By: Kyle Moylan
The Robbinsville High School sports program just keeps on growing and growing.
In the spring Scott Copperman will be finishing off his first year but third season in charge of track. And after seeing just a handful of kids out for cross country and winter track, he has 25 athletes out for the spring.
Rick Smith and Andrew Patterson will be assisting Copperman as he tries to develop the talents of 12 girls and 13 boys.
The girls out for the team are Gina Norato (hurdles/middle distance/triple jump), Laura Swift (middle distance/high jump), Lauren Dubec (sprints/throws), Erin Hayes (hurdles/sprints), Caitlyn Stephen (sprints), Courtney Stewart (hurdles/long jump), Angelika Janiga (middle distance), Brittany Notor (middle distance/triple jump), Elana Quiroga (middle distance/throws), Erin Hankins (sprints) and Trudi Newmark (sprints).
Members of the boys’ team are Zach Matuzsan (sprints/throws), Rob Jiggetts (sprints/jumps), Bryan White (sprints/jumps), Chris Richardson (middle distance), Rory Pollack (middle distance), Jon Harmon (middle distance/jumps), Mark Panes (middle distance/jumps), Andrew McLaughlin (middle distance), Alex Giaquinto (middle distance), Kyle Dragert (middle distance/jumps), Ali Soroush (middle distance/high jump), Jeet Joglekar (sprints) and Michael Schindewolf (middle distance).
The team will open the season on April 2 in the Howell Invitational. Robbinsville also take part in a tri-meet with Trenton at West Windsor South on April 5.
Because Robbinsville High only has freshmen this year and is limited in its number of athletes, it will not be scoring against either team. Robbinsville will basically piggyback on to meets being held by other teams.
"It gives them a chance to still be involved in meets and provide documented times," Copperman noted.
Robbinsville will probably be a full-fledged varsity team in two years. For now, it will enter invitationals, county meets and state competitions. It will only score as individuals, but taking part in meets being held among other squads also creates a sense of team unity. This is a great idea.
"We’re trying to approach it as a full-fledged program and make changes as needed," Copperman said. "I like for them to have high expectations. It makes it easier to accomplish things."
Robbinsville started practicing for the spring season on March 4 and has been going six days a week since. Copperman has seen the results.
"A recent scrimmage did a lot to show they are farther along than the typical freshmen. The more they see that for themselves rather than just hearing it from me the better."
