By: John E. Powers
Now comes the next step for the Monroe Township High School boys and girls cross country teams.
The Falcons, who competed in the Greater Middlesex Conference Championships last Saturday in steady rain and the mud of Thompson Park, will return Saturday for the Central Jersey Group III meet.
The Falcon boys were 12th at the county championships with 288 points, while the girls were 10th with 328 points. Junior Ryan Brown, a 64th-place finisher last year, improved to 33rd this year with an 18:10.3, two seconds faster than last year’s outing. Senior Adam Modzelewski, 67th last year in 18:16.7, finished 41st this year at 18:23. Nate Smith was 66th (19:07.2), Joe Rupoli was 72nd (19:16.4) and Ben Wendel was 7th (19:20.1).
The girls were led by Damaris Segarra’s 18th place finish in 21:55.2. Last year, she was 17th in 20:58, but coach Jim Cox said that Segarra’s performance this year was misleading.
"We had a tough weekend," said Cox. "Damaris wanted to go out with the lead pack, but she went out too aggressively. She went out with (Sayreville’s Heather Miara, the eventual champion) and the girl from South Brunswick (Sophia Ginez, the runner-up). And I think Damaris paid for that start a little later in the race. The conditions didn’t help, but everybody ran in the same conditions. She was aggressive. I don’t think she would have done that six months ago. The place was one place worse than last year, but the way she ran the race was much different. I was happy with it.
"Damaris has had a lot to live up to because of her sister (Elizabeth, last year’s county champ)," Cox added. "She actually had better workouts than her sister coming into the county meet. I thought she went out the right way, but with the wrong people."
Sophomore Erica Korsak was 63rd in 24:20.8, senior Marie Nemeth was 79th in 25:07 and senior Jackie Barclay was 82nd in 25:19.9. The fifth finisher was Alyson Karas who was 92nd in 25:55. Freshman Val Bogue, usually the team’s second runner, was fourth in the freshman race. Bogue ran 45 seconds faster than Korsak.
"If you take that into consideration, the fact that Val ran so well, if we would have run her in the varsity race, we would have been in the top seven, right where we wanted to be," Cox said. "She ran about two minutes faster than our fifth runner."
At the sectional meet, the Falcons will be without seniors Nemeth and Barclay, who will be taking the SATs. But Bogue will be back in the varsity lineup. Last year, Segarra was 42nd in the sectional meet when it was at Holmdel County Park. Korsak was 84th and Karas was 91st
"It will give us a good preview of what we will have next year," Cox said. "Hopefully Damaris can get in the top 15. We’ll be looking to get into the top ten as a team."
Cox said the boys have been running very well as a pack and that he and boys head coach Frank Bonich believe the Falcons can make the top six. Brown is also expected to be in the top 20.
"Overall, I think the boys have a little more depth (than the girls)," Cox said. "Ryan has been in the same situation that Damaris has been in this year, taking over the team lead for our number one Scott Roman. They have moved into roles of being team leaders. Both have done phenomenal jobs, but that pressure sometimes takes something off your performances."
Brown was 48th last year; Modzelewski was 54th, sophomore Ruopoli was 73rd, junior Smith was 76th.

