," he said.
   "He ran 30 seconds faster than he’s ever run on this course," O’Connor said. "That’s a sizable improvement. He has to learn how to compete in big races. He did that today."
   Other MHS runners who competed in the counties included boys Adam Wolcott (84th, 21:27), Andrew Franko (94th, 21:50), Erik Lubas (95th, 22:03), Jason Pfoutz (96th, 22:15) and Emils Stopins (97th, 22:37) and girls Dominika Lastovickova (87th, 29:42), Arielle Mizov (88th, 31:16) and Jennifer Gomez (89th, 32:53).