By: Sean Moylan
Megan "Little Miss Win" Flynn ran the perfect physical race to win the 1,600 meter event at the NJSIAA Group I State Championship at South Plainfield last Friday.
Then on Saturday, Flynn ran a perfect mental race to capture the Group I State title in the 3,200.
Obviously, she’s the first Group I champion in Robbinsville history and amazingly she accomplished the feat twice over the course of one glorious weekend.
On Friday, Robbinsville girls’ varsity track and field coach Rick Smith examined the seed times of the rest of the field and knew Flynn had an excellent chance of winning the mile. Still, she had to run her race to do it.
"Megan ran a perfect race on Friday. She could have made a mistake but she didn’t. Megan Flynn basically dusted her competition," said Smith, whose freshman phenom used her unique physical abilities to run a 5.25.56 winning time. She had won a Sectional title with a 5:29.38 time only a week before.
Saturday’s 3,200 was a different story as coming in Flynn faced a major threat in Waldwick’s Lindsay Peterson. But as always, Smith, Mike Walker (Robbinsville’s boys’ varsity track and field coach) and Flynn came in with a brilliant plan of attack she would lay back and wait to make her move.
Peterson flew out to an early lead and everyone outside of Robbinsville probably thought it was her race to win barring injury.
"After about the first mile Megan was about 8 to 10 seconds behind Peterson and still she really never panicked," said Smith. "With the strategy we came up with, we wanted her (Flynn) to wait to the last 800 to 500 meters to pass her. With around 800 meters to go, Megan caught up to her and passed her. And in the last lap she pulled away from Peterson at one point."
Flynn won the race with a brilliant 11:45.58 time while Peterson placed second with a 12:00.39 mark. With the two state titles, Flynn qualified for yesterday’s (Wednesday) Meet of Champions in two events. But Flynn was seriously considering just competing in the mile. Going into yesterday’s scheduled event, she was shooting for a 5:18 mile time which would qualify her for the freshmen National race in two weeks. Flynn scored all 20 of Robbinsville’s points as the Ravens finished 9th as a team.
Meanwhile Robbinsville’s first superstar, junior Gina Norato, placed 7th in the 1,600 with a 5:44.07 time and just missed making it into the Meet of Champion in that event. Then in the 3,200, Norato placed 21st overall with a time of 13:57.82. Robbinsville’s Erin Hayes took 22nd place with a 13:58.53 mark.
"Gina Norato actually liked the split time of her first mile but wasn’t able to finish where she wanted to finish," added Smith, whose distance runners had to compete in extreme heat on Saturday.
The versatile Norato also placed 23rd in the triple jump with a 29′ 4 ½" jump, but her most heroic moment came in Saturday’s 4×400 relay.
"Gina (Norato) came back from the 3,200 and anchored the 4×400 relay and helped us to set a school record. She kept calm and she did a great job," said Smith, whose junior star performed well under the pressure. Norato teamed up with Erin Hankins, Flynn and Phoebe Lin to post a 4:35.26 record-breaking time (14th overall).
Hankins was very busy as she placed 12th in the prelims of the 100 hurdles with a 17.47 second time. She also took 14th in the long jump (14′ 1 ½") and 15th in the 400 hurdles (1:12.32). Robbinsville’s Amy Greubel placed 15th in the shot (28′ 8 ¼") and she also qualified for the high jump.
Even before Flynn had made school history, Smith was very proud of his team. Now, for at least a few weeks, Flynn is the Queen of Robbinsville.
BOYS
Although it did not advance anyone into the Meet of Champions, the Robbinsville High boys’ varsity track and field team made a strong showing at this past weekend’s All-Group 1 State Championship meet at South Plainfield High.
Freshman Nick Lachman braved Saturday’s blistering temperatures and ran a 10:37.81 time in the 3,200 meter race, which placed him 12th overall. While that was a fantastic time, especially for a freshman, Lachman had been shooting for a little better considering he ran a 10:26.81 time 3rd place time (10:25 hand time) the previous week at Sectionals.
"He got caught up in the fast pace of the race," said Robbinsville head boys’ track coach Mike Walker of Lachman. "But it’s a good learning experience for him."
In the shot put, Ravens’ freshman Richie Flocco recorded a 40′ 7" throw to capture 15th place at the Group I Championship.
"It was just a couple of inches off of his 40′ 10 ¼" throw at Sectionals," said Walker, who believes Flocco will only get better with age as he continues to grow and get stronger.
Facing a very tough field in the 200 meter dash, Robbinsville’s Rob Jiggetts ran a stellar 23.39 second time to place 16th overall (he had the same time as the 15th place finisher).
"23.39 was just a little off his best mark, but don’t forget he’s been battling shin splints," said Walker of Jiggetts, who continues in Robbinsville’s short but rich tradition of tough athletes who perform well under adversity.
Jiggetts was also the leadoff runner on Robbinsville’s 4×400 relay squad, which ran a 3:41.01 time to place 14th out of the 24 qualifying teams at Saturday’s meet. Previously, the Ravens had posted a 3:39.69 time at Sectionals to qualify.
On Saturday Jiggetts posted a solid split of 54 seconds and then Kyle McMullen blazed his way to a split of just over 52 seconds in the second leg.
"Kyle McMullen had one of the fastest splits we’ve had in a long time," said Walker. "It was a great leg by him."
Kyle Dragert ran the next leg in just over 54 seconds and with Alex Giaquinto out of the lineup on Saturday, Lachman stepped in and ran a solid anchor leg.
"We have at least six guys who run 55 seconds or better," said Walker, who should have speedy Brian Alster back from an injury next year. Justin Denisco is also a good 400 runner.
Next year the competition for spots on the relay squad will be fierce, but that’s a great thing. Andrew Matyas threw the discus 98′ 2" for 21st place this weekend. Robbinsville’s Jack Burum had qualified in the high jump but opted to sit out the event and take the SAT’s this past weekend instead.
"The opening height was at 6 feet," added Walker.
While Burum could probably push his body to 6 feet under ideal circumstances, it’s a tough height for him to start at. So Walker was not the least bit upset that he missed the meet, especially when he was doing something so important for his education.
The Robbinsville boys’ track stars have started to make a name for themselves this spring, but 2008 could be the breakthrough year for the program. When you work hard and listen to the coaches, good things happen.

