When senior Tyrone Smith won a fourth-place medal in the long jump at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, it capped off Matawan Regional’s greatest season in more than two decades in boys outdoor track and field.
“It’s one of the best years we’ve ever had in 22 years and we’ve won 19 conference titles,” said coach Sam Turner.
This great season was accomplished despite injuries that hampered some athletes or kept them out of meets. Junior Aaron Newsom was sidelined for the season with a broken foot.
The best part of all this is that many stars will be back next year to continue the outstanding success of the No. 1-ranked team in the Shore area.
“I think we’ll be pretty good,” said Turner, looking to next year. “We have some studs.”
And some of them figured in the Huskies winning their first-ever Shore Conference championship, fifth state title in NJSIAA Group II Central Jersey and a third-place showing in the Group II championship.
“Winning the Shore Conference was huge,” said Turner. “And we not only won the section, but did it with one of the most dominant days in Matawan history, by a huge margin.”
Matawan accumulated 133 points in the sectionals. Long Branch was a distant second with 81 points.
The Huskies also finished in third place in Monmouth County.
In the most recent MOC, it was a day of many fine performances led by Smith, who leaves with two school records in the jumps. Smith hit 22-9 for his long-jump medal and was 14th in the triple jump at 44-3¾.
A week earlier, Smith had set the school record in the Group II championships, jumping 23-2½ that smashed a 40-year record of 23-0¾ set by Tony Russell in the Shore Conference championships in 1970. Smith’s jump was good for second place behind Cory Crawford of Indian Hills, who hit 24-9½.
Smith also set a school record in the Groups meet in the triple jump with a 46-10¼ measure that surpassed by 3 feet the previous record set earlier this season by junior Dion Gray at the Monmouth County championships.
“He [Smith] really stepped up in the long jump. He’s been doing it for us for four years,” said Turner.
Smith is leaning toward a college career at the University of Rhode Island as he awaits a financial package offer that will be completed this week. Ramapo also is in the running.
The Huskies’ 4×400 relay also set a school record. Theirs came at the MOC where they ran a 3:22.46 that broke by .04, an 18-yearold standard. It was good for 19th place. Brian Ramcheran, who finished ninth in the MOC 400 (49.21), ran on the relay along with Dylan Spadaccini, Greg McCormack and Solomon Simpkins. And the good news for Turner is that Rancheran is the lone senior in that quartet and Simpkins is only a sophomore.
Spadaccini, a junior, was tied for 17th in the pole vault at 13-0 at the MOC.
But the biggest returnee coming back for his senior year next spring could be Andre Hodge, who threw the shot put 53-1 for ninth place at the MOC and just missed reaching the final round. He was 21st in the discus at 150-4. Hodge had a much better day in the Central Jersey sectionals where he won both events, uncorking a throw of 163-8 in the discus and a 53-0½ measure in the shot put.
“We’ll definitely be looking to him next year, along with Gray in the long jump and triple jump,” said Turner. Gray won the triple jump at the sectionals at 42-7½ , with Smith finishing third in 42-4.
Turner also will miss the determined efforts of four other seniors aside from Smith and Ramcheran. Sean Gleason was third in the javelin at the sectionals at 159-0. Hurdler John Smith is going to Holy Cross on a football financial package.
Ian Carter is headed to Rowan to throw the discus, and Derek Garland is going to Kean for the shot put and discus. The two were part of a solid showing by Huskies throwers in the discus at the state sectionals where they got three of the top four spots, with Hodge finishing first, Carter third in 134- 3 and Garland fourth in 131-8. Garland also was fourth in the shot put that day in 46-6¾ but could not sustain that fine form from there in the groups meet.
But they all played a part in a memorable spring for Matawan.