Colts Neck runners make history with Group I title
Jensen suffers his
first loss of the year
in Group IV
Bryan Parks slept well last week because he only got to see his Colts Neck harriers twice on Monday and Wednesday with a day off on Tuesday. School was closed on Thursday and Friday, and the Cougars ran on their own.
While winning Shore Conference Division and Central Jersey Group I titles this fall, the Cougars had been pushing the envelope all year because they didn’t have a lot of depth. Each day, it seemed, there was a new injury for Parks to deal with. And it only took one injury to one runner to throw a wrench into the plans.
Because he only saw his runners twice last week, he didn’t have to be as aware of the aches and pains his runners had to go through and think of all the worst-case scenarios.
Instead, when he arrived at school on Saturday for the ride to Holmdel Park for the Group I state championships, he had seven runners ready to go.
"I had a good feeling about the race," he said. "I knew that we had a shot at it. I told the girls that they had nothing to lose — to just go out and have fun."
The Cougars had fun all right. They went out and ran off with the Group I state championship becoming the first Colts Neck team to do so.
"It’s incredible," noted Parks. "You have to give them credit; they are very determined. They knew what they wanted and they went out and did it."
Ashley Liberatore (21:30.6), Lianne Price (21:37,7) and Leisha Jackucewicz (21:43) finished fifth, sixth and seventh to put the Cougars in a commanding position. Jamie Squillare (22:59.4) was 27th, but 23rd in the team scoring. Laura Patterson (24:19.2) finished out the scoring in 54th (48th in team scoring).
The Cougars’ 86-point total easily defeated Haddon Township (129) for the top spot.
"We knew that Haddon was our competition," noted Parks. "They have a very strong pack. We knew they’d have five runners in before us. We needed to have three girls in front of their pack to win.
"We looked at Holmdel Park as our home course and that gave us an advantage against the South Jersey teams," he added. "We ran perfectly today. I knew after the first mile that things looked good. We were getting stronger and the South Jersey teams were breathing hard."
Liberatore, Price and Jackucewicz did just that, paving the way. A personal best from Patterson also played a big part in the win.
Jackucewicz has had an up and down freshman year because of a knee injury. She showed her promise early in the season, but a knee injury sidelined her for some of the team’s important races. But rather than rush her back, the Cougars took time rehabilitating the knee, and it paid off on Saturday when she was able to run with Liberatore and Price.
"Each big meet that we’ve been in, someone different has stepped up for us," said Parks. "Today it was Leisha."
Saturday’s triumph will have a special place in Colts Neck history.
"They’ll never forget that the first banner for a state championship is theirs," said Parks.
Colts Neck almost had a second state championship as the boys fell two points short of Palisades Park, 70-72.
Jorge Ventura (17:16.8) and Israel Payan (17:27.3) finished second and third overall behind Butler’s Joe Jacobs (16:48.7), and Andrew Leimbach was 19th (18:09.3) overall and 16th in the team competition. Kevin McGann (18:27.5) and Serge Pilipetskii (18:39.6) were the Cougars’ fourth and fifth runners. They were 24th and 27th in the team scoring.
The Tigers, however, put five runners in the first 22 to edge the Cougars out.
Jim Schlentz was not disappointed, despite the closeness of the outcome.
"We ran well; we just fell a little short," said Schlentz. "Our fourth and fifth runners ran personal bests on a day when others were slow.
"I thought Palisades was better than us going in," he added. "I wanted us to run our best. I didn’t want us to lose it and we didn’t."
Both Colts Neck’s girls’ and boys’ team qualified to run at the Meet of Champions to be held Saturday, also at Holmdel Park.
While Colts Neck’s girls were first, Marlboro’s Ty Jensen suffered another kind of first, defeat.
Eastern’s Mike Myers surprised Jensen with his tactical approach in the Group IV race and went on to turn in the fastest time in the state this year, 15:54.6. Jensen, who said he "mentally crashed" settled for fifth place (16:21.1).
"He took me by surprise with his surges," noted Jensen. "Myers is a smart runner. He wanted to take the kick out of me, and he did with his hard surges."
Jensen had expected Myers, whom he had beaten at the Shore Coaches in early October, to run a fast race, but to do it with a steady, hard pace from the start as he did in October when Jensen ran his then-leading 15:56.4. But Myers had other plans.
"The start for the first 400 meters was fast, but when we got into the woods it was real slow," recalled Jensen. "I was waiting for Myers to make a move and pick up the pace but he didn’t.
"When we left the woods, he put on a real strong surge and I stayed with him," he added. "He surged again on the downhill in the bowl and opened up a gap on me. I closed it a bit leaving the bowl, but then he surged again at the top, and then I kind of knew I was running for second."
With first place gone, Jensen admitted that his heart wasn’t into the last mile of the race and he ended up finishing fifth.
The loss, however, has made him more determined to prove himself on Saturday at the MOC.
"I’ll be prepared for what Myers is going to do next time," he pointed out. "I know it’s going to be a fast race, and I know I’m capable of doing it.
"I guarantee everyone thinks that I’m done, that I peaked too soon," he added. "I know how I felt on Saturday. I could have run faster. I just mentally crashed when I realized I couldn’t win. I learned that I can’t let anyone open a gap on me."
Parsippany Hills’ Brian Boyette, the Group III winner (16:16.9) and undefeated himself, may just be the prerace favorite. Boyette won’t look to push the pace, however. He’ll follow and look to use his track speed at the end. Both Myers and Jensen must stay aware of Boyette as well as each other.
Jensen is attempting to become just the second District runner to win the MOC title. Manalapan’s Tom Fischer won it all in 1981.