Smolinka qualifies for Meet of Champs

HHS boys finish 10th in Group 4

By: Rudy Brandl
   Ashley Smolinka had a multitude of motivations while running in Saturday’s State Group 4 Championships at Holmdel Park.
   The Hillsborough High freshman wanted to improve on her previous Holmdel effort and possibly break the school record on the course while qualifying for the NJSIAA Meet of Champions. Most of all, Smolinka was hoping to make the M of C so her older brother, Mike, could watch her run for the first time.
   Mission accomplished on almost all counts.
   Smolinka cut 11 seconds off her Shore Coaches Invitational time from October and finished 17th in Group 4 in a time of 19:59.38. While that time didn’t set the HHS girls’ record for Holmdel, it was good enough to secure a wild-card berth and earn Smolinka a trip to the Meet of Champs in her freshman year. It also will give big brother Mike, a junior at West Virginia University who ran at Hillsborough in his high school days, a chance to see Ashley run for the first time.
   "It’s really exciting," Ashley Smolinka said. "I really wanted to qualify for this meet so my brother could see me run. He’s coming home next weekend and he’s never seen me run before."
   Smolinka is the first freshman in HHS head coach Rich Refi’s decade-long tenure to qualify for the Meet of Champs in cross country. Even the two greatest female harriers in school history, Kristen Meyer and Ashley Uniszkiewicz, didn’t make the M of C until their sophomore year. Meyer earned two medals for placing in the top 15 in the M of C and Uniszkiewicz holds the school record at Holmdel.
   "The fact that no freshman has ever done that before is exciting," Smolinka said. "I’m always nervous before a meet, but I’m excited. It’s a big meet."
   Smolinka overcame a few obstacles to reach her goal Saturday. She came down with a cold during the week and wasn’t running at full strength. The weather was warmer than usual and most of the times in all races for both boys and girls produced slower times. Smolinka stayed the course, executed her plan and ran fast enough to extend her season another week.
   She went out fast with the leaders and completed the first mile in 6:21, which was somewhat fast. Smolinka lost a little time and a few places over the rest of the course but still beat the cut-off time by 10 seconds.
   "We were shooting for top 15 and we figured she’d make it," Refi said. "She got herself separated from the majority of the field even though she lost a few spots in the last two miles."
   "I was trying to stay with the same people that I ran with at sectionals," Smolinka said. "It might have been too fast, but I don’t think it made a difference because I probably would have gotten tired at the end anyway. I went out a little fast so I didn’t get too far behind."
   Smolinka will be the only HHS runner competing in the M of C since the Raider boys’ team did not advance beyond the Group 4 stage. Refi figured the HHS boys had an outside shot at earning a second straight trip to the big show but they needed to run a great race with almost everything going right.
   That didn’t happen, starting with a poor warm-up session. The Raiders weren’t as focused and organized as usual in their pre-race regimen and they finished 10th in the 20-school field.
   The injury to senior leader Joe Bernardo didn’t help Hillsborough’s cause. The Raiders needed a big race from Bernardo, but he suffered a knee injury during the week that kept him from operating at peak level.
   Sophomores Jason Walton and Jordan Magath led the Raiders in Saturday’s Group 4 race, but neither ran fast enough to earn a trip back to Holmdel. Walton (28th, 17:17) and Magath (32nd, 17:18) gave HHS fans a glimpse of the next two years with solid performances. Bernardo’s usual race would have put him somewhere in the lower half of the top 20, which would have propelled the Raiders much higher in the team standings. Fifth-place Cherokee earned the final wild card team berth to the M of C.
   "Phillipsburg was fourth today and we’re pretty close to them," Refi said. "Without a freak injury, we would have been fifth and had a good shot to make the Meet of Champs. That would have been a great accomplishment for these kids."
   Other HHS boys who ran in Group 4 included senior Justin Risso (73rd, 18:06), junior Alex Brown (86th, 18:15), senior Mark Fineza (87th, 18:15) junior Michael Rath (89th, 18:17) and Bernardo (109th, 18:35).
   While Saturday’s Group 4 race marked the end of some fine scholastic careers, it was just the beginning of a special one for Ashley Smolinka.