Aids Cougars run for conference
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Katie Pelech was intimidated about stepping up to the mile and two-mile this winter track season.
Nothing, however, could be too intimidating to the Montgomery High School sophomore given the talented teammates with which she has been practicing.
”It definitely gives me a lot of motivation,” Pelech said. “It pushes me to do better and it makes me want to do my best. In practice, I use them to pace myself so in races I can get up to my potential. It’s really great. All the seniors and captains are all supportive of the underclassmen and the beginners.”
Pelech isn’t quite a beginner, but she focused on the half-mile last year in the winter and spring track seasons. Pelech also didn’t come into the winter season off the same base of training as did most of the Cougar distance corps. While runners like Jillian Prentice, Lara Shegoski and Nora Heck ran cross country, Pelech played field hockey, but she was excited to get back to running.
”As a program, we’ve taken it up a notch,” Pelech said. “After we won counties and state sectionals last spring that raised the bar.”
The bar went up a bit further for Pelech and the Cougars as they won the Somerset County Championship last month. Almost exactly one month later, they hope to win the Skyland Conference Championship on Sunday.
”I think we have a legitimate chance to win the Skyland Conference,” said MHS coach Jim Goodfriend. “We have that good of a team. This is the best team I’ve had. I don’t have any holes.
”I think we’re the team to beat to win the Skyland. I have a quality person in every single race.”
Sometimes more than one, as happened at the county meet. Prentice won the mile, Shegoski was third and Pelech was fourth in her first serious attempt at the distance. Placing was quite a jump, as she was not a medalist last winter.
”Last year, I didn’t run the mile,” Pelech said. “I ran the 800. I think transitioning to the mile, it was definitely a little scary. It’s been a difficult transition. It felt really good to place in counties. It’s pushed me to work harder and harder.”
It isn’t the only early success that Pelech has had in the winter. She also won the two-mile at the Colts Neck Invitational.
”Again, it was really intimidating,” Pelech said, “never having run such a long event. It helped boost my confidence to win. It just showed me that working hard in practice does pay off.”
Added Goodfriend: “She ran the half last year. I moved her up this year and it’s really worked out well. She ran last year and she ran in the spring.”
Those successes have Pelech set up to enter both the mile and two-mile at the conference meet. She is hoping to do her part to keep the Cougars’ winning ways going.
”I think that we’ve definitely set the standards pretty high,” she said. “We all just work off each other. As much as it’s an individual sport, we need to do well as a team to win. We’ve definitely been really supportive of each other.
”I think pressure’s there,” she added, “but we’re using that pressure to our advantage. It’s pushing us to work that much harder in meets.”
The Cougars will come off a mid-term break that allowed them to rest their legs before preparing for the conference meet. Pelech doesn’t expect the break to have an adverse effect.
”I’ve just been really concentrating a lot in practice and during the workouts I’ve been doing my best,” she said. “It’s helped a lot to have girls like Jill, Lara and Nora to pace me.”
Her teammates will continue to help her as she builds toward the spring season, when she expects to return to the half-mile. She will do so after a strong winter that saw her excel at some new distances and develop into a contributor for the conference-favorite Cougars.
”I think we know what we’re capable of,” Pelech said, “and we’re just going out there to do our best.”

