WEST WINDSOR: Knights set national track record

WW-P North boys enjoy All-America finish to season

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   A great senior year got even better for Ryan Sleeper and Tyler Corkedale.
   The pair was part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro North 4xmile relay along with brothers Jim and Joe Rosa that broke the national record by running 17:21.58 at the Nike Indoor Nationals on Saturday in Boston.
   ”It’s been the goal we set for ourselves since the beginning of this season since we learned we’d be running the 4xmile,” Sleeper said. “We knew we could get the record. It was a matter of bringing it all together.”
   It didn’t start well for Sleeper and the Knights. He was tripped on the first lap.”I was feeling great,” said Sleeper, who still got up to run 4:25.2. “I was up there. I went down. Suddenly I went from being right there around first to last. I had a lot of adrenaline going and I knew I had to be in front for us to have a chance. That really motivated me.”
   Corkedale took the baton and got the Knights the lead for good with a split of 4:22.3. Joe Rosa took over and ran 4:16.5 before his brother Jim anchored in 4:17.5. It broke the old record of 17:25.98 set by Shenendehowa (N.Y.) five years ago.
   ”Tyler went out and put us in a great position to do what we did,” said Knights head coach Brian Gould. “Sleeper fell. He went down, but still got up and ran 4:25. He ran a tough race. Tyler moved us up in the lead. Jim and Joe ran against the clock.
   ”The first goal was to win. Winning a national championship is not an easy thing to do. If everything worked out and first two legs ran fast enough, the plan was for Joe and Jim to run fast and try to win and break the record and save something for the distance medley relay later.”
   The Knights foursome of the Rosas, Corkedale and Sean Reed returned Saturday to finish third in the DMR in 10:07.44. Sunday, they earned their third All-America finish by placing fourth in the 4×800 in 7:51.69 with the same group as the 4xmile.
   ”Going up there, we knew there was a possibility we could get All-America status in all three of them,” Sleeper said. “We weren’t sure in the 4×8, but the 4xmile and DMR we felt confident in. For the 4×8, we were going to try to medal and do the best we could.”
   Added Gould: “Second- and third-place finishes are tough for the guys competing because they are so competitive and they set their goals so high. I couldn’t have been more proud. They went out and went down to the last couple of laps. We had a couple big PRs on the middle legs. It went better than we could have hoped for.”
   It was hard to top the start the Knights had in the 4xmile, but there were outstanding performance in all three races. Corkedale may have topped everything with a personal-best 1:54.9 split in the DMR.
   ”He’s unbelievable,” Gould said. “He’s a perfect example of a guy that’s worked hard for four years and trusted in the plan. If you do all the right things, that’s what happens. Tyler, by his own words, was running scared. Sean did a great job of putting us in the lead, and Tyler ran great.”
   Corey Abernathy placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 56-feet-3. WW-P North’s Trish Reilly was 18th in the girls mile in 5:06.81. She also anchored the eighth-place DMR of Emily Scott, Chelsea Walters and Kelly Callahan.
   At the National Scholastic Indoor Championships at the Armory in New York, Montgomery’s Jillian Prentice was fifth in the girls 5,000 meters in 17:53.77. Her time met the national silver standard. The Cougars’ Fiona Paladino tied for 11th in the high jump at 5-foot-3, also a silver standard. West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Jeff McKee was 23rd in the boys 5,000 in 16:17.68, another silver standard. Montgomery’s Renee Brzyski, Paladino, Danielle Sciotto and Ama Quansain earned All-America honors by finishing fifth in the shuttle hurdles.
   Sleeper wasn’t on the 4xmile relay that finished second last year at nationals. He made the most of his last chance with the Knights indoors.
   ”We went in thinking we could take off more time, but with the fall and everything, it made it hard,” Sleeper said. “We took four seconds off and we’re still pleased with the end result. You can’t be unhappy with a national record.”
   Sleeper hadn’t had the base to do a great indoor mile last year. But after a healthy cross country season capped by a fifth-place finish for the Knights at nationals, Sleeper had the base to think of himself as more of a miler than a half-miler. The indoor nationals capped another great season.
   ”I can’t think of better way to end,” Sleeper said. “Except going out with all three wins, but we were racing some pretty tough competition in the DMR and 4×8. I think we did the best we could with what we had.”
   And with it, Sleeper and Corkedale will graduate as national record holders in the 4xmile and All-Americans. It’s quite a way to go into the spring season.
   ”How many people of the tens of hundreds of thousands and millions who have done (track and field), how many can say they set a national record?” Gould said. “Eventually someone will come along and erase it, but they’ll always have that championship ring. It’s something that will last.
   ”They went out and set a big goal and followed up on it and accomplished it. They worked so hard to accomplish what they did. They deserved it.”