Rosa wins national two-mile
By: Justin Feil – Assistant Sports Editor
Joe Rosa made sure that he was the one who did the passing at the New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships at North Carolina A&T.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North junior capped his year by winning the boys two-mile championship in a new junior class record 8:44.06 Friday. Jim Rosa was second in a personal-best 8:51.46.
"This title does two things for me," said Joe Rosa. "It makes up for NXN. I was winning the cross country championship with 50 meters to go and got passed by two guys. I’ve thought about that race a lot. I was so close to that championship and came up a little short at the end. That motivates me.
"The other thing it does is gives me a lot more confidence on the track. Up until this year, I never ran great times on the track. I’d have great cross country seasons, but step on the track, and everyone I was beating in cross country would beat me. It gives me confidence on the track too."
Rosa broke the New Jersey record of 8:44.53 set by Craig Forys of Colts Neck in 2007, and broke Eric Hulst’s 35-year-old national mark of 8:44.9 as well as Dathan Ritzenhein’s record for 3,200 meters of 8:41.10 set in 2000. To do so, the Rosa twins worked their way past pre-race favorite Lukas Verzbicas of Illinois, who had defeated them in the Jim Ryun Dream Mile the week before. This time, the two caught Verzbicas with 1,000 meters to go.
"Working together, it’s new for us to do during track," Jim said. "We have done it in the past in cross country."
It was a big improvement over last year’s, when Joe Rosa finished 12th at nationals in 9:12.91 after focusing on the mile over much of the spring.
"He had a tough season last year," said WW-P North head coach Brian Gould. "He really had convinced himself no matter how much success he had on the cross country course, he wasn’t good at track. That was something I never understood. At the end of the fall, we had an open, candid conversation, and I told him, this is the next obstacle to overcome and you can succeed under any condition. Then he was injured.
"He and I and the guys around him knew this was coming. He has such faith and confidence. He believes in the plan, and then he had some success and success becomes contagious. As good races came around, he started to believe. When you believe in yourself, good things start to happen for you."
Rosa became just the fourth Mercer County boy to win a national outdoor title. He punctuated his strong finish by leading off the Knights’ third-place distance medley relay in 2:59.56, the second fastest split ever for a high school boy on the opening 1,200-meter leg. He passed Zavon Watkins of Liverpool, N.Y., in the final 100 to give Chris Banks the baton in first for the 400 leg. Veer Bhalla ran the 800 leg and Jim Rosa anchored the relay with the mile leg as they finished in 9:59.07, the 13th fastest all-time finish. It was the second straight year in which they were third at outdoor nationals.
"My goal, after the Dream Mile, was to try to break 3:00," Joe said. "I accomplished that. All I wanted to do was hand it off to Banks in first. I was able to find another gear. Banks stayed in a good position. I think everyone ran their hearts out.
"We’ve run sub-10 the last two years," he added. "We would have liked to win the DMR. There’s really nothing I could think of we could have done to better our chances."
WW-P North senior Corey Abernathy was ninth in the boys shot put championship in 57-7 1/2.
Montgomery High School junior Fiona Paladino was fourth in the girls high jump championship at 5-feet-6 1/2. She also competed in the 100 hurdles. MHS senior Lara Shegoski was sixth in the girls 5,000 meter championship in 17:41.55. Princeton High School’s 4xmile team of Sean Pradhan, Aaron Thomas, Will Dobbs-Allsopp and Zaid Smart was 17th in 18:25.94. Max Reid, a senior, was ninth in the emerging elite 400 meters in 49.39. The 4×400 of Ajamu Kambon, Peter Marchetta, Gerhard Gengel and Reid lowered its school record to 3:22.36 for fifth place in the emerging elite mile relay.
The meet belonged to Joe Rosa, who did everything he wanted to over a 24-hour period to erase some past disappointments.
"I was really upset after the Meet of Champs," said Rosa of his second-place finish in the MOC 3,200 despite a personal best 8:48.55. "I wanted the state championship and I didn’t get it. After the Dream Mile when Lukas ran away from everyone, I thought maybe second place would be good. I knew he’d be tough to beat. In the race, I wanted to stay with him as long as I could. Luckily, with 1,000 meters left, we could sense him coming back to us. We reeled him in. A race like that really boosts my confidence." While the Rosas communicate with each other frequently about tempo during cross country races, Joe’s mention to Jim that they go after Verzbicas midway though the race was something new on the track. Jim helped with a push after they passed Verzbicas before Joe pulled away for the win.
"I think they did a great job not being intimidated," Gould said. "Lukas is a big name. He’s done so many big things. It’s so easy to settle for second and third. They don’t do that. They don’t settle. They raced with great courage, great guts. Leaving everything on the track and seeing that pay off with first and second was something I’ll never forget. It was an awesome feeling."
It left the Rosas with some sense of satisfaction as they head into their final scholastic year.
"I really made a big jump," Joe said. "Coach Gould, he’s been working on taking risks with us and making long drives to the finish. He’s been working on us driving with 600 meters out, not waiting until 150 left. Another year under him has helped us become better than last year."
Said Jim: "If there’s one person I could lose to, it would be someone in my family. Me and Joe are really competitive. I didn’t like losing to him, but I’m happy with him winning, and not some other kid."
The two were able to team up for the DMR. With both Rosas being juniors and Banks and Bhalla only sophomores, the entire team could be back intact next season.
"It’s really cool," said Jim, who split 4:09 for his mile. "After the race, me and Joe told the other two guys, we’re coming back and winning next year. And we’re going to get close to that national record, 9:49. We have some big goals for next year."
Said Joe: "This summer is going to be huge. Jim and I always like to build a great base during the summer. That’s when we gain most of our aerobic strength. We’ll try to stay healthy and increase our mileage a bit. We just have to listen to everything Coach Gould says and we’ll be fine."