For boys, strength in numbers; for girls, more speed.
By: Neil Hay
Numbers, numbers, numbers. What an unexpected pleasure for Peddie boys’ spring track coach Mark Gartner.
With 35 athletes out, Gartner has his biggest team in 15 or 16 years.
"We’ve got some depth in places we haven’t had before," said Gartner. "We have a significant number of younger kids. The coaches are excited about how hard the kids are working. We do have some holes beyond the 800, and we’ll see how the distance kids come along. We have flexibility where we need to put kids. The kids are working hard and we are excited to work with them everyday."
Returning from last season’s 2-4 team are seniors Rudy Clausen (sprints, high jump), Terrence Daly (pole vault), Aaron Harper (sprints, long jump), Mario Peia (throws), Ronnie Tang (sprints) and Reyhan Watson (throws), and juniors Bill Toth (pole, high jump), Max Lipton (throws), Mike Pankiewicz (800), Justin Sinclair (sprints), Alex Amodol (sprints, hurdles) and Nick Buroojy (throws).
Expected to contribute are new faces Dan Emma (postgraduate, distances), Ryan Mullen (senior, 800), David Noh (junior, distances), Joe Yurankar (freshman, hurdles) and Ed Wagner (senior, throws).
The boys’ season was scheduled to open Wednesday at home with the state relays, but the weather forced the meet to be postponed. The Falcons will try again Saturday at home with a dual meet against Germantown Academy.
GIRLS
With some new strengths in the lineup, the Peddie girls’ track team is expected to improve upon last spring’s 2-4 record.
Almost out of the blue, Peddie got a lot faster than was expected, as newcomers Arthie Jeyakumar (sophomore, sprints), Natasha Kardassis (sophomore sprints, pole vault, high jump) and Amber Scott (freshman, sprints) have joined the girls squad.
"Last year we had a decided lack of speed. Amber, Natasha and Arthie give us legitimate sprinters," said longtime Coach Mark Gartner.
This trio is just part of a 31-athlete roster, "nearly double" last season’s squad. Others coming on board for their first season of outdoor track are junior thrower Connor Ahlborn, senior distance runner Kristina DiPano, senior pole vaulter Kristie Layne, senior 400 hurdler Sara Pancurak, junior thrower Sarah Wehrhan, and sophomore thrower Ria Zanetich.
"We are real excited about that," said Gartner of the deeper numbers this year.
They will augment a solid group of veterans which includes junior sprinter Lauren Passannante, junior distance runner Rachel Provost, freshman distance runner (who ran as an 8th-grader although her score did not count in meets) Melissa Provost, senior sprinter/high jumper Janine Solujich, junior 800 runner Tina Sowah, sophomore sprinter Zara Stasi, and junior thrower Caitie Yaeger.
"Again we have a great group of kids. We’ve got a great deal of depth in the throws. So who knows? We’ll see how things go. But we are excited."
Wednesday’s season opening state relays at Lawrenceville was postponed by the inclement weather. The girls will open the season instead tomorrow when they entertain Germantown Academy and Stuart.