ROBBINSVILLE: Ravens juniors get experience at nationals

Hunter, Jancewicz take on new challenges

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   The New Balance Indoor Nationals over the weekend provided something new for both Robbinsville High School track and field standouts Noel Jancewicz and Craig Hunter.
   Jancewicz finished seventh in her first pentathlon competition in addition to finishing tied for 10th in the girls open high jump with a clearance of 5-feet-5¼.
   ”I know I can do better than that,” said the Ravens junior. “This just wasn’t my weekend. I knew I had a good shot at placing, it just didn’t happen. I see myself doing this (pentathlon) is in the future.”
   Hunter finished tied for 20th in the boys open pole vault. The Robbinsville junior cleared 14-feet-8¼ in what was his first appearance at nationals.
   ”Nationals was an experience,” Hunter said. “There’s no other way to put it. There were so many people there from all over the country and that was their thing. They were so good at it.
   ”Opening height was 14-2½. In previous meets, it was at 14-feet, so it wasn’t too big of an adjustment, but there were just so many guys that were easily doing something that’s been amazing when one person has done it. Fifteen people went over 15 feet! I was in the unseeded section.”
   The New Jersey state champion took plenty away from his first trip to nationals.
   ”The biggest thing I can take from it is the way it’s run,” he said. “The way it’s run is it’s almost mechanical. They have so many kids there, they have to go fast to get through all of them. It’s a smooth speed. I’m used to having no vaulters, or two or three left and you have an extra minute to take your vault.
   ”I take my vaults fast. On Saturday, I brought my pole up, and the run clock was at 20 seconds already. It goes so fast.”
   Hunter missed on his first attempt at the opening height, but made it on his second height. He cleared 14-8¼ on his first attempt, but could not clear 15-2¼
   ”I went into the meet, and my thoughts were, I’m not going there to win, I’m just going to use it for experience,” Hunter said. “Now I have nationals under my belt. I can go to spring or nationals next year and know how it works.”
   Hunter heads into the spring with the idea that he would like to qualify for the outdoor nationals. To do so, he expects to have to jump 15-feet. He’ll take what amounts to nothing of a break between seasons, as he expected to be jumping again Wednesday to prepare for the outdoor season.
   ”It’s the same event, but a completely different feel,” Hunter said. “I have to get used to it.”
   Hunter may have wanted to go into the spring off of a higher clearance in the winter, but he came away pleased with his progress in the indoor season. Getting the chance to jump at nationals capped it.
   ”It was very good,” Hunter said. “I met a lot of people I never saw before. I saw amazing pole vaulting. I saw Jacob Blankenship go 17-feet. I never saw 17-feet in person before. I saw how people warmed up and some things that I can bring into my own practice to help me.
   ”I came into this winter season with a goal in mind. I came in wanting to improve specific things. I came out of this season with those things improved. I feel like I improved. It helps alleviate what my disappointments are now. There’s no way I could be upset. If I was me three months ago, I would be ecstatic. That huge experience of going and seeing all those vaulters, you can’t get that anywhere else.”
   Jancewicz has a similar take on her final indoor meet of the season. It was terrific experience for her, even if it wasn’t quite as good a finish as she wanted. Her weekend began with the high jump. She was clean on her first attempts at 5-3¼ and 5-5¼, but stalled at 5-7¼ to finish tied for 10th.
   ”I wasn’t that excited about it because I was hoping I’d clear at least 5-7,” she said. “I’d cleared 5-8 both meets before it. I was just a little off. I was hoping to clear 5-8. I think I’ll be competing at spring nationals and next year. Hopefully I’ll do better next year.
   ”Last year, I only cleared 5-3,” she added. “I can say I did improve from last year. I still wanted to get that 5-7 mark. My last attempt, I was really close. I actually came down on the bar, but I was way over it.”
   Jancewicz had been to nationals before, but this year she came in with higher expectations than before to the biggest meet of the season.
   ”It’s definitely different,” she said. “There’s a lot more commotion going on. There’s a lot more people. It’s a whole different atmosphere. There’s so much competition. Maybe I put too much pressure on myself. I was hoping to place. I was worrying too much about the height and not just having fun and going with the flow of things.
   ”When it came to Meet of Champs and Easterns, I knew I was up there to win both meets. I was aiming high for those places too, but nationals is the biggest meet. I was thinking of it too much. I was thinking this is the biggest competition I’ll have.”
   After finishing the high jump, she came back to compete in the pentathlon Saturday. It was her first attempt at the event that could become her top event in college. Jancewicz expects that she’ll only get better after her initial try.
   ”This whole weekend was not my best couple of days,” Jancewicz said. “In long jump, my best was 17-11 and I only hit 16-1. I was really disappointed there. I think the main problem was I didn’t have the time to practice it. I only practiced long jump for two days. And shot put, I only started practicing a couple days before. The 800 was literally the first time I was running the 800. I definitely could have done better. I ended getting seventh overall. I just missed placing.”
   Jancewicz is competitive enough that when she found out she was still in the running for a top-six finish heading into the 800 meters, it spurred her on.
   ”The whole meet, I thought I was in the bottom half by a lot,” she said. “I saw the sheet that said I was in seventh and I realized I had a chance at placing. I think it pushed me more to know that I still had a shot.”
   Jancewicz expects that she will do much better when she gets more practice at each of the elements in the pentathlon. She’d like another chance at the multi-events in the outdoor season.
   ”That was the first time,” Jancewicz said. “I just think with more preparation, I would have been OK. Hurdles, I just started this year. I didn’t even do my best in the hurdles. The 800, I was pretty happy about the time in the 800. I had no idea what I was going to hit based on my preparation, with three out of the five events I just started this year.
   ”At first, I was really disappointed with how things went,” she said. “I did have an off day. To place seventh is pretty good for having an off day.”