By: Sean Richards
It has been such a great winter track season for Monroe Township High School junior Nicole Ragucci it almost comes as a shock when things don’t go so well.
Actually, there was nothing wrong with Ragucci’s showing at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions in Toms River over the weekend. It’s just that she’s such a competitor it’s easy to be a victim of one’s own high expectations.
"I’m actually kind of disappointed," she said. "And that’s with the whole day overall. It was just one of those meets where things didn’t work out."
The timing of the events didn’t help any as Ragucci started the day by competing in the pole vault. Last week at the NJSIAA Groups, Ragucci became the first in the history of the school to win an indoor state championship by finishing first with a leap of 10-0.
After clearing 9-6 in the first rounds of the pole vault, Ragucci then competed in the 400 run. The previous week she ran a 58.72 to finish second in the state in Group III, but this time she was eighth in a time of 58.85.
"This race was not what I expected," said Ragucci, who was the only member of the Monroe team to qualify for the Meet of Champions. "I think the timing of going straight from the pole vault to the 400 effected my performance.
"It was also the craziest 400 I’ve ever run in."
Ragucci started well enough and seemed to be in pretty good shape, but was then victimized by a pile-up and got stuck in the pack.
"I was going along pretty good," she explained. "But then (Franklin’s) Symone (O’Connor) got in front of me and suddenly slowed down. Everyone then started tripping all over each other. I got boxed in and my head wasn’t in the race from there."
With the 400 over, it was back to the pole vault where the decision was made to pass on 6-0. Ragucci came close when the bar was raised to 10-6, but failed to clear that height and ended up in 11th place.
"I thought my attempts at 10-6 were pretty good," she said. "I was told I wasn’t far off."
Ragucci was to have returned to action in the Easterns on Tuesday night at the New York City Armory in the last event of any kind for a member of the Monroe winter team this season. At Easterns, Ragucci was to have competed in the 400 and pole vault.
"I was thinking of going to nationals (the following week), but I’ve changed my mind," she said. "My dad says it’s time for a break."
When you’ve accomplished all Ragucci has this year, the decision to take a breather before the spring season is certainly understandable.
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At the Eastern States in New York City Tuesday night, Ragucci was seventh in the 400, while Billy Phillips ran an impressive 6.83 in the 55 (though his place was unavailable.
In the big news, Monroe was seventh in the 4×400 with a school record time of 3:28. In that race were Billy Phillips, Zach Theinert, Mike Barszcz and Adam Modzelewski.

