Girls just miss qualifying for states
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
While Casey Shields was qualifying for the State Group 1 Championships, the remaining Manville High cross country runners competed in their final race of the season in last Saturday’s Central Jersey Group 1 Championships at Thompson Park.
The Manville girls ended with a solid team performance and didn’t miss the team cut by very much. MHS head coach Jim O’Connor had hoped his girls could squeeze into the top five and secure a berth in the Group 1 meet. Manville put give girls on the course and all of them finished, but the team came up 13 points behind Middlesex for the fifth and final spot.
”We were real close,” O’Connor said. “The girls just missed. We only had five girls there, so they all had to score. We came about as close as we could with the people we had running. We still beat three schools. We ran well.”
Last year, only five schools fielded full teams in the CJ 1 girls’ meet. O’Connor figured his team would have a shot if he could get five girls to finish the race. Manville accomplished that but competed in a larger nine-team field this year.
Shields led the Mustangs and earned an automatic bid to Saturday’s State Group 1 Championships by finishing seventh in a time of 21:48. The MHS junior will be running against the state’s top Group 1 harriers at Holmdel Park this weekend.
Junior Kate Harodetsky completed her fine season with a 23:04 clocking that was good for 25th place in CJ 1. Other MHS runners at the sectional meet included Evanna Tchir (41st, 25:26), Amanda Velez (54th, 27:01) and Arielle Mizov (66th, 29:14). The Manville girls averaged 25:19 and scored 164 team points.
Metuchen won the CJ 1 girls’ team title with 37 points, followed by Robbinsville (44), Shore (60), Pt. Pleasant (115) and Middlesex (151). Manville defeated Keansburg, South Amboy and local rival Bound Brook.
The Manville boys finished on a down note. Senior pack leader Sasa Todorovic, who enjoyed a good three-year career, was hoping to join Shields in the Group 1 race. Todorovic had a tough day and finished 53rd in 19:49.
”He looked tight today,” O’Connor said. “He had a bad race, a bad day. Everyone has one of those and he had his bad race on the wrong day.”
Fellow senior Adam Wolcott, who made big strides this fall while emerging as a solid and dependable No. 2 runner, also went out with a subpar race. Wolcott placed 60th in 20:11.
”Adam didn’t have a good race, either, but he had a very good season,” O’Connor added.
Jason Pfoutz capped his good season with a nice run. Pfoutz placed 90th but came closer to his 22-minute goal by hitting the finish line in 22:04.
The rest of the MHS boys’ team included Randy Gomez (23:13), Andrew Franko (23:30), Nick Janner (23:31) and Ryan McKee (28:59). Manville finished 18th with a 21:46 average. Metuchen (61) edged Shore Regional (68) for the CJ 1 boys’ team title.