Liebman wants to restore track and field tradition

BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer

Coaching the Marlboro High School boys track and field team is Todd Liebman’s dream job.

Todd Liebman Todd Liebman For most people, taking over a team that has not won a dual meet in five years would be their worst nightmare. But that’s not the case for Liebman, who is a 1998 graduate of Marlboro and knows that the Mustangs have a rich tradition in the sport.

Over the course of its history, the school has been home to mile kings Guy Emmons and Ty Jensen, hurdler Jim Orrange — who won two NJSIAA Meet of Champions titles in the intermediate hurdles — and Bob Roche, who still holds the Freehold Regional High School District’s outdoor 800-meter record.

It is this tradition that Liebman wants to restore and he knows it will not be accomplished over one meet or in one season.

“This is something I always wanted to do, come back to Marlboro,” said Liebman, who has been an assistant coach at his alma mater for the past three years. “I know what needs to be done to bring back a team that has been in disarray. We’re going to build a winning program from the ground up. It’s a work in progress. It takes discipline, a work ethic and hard work.”

One thing the Mustangs have already learned is that track and field is not a club sport at Marlboro.

“Kids have come out [for track] for something to put on their résumé,” he said. “This is a varsity sport. They have to understand a commitment has be to made.”

Liebman knows a little something about making a commitment and persevering. During his sophomore year at Marlboro he was diagnosed with leukemia and part of the treatment for the disease was chemotherapy.

He battled back from the illness and returned to run cross country at Marlboro. He continued to compete in cross country at Fairleigh Dickinson University and at Rowan University. After graduating from Rowan, he returned to the area and was an assistant track coach at Middletown South High School, where among the athletes he coached was football standout Knowshon Moreno. The Eagles were winning everything back then.

But after three years at Middletown South he decided to return to Marlboro to be an assistant coach. When the head coaching job opened this year he jumped at the opportunity to bring back the Mustangs’ program. Michael D’Ambrosio and Jason Dagato are Liebman’s assistant coaches.

Liebman has been working with Marlboro football coach Derek Sininsky, who is trying to do the same thing with the Mustangs’ football team that Liebman is attempting to do with the track and field squad.

Many football players are on the track team, adding sprinting and jumping talent as well as solid throwers. Both sports help each other out this way. The football players get stronger and faster by working out and competing, and the track and field team gets better athletes and depth.

It is one step toward restoring the program.

Liebman, who teaches physical education at Freehold Township High School, is also a personal trainer and he brings that skill to his track program. He includes plyometrics and an emphasis on speed work to the team’s workouts.

With regard to speed, Liebman has a talented sprinter to work with in E.J. Tucker, who is the team’s standout.

Tucker, who will be attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he will play football, was the 100- and 200-meter dash champion at the 2008 Freehold Regional District High School Championships. Shin splints ended his 2008 track season early, but he is back this year and healthy.

“I want to see what he can do,” said Liebman.

Dan Booter (sprinter/high jump), Preston Kumar (sprinter), Sam Wang (sprinter) and Mitch Biler (sprinter/high jump) are all football players and sophomores, and they are the athletes Liebman is looking to as he builds the team’s future.

Another gridiron player, senior Jake McLeod, is one of the area’s better shot putters and discus throwers.