MHS CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEWS
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
Two runners will be way out in front leading the way for Manville High’s cross country teams this fall. If the other MHS boys and girls can close the gap, the teams could crack the win column in the competitive Skyland Conference.
Senior Sasa Todorovic and junior Casey Shields are looking good as the male and female front runners, but the Mustangs need to develop a strong pack behind them. Todorovic and Shields led the way last season and their hard work over the summer may have pushed them even farther ahead of everyone else on the roster.
Manville fielded a full girls’ squad for the first time last season, but the program is still seeking its historic first victory. The MHS boys didn’t win a meet last fall but showed improvement at the end of the season and managed to avoid a last place finish at the Central Jersey Group 1 Championships.
Veteran head coach Jim O’Connor is hoping to build on that progress and produce a few victories in 2007. Manville expected to begin the season with 15 runners seven boys and eight girls.
”The turnout is pretty close to what we had last year,” O’Connor said. “I would have liked more. I’m hoping to encourage a few more freshmen once school starts. We have to keep them healthy. That’s difficult because nobody besides Sasa and Casey did anything over the summer.”
Todorovic begins his third straight year as the school’s No. 1 male distance runner. He built up a good mileage base during the summer. O’Connor would like to improve his speed for optimal racing form.
”Sasa ran a lot of miles,” O’Connor said. “He has to work on converting that to speed. He ran 55-60 miles most weeks and hit 72 miles one week. He’s got a good base, but he’s got to get faster. I’ll have him do short things and change of pace things and throw a 200-meter sprint into a race pace.”
Shields has impressed O’Connor with her early runs. The third-year runner should make considerable improvements to her times this season.
”Casey looks fit and I think she’s going to have a big season,” O’Connor said. “She’s more fluid, very economical, a lot smoother. She ran every day during the summer. She’s the most improved and she was already our best runner.”
The girls’ team is very young, with only one senior on the roster. Dominika Lastovickova returns from last year as the only upperclassmen on the girls’ team.
Five of the eight girls are returning, including Shields, Lastovickova, juniors Kate Harodetsky and Arielle Mizov and sophomore Alissa Teodorczy. Sophomore Amanda Velez and juniors Sarah Kondash and Evanna Tchir join the cross country team after running track in the spring.
”Last year at this time, we were hoping to get five girls to cross the finish line,” O’Connor said. “This year, we definitely want to win a meet.”
The boys’ squad features five of seven returning letter winners with a little more age and experience. O’Connor isn’t sure if this will translate into any victories. The key factor will be health, consistency and depth.
”We need more production out of the fourth and fifth runners on both teams,” he said. “We’re starting off much better than last year, but we still need more quality runners.”
Three seniors and one sophomore join Todorovic as returning athletes from last year’s team. Seniors Adam Wolcott, Jason Pfoutz and Nick Pillsbury and sophomore Andrew Franko are back for another season. Junior Ryan McKee and freshman Randy Gomez are new to the team. Pfoutz and Franko figure to battle for the No. 2 spot and leader of the team’s main pack.
The Mustangs started preseason workouts Aug. 20 and have held a few 2-mile trials. The 2007 season was scheduled to begin with a 3.1-mile race at Bound Brook on Wednesday. Manville will compete in a bunch of tri-meets in the first month of the season before shifting to championship meet mode in the middle of October.

