MOC is Saturday for qualifiers
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Vlad Castillo Jr. is much happier to be going into the Meet of Champions as a group winner, while Alex Roth is just happy to be making his first indoor track and field trip to the state’s biggest meet.
Castillo has his senior year at Montgomery High School off to a great start in the winter season. He’s already thrown a personal-record 57-feet-1½ to win the shot put at the Poreda Invitational, and Sunday he added the Group IV state championship with a throw of 55-6¾. Last year, he had placed sixth in the indoor group meet to earn the final automatic qualifying spot for the MOC, and he also took second at the outdoor Group IV meet last year.
”I came in second place last year in outdoors,” Castillo said. “That was kind of a bummer. This year, coming back and winning it felt great.”
Roth is a sophomore at Princeton High School. He had finished fifth in the boys 3,200 meters at the Central Jersey Group III meet the week before, but ran 18 seconds faster to finish fourth in the Group III meet last Friday.
”It means a lot,” Roth said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever qualified for a meet like that by advancing by place. It was a nice experience.
”I knew there was a lot of competition running about the same times that I was. I figured if I could get a little ahead, I’d be able to get to the Meet of Champs. But I knew I’d need a big race.”
He got it to continue a season that has him raising his standards with every race.
”I was honestly thinking this is what I’d be close to doing in the spring,” Roth said. “I was thinking more along lines of 9:40 in the winter and try to get to 9:30 in the spring.
”There’s always progress to be made. Once you achieve that one goal, you have to set another one and it has to be harder than the first one.”
Roth will be looking to run in the same range when he gets to the MOC. He could be joined by a pair of West Windsor-Plainsboro South distance runners, who were double qualifiers out of the Group IV meet. Nikhil Pulimood won the boys 3,200 meters in 9:19.52 with Tim Bason fifth. In the 1,600 meters, Pulimood was second and Bason third. Kian Jackson of West Windsor-Plainsboro North also qualified for the boys 3,200 when he took fourth in Group IV.
Castillo isn’t the only MHS boy to advance to the MOC. Robert Dembinski ran an indoor PR of 1:58.04 for third in the 800 meters. The Cougars’ 4×400 relay also advanced by wild card after running 3:33.09 for 10th in Group IV. Like every athlete at the MOC, they will be targeting a new best against the toughest competition in New Jersey.
”I’d like to run close to my PR or maybe even better,” Roth said. “I’m going to try to go with the pack and see how it goes.”
Now is the time that athletes want to be hitting their best. Castillo has seen plenty of his competitors throwing their bests, and he would love to uncork his top throw at MOC.
”One of the biggest things about shot put is mentality,” Castillo said. “Physically, I know I’m a 60-foot thrower. I’ve been able to reach those marks in practice. It’s a matter of not looking at my competitors. I know what I’m capable of. It’s something I have to deal with. Everyone is up in your face, telling you this person threw this and this person threw this.
”It can really get to your head. Now it’s just focusing on what I have to do and keeping that mentality throughout the whole entire time.”
Castillo is feeling good about the way he’s been competing as he enters the final month of the indoor season. His season will extend to outdoor nationals, and he is hoping to establish a new standard by then.
”My last series in groups was very consistent,” Castillo said. “I had two throws that were kinda bad, kinda good. That 55 was really good to get in. I feel really comfortable going into Meet of Champs. I’ve been throwing really well in practice. It’s just transferring it all to the meet.
”The furthest I’ve thrown in my life was Poreda,” he said. “That was coming off a great week of practice. I was really focused in on what I had to do. Hopefully this week of practice will go well so I can peak for the Meet of Champs. There are two or three great throwers that are going to be great competition at Meet of Champions.”
Castillo is already more than four feet ahead of where he was throwing last winter, something he attributes to the coaching of throws coach Vincent Figueroa and strength coach Jon Kalnas.
Castillo is hoping he can use the same formula that won him the group meet to throw well Saturday. He came out strong and established a mark that had everyone else chasing him in groups.
”I knew I’d have to throw well at groups,” Castillo said. “I threw 55-6¾ on my third throw so I was throwing last (in finals) and they were trying to catch up to me. That’s what I wanted to do — throw a huge bomb and shake up the place and let’s see what can happen from there.”
Castillo finished four spots out of a medal last year, and he would like to leave with one to start his final scholastic year.
”It was a pretty big bummer for me to not place in that top area,” Castillo said. “It’s my senior year. You have to lay everything on the line.”
Roth still has years to go, but he is trying to make the most of every one of his experiences. His group meet performance was eye-opening.
”For me to watch, it was a really special experience,” said PHS boys coach Ben Samara. “Watching somebody do more than they thought they could do before, is something that’s so cool. It unfolds before your eyes. He couldn’t believe the time he ran. He was in such a zone. He didn’t realize what he was accomplishing.”
Roth finished one second and a half off the school-record 9:33.5 run by Jerod Neas in 1989. The next step for Roth is working at keeping his time consistently that low.
”It felt surprisingly comfortable,” he said. “I was very surprised about halfway through how I felt. It was a good day. I didn’t have to run the 1,600 earlier that day so I felt really fresh. I qualified in both.”
He and distance coach Jim Smirk figured that he had the best chance to advance in the 3,200, and Roth proved the hunch correct with a best.
”That’s the craziest PR I’ve had in a very, very long time,” Roth said. “I’m hoping I can slowly bring that down during the spring season.”
He is encouraged by the swift progress that he has made in the winter. Roth came off an injury that curtailed most of the first part of the cross country season. He has built up his fitness through the winter, and has hit times he didn’t anticipate doing yet over the last two weeks.
”He transitioned pretty well,” Samara said. “He was on track for what we would expect of him. This has shot him to another level. It’s going to be fun to see where he can go from here.”
Roth’s progress has surprised himself. He comes into the MOC a much more confident runner, and ready to set up his spring season with a strong finish to the indoor.
”Last year in indoor I wasn’t really able to bring down my times that much,” Roth said. “I ran pretty consistently through indoors, but didn’t make any huge progress. This year, I’ve progressed a lot throughout the season.”