By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Montgomery High track and field team knows it is a long journey from the beginning of the indoor season until the end of the outdoor season., The Cougars began that journey heading in the right direction, as the boys finished first and the girls were second at the Somerset County Championships, which were held at Lehigh University on Dec. 28., “We felt like it was a complete team effort,” said Montgomery boys coach Sean Carty, whose team won its third straight county title. “There were quite a few events where we scored with multiple people. I was really pleased with the effort across the events. Everyone got a chance to contribute., “We knew we would be in the mix. Somerset County is very tough. Also, with the experience from last year a lot of the guys were familiar with the guys in the county they would be competing with.”, The Montgomery boys picked up a pair of first-place finishes as Ryan Cashman won the 55-meter dash in 6.63 and Danny Young won the high jump at 6-feet, 2-inches. On the girls side, Julia Hans won the 3,200 meters in 11:33.70 and Peyton Schackenberg won the shot put with a 39-foot, 4 1/2-inch effort., The Montgomery boys finished with 82.5 points to finish seven points ahead of Franklin. The Montgomery girls finished with 49 points, which trailed only Ridge in the team standings., “This is a good building block,” said Cashman, a junior who was fifth in the 55 at last year’s meet. “We can feed off the momentum from this. Everyone has a lot more to prove. We can do a lot better than we have done. I think everyone can keep getting better and have a really good season. The cross country kids are coming off a good season but the rest of us have not been on the track since the end of the spring season.”, The depth of the Cougar boys paid off in winning the title. They picked up second place finishes from Ajay Sarathy (3,200) and Zachary Tamuzza (55 hurdles), while Mike Munoz (400), Avinash Boppana (800) and Alex Liu (pole vault) all finished third in their events. The 4×400 relay of Cashman, Boppana, Shrikeshav Deshmukh and Malachi Clemons was also second., “You never know going into the meet what might happen because it is so early in the winter season,” Carty said. “You’re unsure of what else is out there and what you have. It’s nice to get that first big meet under your belt. Hopefully we can build on that first meet.”, Cashman has his season off to a good start. He is coming off a solid football season and has now started the track season well. His 6.63 was just off the school record in the dash., “Last year I made the finals but only placed fifth,” Cashman recalled. “This was pretty exciting. It helped me with the confidence being in that setting and having been there before. I knew I had a good chance. I knew Tyler Howard and Chris Jenkins from Franklin were both pretty good., “I knew getting into the blocks I had to get a good start. In the 100, if you slip at the start you can maybe recover. In the 55 it is about getting that step over your opponent. You have to keep your stride and form.”, Carty has noticed an improved Cashman so far this season. He was solid last year and has taken strides forward this year., “He took a lot of his smaller successes last year and turned it into a good offseason,” Carty said. “He worked at his craft and his fundamentals are much better. He’s very motivated.”, The Cougars also got a win from Young in the high jump. The senior has started the year well., “Danny has become so consistent right now,” Carty said. “He was up around 6-2 a few times last year but it was more sporadic. This year he is stronger and more motivated to be successful. It’s tough in the winter to practice the high jump. It’s cold and slippery. A lot of times you use these meets to get the best jump of the week. It’s nice start for him.”, And a nice start for the Cougars, who have a third straight county title to show for their efforts., “It was really cool,” Cashman said. “This is the third year in row winning for us so I am not too surprised. We know we have good balance with our sprinters and midd distance guys along with the cross country guys. We have a lot athletes that other teams don’t have. Going into the last event, which was the pole vault, Franklin was ahead of us or it was tied. But we had pole vaulters and Franklin didn’t and that was the points we needed to win.”
