By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The boys and girls track and field Meet of Champions gave West Windsor-Plainsboro South a platform to showcase its top athletes one final time this year.
Nikhil Pulimood closed his Pirates career with a gutsy silver-medal finish, Deirdre Casey closed hers with a medal, while Tim Bason and Christina Rancan medaled with results to inspire going forward along with Kathryn Schoenauer and the girls 4×800 relay.
Pulimood was the top finisher among Pirate boys. He ran to the front early and took second in the boys 3200 in 9:00.86. Luke Petela of Haddon Township won in 8:58.32.
“He showed as much character in that race as I’ve ever seen a kid that I’ve coached in my career,” said Pirates distance coach Kurt Wayton. “It was equal at least to Brian Leung at his best or any other great Pirate that we’ve had. I’m a man of many words, but I’m really at a loss to describe how proud I am of him, and how great he represented our program and our tradition, it was incredible.”
Pulimood tried to push the pace harder than he had at the indoor MOC when he had been out-kicked over the final lap. Pulimood tried not to let it come down to the final lap.
“He doesn’t have a ton of leg speed, but what he does have is amazing endurance,” Wayton said. “Almost two months ago, he hit a 53-minute time trial on dirt. So I have a tough time believing that anyone in the state could stick with him if it was an endurance style race, a real grinding-it-out. Once we got our race savvy down and had a real nice set-up with our workouts, I thought things would go pretty well and they did. He had a couple really awesome workouts down the stretch which pointed to him running right around 4:10 (for one-mile) and right around 9:00. Some kids translate and some don’t. Nikhil’s do. You could take a workout and pretty much overlay that into a race and he’d pretty much do it. I felt reasonably confident that he was going to go into the championship rounds and race extraordinarily well.”
Pulimood held off everyone but Petela. Just as in indoors, Pulimood set the pace, but this time he tried to make it harder on the rest of the field from the outset.
“It’s something we talked about fairly often — if you’re going to go down, go down swinging,” Wayton said. “With that being said, we really didn’t talk about a specific race plan. We wanted to see how the race unfolded. Meet of Champions, there’s so many variables, you don’t want to get locked into one set. He took the lead about 400 meters in and started pushing. I kept waiting for a spot when I’d have to say something but I didn’t yell until the last lap and it was just encouragement.
“When kids put on a yellow uniform and go out and do things like that, I get so proud,” he added. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of an athlete than Nikhil.”
Wayton is waiting to see what Rancan and Bason can do in their final year. They set themselves up for huge finishes with promising results to close their junior years. Rancan was third in the girls 1600 in a new school record 4:52.21. Deirdre Casey took seventh in 4:55.88. Both of them also qualified in the 3200 and both had to run on the 4×800 relay.
“I was reasonably confident that they’d go out there and run well against anybody in the mile, and the mile was stacked,” Wayton said. “To get third and seventh with that kind of competition, I was really happy.
“For them to accomplish what they did together, out of all the outstanding talents in the state, to have two out there is remarkable. I think it’s a great story. I think it’s something they’ll think about the rest of their lives — that they went out there and achieved all this on their own.”
Rancan was just beginning to feel the effects of a cold, but she felt plenty good during the mile. She had run a top 3200 earlier in the year, and she was looking for a fast race to push herself to a new personal record in the mile.
“I was really happy with the way I ended my season,” Rancan said. “I was so glad to go out on a high note. PRing was something awesome. It was something I was hoping to do by the end of the year. I just really enjoyed it.
“And it was nice to have people to run in the 4×8. It was great to run one last race with them. It was a privilege.”
The girls 4×800 of Katie Kullman, Rancan, Casey and Edlyn Gulama ran 9:15.92 to nearly overtake Ridge before settling for second place.
“We nearly got it,” Wayton said. “In order for us to win the 4×8 at the Meet of Champions, we need a really solid four legs.”
Rancan did her part to help the Pirates make up an early deficit. She was coming off the mile in which she had run out front from the start. That helped keep her away from any pushing and traffic.
“I was glad I was able to get out well,” she said. “I was able to run up there and be towards the front. Being able to being one of the front two for the entire race was really nice.”
Rancan was edged in the final stretch for second place, but she was happy with the time and the place to finish off her year.“I’m really happy with the way my junior year worked out in all three seasons,” Rancan said. “I have no complaints. I’m excited and hope I can improve some more for next year. The successes I had this year are going to help me next year for experience and confidence wise. And some of the setbacks I had will help me. I’m excited to see where all my running this year will take me.”
Said Wayton: “Christina painted herself as one of the top two or three distance runners in the state. We’ll see. . . Tim, I think he’s just started to scratch the surface. Both of them are incredibly courageous, tough, durable, hard workers. They have a ton of character so I don’t have to worry about them. It should be exciting.”
The only other girl to compete was Kathryn Schoenauer, who was also the only Pirates athlete to compete in two individual events at the MOC. The junior placed 13th in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.04 seconds and 19th in the long jump.
Bason was third in the boys 1600 in a personal-record 4:12.23. Allergies had caused an off-day at the Group IV meet and cost him a shot at qualifying in the 3200, but he returned to top form for the MOC.
“I was really happy with it,” Bason said. “I took it out. I heard my coach say, don’t take it out for the entire race. I did that at groups and died down. I started to go with the pack. I knew with 300 meters to go, that was my spot, so I started to kick it in.
“I love a good race,” he added. “When it gets really competitive, I like to go out there and give it my all. It’s a lot easier to run faster when you have people around you that can keep pushing you. Going into the race, I didn’t think about winning or placing. I just thought about giving it my all.”
Bason was happy to have another meet to finish on his terms. He dropped another three seconds off the time he ran at sectionals to close on a high note.
“I think it was a great year for running,” Bason said. “I placed ninth in indoor and cross country for MOCs. I thought it was great. Indoor, I was having a little bit of breathing issues, but I ended up still running a good time for me. Otherwise, it was a great season.”
Next year, with Pulimood graduating, it will fall on Bason to be one of the leaders for the Pirates. He’s poised to move into that position.
“We still have a lot of other leaders,” he said. “Sam Williams is there with me, and Tommy Moxham. They’ll both be there with me and lead with me. I won’t be alone. I’ll still be able to train hard, and they should both tear it up too.”
Bason’s final race of his junior year has him ready to try to finish even higher and go faster in what will be his final year.
“It gets me excited for next year,” Bason said. “If I can keep pushing myself, that means I could really tear it up my senior year. It would be a great way to finish off my high school career.”
