Metzheiser in Group III mix
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Paige Metzheiser came off an historic cross country season with the Princeton High School girls team, and she wanted more.
The Little Tigers junior has found it in indoor track, where she and the team have kept up their success.
”It’s been good,” Metzheiser said. “Coming off cross country, I was on a real high because we had an amazing season. I’ve just been carrying it through. I haven’t wanted to, and I haven’t taken a break. I’ve been enjoying it all.”
Metzheiser ensured that her indoor season will extend further by winning the girls 800 meters at the Central Jersey Group III championships Sunday in Toms River. Metzheiser won in 2:20.89, over a second ahead of Colts Neck’s Megan Cavrak.
”It was pretty great,” Metzheiser said. “I can’t complain, that’s for sure. It was a pretty good day.
”I was seeded first, but I was a little bit nervous because Grace Dwyer was seeded right behind me and I knew she could run faster than that. She didn’t end up racing. I was a little less nervous, but still nervous. The girls gave me a run for my money. The first three laps I couldn’t get away. The last lap, I was finally able to break. It wasn’t easy, but it was a good race.”
Metzheiser is in a pack of girls around the 2:20 mark for today’s Group III state meet. It’s a quick turnaround, but she is looking forward to the chance to reach the Meet of Champions. The top six finishers plus the next six best times from all groups reach the MOC.
”I’m pretty excited for groups,” Metzheiser said. “I’ve been looking at other times. Catherine Pagano, she’s 2:12, but after her, all of us are sitting in that 2:20 to low 2:20s range. We’ll see what happens.”
PHS will have plenty of representation at the group meet after they had several top-six finishers at sectionals. Lou Mialhe was second in the 3,200, third in the 1,600 meters and ran a leg for the second-place 4×400 relay. The Little Tigers had all three of their runners advance out of the 3,200 as Sophia Zahn was fifth and Chloe Taylor was sixth. Maia Hauschild took fifth in the 400. The Little Tiger girls placed third overall in the team standings with 37 points, tied with Neptune and trailing only Jackson Liberty and Middletown North.
”We had a nice day,” said PHS girls coach Jim Smirk. “I think it’s a combination of a couple things. We were a little more mature, a little more experienced under our belt, a lot more confident based on what we did during cross country. Those things paid off with a little patience when it counted and a little aggressive racing when it counted and we found our way through.”
For the PHS boys in CJ III, Alex Roth qualified in both of his events after finishing fifth in the 1,600 meters and fifth in the 3,200 meters. Joe Gray placed second in the 400 meters. The 4×400 relay was fourth. Ben Siegel ran to fifth in the 800 meters. Peter Choi cleared 5-8 for fifth in the high jump, while Zac Meisel also cleared 5-8 to finish sixth. Meisel was also sixth in the pole vault, where Shihan Yu placed fourth. Both cleared 10-feet. The PHS boys placed fifth in the team standings with 26 points.
”The group is always tough,” said PHS boys coach Ben Samara. “There’s some tough kids in there. I expect Joe to come out with a chip on her shoulder with something to prove. Because he had to run in the re-run, he’s stuck in the second heat. The goal is to get through, but he wants to win this thing. He’s ready. He was ready to do it this past weekend. It’s always tough to advance not from the seeded heat, but if anybody can put on a show from there, he can. In the distances, Roth is right there, especially in the two-mile. And hopefully we’ll have some good representation at the Meet of Champions.”
Gray took the toughest route to groups. He was leading the 400 and looking like he’d win it, when he was tripped. Officials allowed Gray to run the 400 again, but he had to do so by himself after the other heats had all finished.
”He comes out and almost wins the whole thing,” Samara said. “For him to double back with that kind of pressure and run a 52, it was unbelievable.”
Metzheiser has made a big jump from last year when she didn’t even get out of sectionals after running 2:26.35. She is part of a more confident PHS group.
”Last year, we barely had any athletes going on, and this year, it seems like all of us made it,” Metzheiser said. “I was really happy with how our team did. We had a good day.
”I think we all feel like we have a bit more left in us,” she said. “We had a pretty hard training week this past week. We’re all getting ready for that tapering to come. Once we start that, all our times are going to drop. At the same time, I was really happy how the whole team did. I think they have more in them.”
Metzheiser has found her niche in track in the half-mile. After running 5-kilometer races for cross country, she is able to shift gears smoothly.
”I love cross country season and I love track season,” Metzheiser said. “It’s great. As much as they are very different races, I think it’s the whole mental perspective of both of them that is similar. The mental aspect, being able to push yourself through the whole thing, it’s something I developed a lot through cross country. And coming off such a good cross country season, I was so focused, cutting down on distance didn’t make much of a difference. I got to keep all that experience. I have been doing a lot of speed training since cross country season ended, trying to get quick speed back that I kind of lost in cross country.”
Metzheiser is a good enough runner at 5k that it could translate to solid times in the longer distances, but with the Little Tigers depth, she hasn’t seriously attempted a 1,600 or 3,200.
”When I started running, 400 was the longest I would ever run,” Metzheiser said. “It was always 100s, 200s and 400s. When I fell in love with cross country, I started running longer. Meeting in the middle was on the lower end of distance. I started going from cross country to 400 and trying to get the speed, and 800 fit in perfect and became my race.”
Said Smirk: “Paige is that balance. She has good speed. She could run the 400. When kids faded late in meets, she was always there. Her skill set lends itself more to the 800. There aren’t that many good ones out there. Paige is one of the good ones.”
She still contributes for the 4×400 team. She helped the Little Tigers’ Hauschild, Mialhe and Jackie Patterson finish second in sectionals.
”I was really happy how our team did,” Metzheiser said. “That’s the best we’ve done so far. I was the first leg, then Maia Hauschild, she anchored it. We had Lou, she ran it right after the two-mile race, but she brought it home. She had an outstanding day.”
The sectional race showed one way in which Metzheiser has developed as a racer. She can pull away from a field now, and she won’t give up until she does.
”In previous years, she flirted with being able to break away from aggressive racers and relied on her last 50,” Smirk said. “Now, unless they run a perfect race, they didn’t have a chance after 500 meters. The girl she beat out gave a phenomenal effort, and Paige was able to stay calm and focused and rely on her multiple skill sets. She tried one move and it didn’t work. She tried another and it didn’t work. She did another and broke it open.”
Metzheiser is looking for more of a breakout in the coming weeks. She will have plenty of competition today in groups, and it would be even stiffer if she can make the MOC. The other groups that include West Windsor-Plainsboro South and North and Montgomery High also compete this weekend to set the MOC field.
”I hope and I think I have a lot more speed in me,” Metzheiser said. “It’s just a matter of getting to it. Two weeks ago at counties, that time (2:19.73), it was nice because it was just me and Deirdre (Casey of WW-P South), we were the only two running. There was no side-stepping. I just let it go. With my 2:20, there was a lot more stepping around, I was running wider a lot. I’m hoping I can run better and run closer to the inside and not run so wide for the first three laps. I know I have a faster time in me, it’s just the whole mentality getting there.”
The Little Tigers continue to work toward best times and distances in the winter season. They are looking for momentum and experience to take into the spring season. The group meet gives them another chance after an inspiring sectional.
”What we were looking to do is put out real solid efforts and that’s what happened,” Smirk said. “We’re trained to be as good as we can be and we’re training long term to be as good as we can be by the end of spring. We’re more interested in how we can do with our training.”