By: Sean Moylan
A good Hightstown High boys’ varsity track and field season got a whole lot better at this past weekend’s NJSIAA Group III Central Jersey Sectional Championship at Monmouth Regional High.
"I was really pleased. We scored 17 points and placed 10th overall out of 19 teams," said Jim Firtek, the head coach of the Hightstown High boys’ varsity track and field squad.
Of course, two of the Rams’ biggest point scorers at last Friday and Saturday’s Group III Central Jersey Championship at Monmouth Regional High were their great junior throwers, Romel Penales and Zacharia Ahmed. Ahmed made a 50′ ½" throw to place 3rd in the shot put event.
"He’s (Ahmed) going to try to pop out a personal best throw this weekend," said Firtek, who wants his kids to relax and have fun at this weekend’s All-Group III Championship at South Plainfield.
Meanwhile, Penales treated the rest of Group III Central Jersey to a double dose of his skills this past weekend as he placed 5th in both the discus (136′ 7") and the shot put (47′ 6 ½").
While other Group III teams may have athletes who’ve made longer throws (in the discus and javelin) this season, Ahmed and Penales are two of the most consistently good throwers in the state. So they’re always dangerous and capable of placing at any event.
Yet Rams’ sophomore Pat Gray was every bit as impressive at Sectionals as he placed third in the pole vault with a vault of 12′ 6".
"He’s going for 13 feet this weekend," added Firtek of Gray.
Sophomore sensation Tommy Apgar grabbed 6th place in the triple jump with a leap of 41′ 9". And while no other Ram placed, Hightstown gave several other strong showings at Sectionals.
In the 400 hurdles, Kyle Rush placed 8th with a 59.23 second time. Rush was also one of the runners on Hightstown’s 8th place 4×400 relay squad, which posted a time of 3:30.31. Pat Ryan, Ryan Donelan and Daryl Wiley also ran in the relay for Hightstown. In the individual 400 meter dash, Ryan posted a stellar 51.47 second time to finish 10th overall in that event. And in the 200, Ryan (23.20 seconds) and Wiley (23.32 seconds) both ran strong races.
"Karon Purcell ran a 63.38 second time in the 400 hurdles. That’s very good for a freshman," Firtek added.
Junior James Sheehan recorded a 10:32 time in the 3,200, which was good enough to place him 13th in that event.
"That was a very good race for him (Sheehan)," added Firtek.
In almost oppressive heat, Hightstown sophomore Brendan Walsh still managed to run the mile in 4:50.65, a very solid time under the circumstances. With a strong throw of 141′ 2", Nick Terlitz placed 14th in the javelin event. Hightstown’s Andrew Salwen finished in the middle of the pack in the shot and Richard Waller was solid in the discus.
For Firtek, it’s already been a good season and having Penales, Ahmed, Gray and Apgar at this weekend’s All-Group III Meet at South Plainfield is just icing on the cake.
"For anyone to make the Meet of Champions would be a bonus," said Firtek, who is already extremely proud of his hard-working squad.

