Wins two golds in just four hours
By Noah Alexander, Sports Writer
TINTON FALLS — At 5-foot-2, Monroe High School senior Nicole Ragucci is not your typical pole vaulter or sprinter.
But then, little about Ragucci is ordinary.
Her school’s senior class president and recently named Scholar-Athlete, the Duke University-bound Ragucci is a paragon of determination, a track coach’s dream, who pours so much intensity into each race that she often must be helped off the track upon its conclusion.
’’She’s just been working so hard,” said Monroe head coach Jim Cox. ‘‘She’s the first one to practice and the last one to leave. She just wants to be good at it.”
That persistence was doubly rewarded last weekend at the NJSIAA Central Group III Track and Field Championships at Monmouth Regional.
Setting a school record of 11 feet, Ragucci won the pole vault late Friday afternoon. Then she blazed through the first 200 meters in 26 seconds en route to victory in the 400 (57.35) later that evening giving her two sectional titles in less than four hours.
Ragucci concluded her tour de force by joining Amaka Ekeocha, Sierah Tyson and Christina Perrotta in a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay on Saturday in 4:03.9.
The performances couldn’t stop Hopewell Valley (124 points) from claiming the team title, but of Monroe was a solid third (33 points). Remarkably, Ragucci accounted for at least part of 28 points, a sensational weekend by anyone’s standards.
The top six finishers in each race qualified for Friday and Saturday’s Group Championships in South Plainfield.
”She has a will to win,” said Cox. ‘‘It gets her to the next level.”
That and the courage to adjust on the fly.
Ironically, while Ragucci was one of the more diminutive competitors in the vault, she discovered earlier in the week that she could fare better by trying a longer pole. Despite a brief transition with the new device, she was able to improve immediately.
’’The old one was shorter and lighter,” said Ragucci. ‘‘I think my warm-ups were bad, but when I went through my run-through, I felt a lot more comfortable.”
Ragucci didn’t let the opposition get more comfortable in the 400 as she took the lead early and never let go. She was particularly focused on Hopewell Valley’s Julie Alexander (the 400-meter hurdles champion, who stands about eight inches taller), understanding that when Alexander gets her long loping stride going, she is difficult to beat.
’’I’m glad running against her, but a little scared as well,” she said.
Ragucci was joined on the medal standing individually by Tyson, who took fourth in the 200 (25.96) and sixth in the high jump (4-10). Teammate Val Bogue just missed advancing with a 7th-place jump of 4-8.
Perotta also had a respectable showing in the 400, where the sophomore finished ninth in 1:00.68. Serena Tang was eighth in the javelin at 90-2, which was 4-feet away from advancing.
The Falcon boys did not medal, although Scott Baron had a 10th-place javelin throw of 149-5 and Dan Santalla (44-8½) and Godfre Blackman (43-5) were 8-9 in the shot.