Both the Manville High School boys and girls cross country teams qualified this fall for the Group 1 state championship — the first time in school history for either team.
The boys team, which finished with a regular-season record of 6-3, was led by sophomore Frankey Arevalo, who ran 18:33 this season, followed by senior Erik Warren (18:40), junior Stephan Nash (19:04), freshman Andrew Nash and sophomores Ricky Monterroso (19:27) and Andrew Monterroso (19:40).
Other key runners were senior Matt Honkisz (19:35), and sophomores Jonathan Ahorrio (20:00), Jonathan Tran (20:04), and Allen Cordero (20:05).
In order to qualify for the group championship meet, Manville needed to place in the top five of Group 1 schools in the Central Jersey Sectional Championship, which took place at Thompson Park in Jamesburg on Nov. 8.
The Manville boys placed 3rd in the meet, while the Manville girls placed 4th in their respective race. Last season, the boys placed 8th and the girls placed 9th.
The Manville girls finished with a regular-season record of 6-2 and set a school record for fastest team-average time (23:17) at Thompson Park, as well as Natirar Park (23:27) and Holmdel Park (23:56). The team was led by senior captain Gloria Yakobchuk, who set the school record for fastest time at Natirar Park (22:32) and Holmdel (22:31). At the end of the season, Yakobchuk was awarded 1st team All-Skyland Conference, Mountain Division.
Rounding out the top seven for Manville were freshman Kayla Molesko (23:49) and juniors Jenna Molesko (23:02), Kate Bowden (23:03), Sarah Michitsch (23:32), Ola Kaczor (24:14), and Victoria Wanjohi (25:14).
Jenna Molesko and Kate Bowden were usually the team’s number-two and three runners. Molesko ran 23:02 at the Group 1 state championship at Holmdel Park), which, along with Gloria, broke the school record for fastest time ever recorded by a Manville runner on that oft-used state course. The previous best time was 23:18 by Kristen Deitrich in 1998.
Kayla Molesko was the fourth-fastest freshman among all Group 1 runners at sectionals. Sarah Michitsch was not able to race at the Group 1 state championship after spraining her ankle a few days before the race, so the team’s 16th place at groups would have been improved had she been in the race.
Coaching the boys and girls teams for a second year was Dave Giantisco, who teaches 10th grade English at the high school. He is also the head coach for track and field during the spring. He was awarded Skyland Conference Coach of the Year (Mountain Division) at the end of the season.
Before coming to Manville, he coached four seasons at Delaware Valley Regional High School, during which he led the boys’ team to the Group 2 state championship four years in a row, along with two sectional championship titles.
