By Justin Feil, Contributor
Joe Bevilacqua had been to the indoor Meet of Champions last year, but competing in the 4×800 was something new., It was new to everyone on the Hillsborough High School team, even returning members of the relay like Jeremy Shipley, and it was new to everyone in the state. For the first time, the 4×800 was contested at the MOC, and Bevilacqua and Shipley combined with Dominic DiNardi and Mitchel Baron for sixth place and a medal at Toms River’s Bennett Center., “We were talking about it would be nice if we could place in the top six,” said Bevilacqua, a senior. “We didn’t know if we could get it, but we were really happy when we did.”, Shipley ran 2:02.5 on the opening leg, DiNardi followed in 2:00.9, Bevilacqua posted a 2:04.8 split and Baron closed in 2:02.2. They came in seeded eighth, but their 8:11.39 pushed them to sixth. It was only slightly off their 8:09.55 seed time that even if they duplicated would have still left them sixth., “We didn’t really expect much,” Shipley said. “We were definitely pumped to go there. We were pretty excited for that because it was a huge deal for it. It’s the first ever year they’re doing the 4×8 at MOCs. Going into it, we were thinking it wasn’t going to turn out in our favor. It was kind of towards the end of the season and Mitchel was really hurt. He was not feeling well. Two weeks before it, he stopped running. He went on the bike. He only did a workout the day before. He didn’t go into it with much preparation. I think we all surprised each other with all of our times that we put it together as well as we did. I’m confident we could have done even better if we were all healthy.”, The same quartet earlier this year won the 4×800 at the Group IV state relay championships at the Bennett Center. Times across the board were slower at the MOC. Only one team in the top six beat its seed time. Hillsborough competed well enough to make sure it medaled., “I was a little nervous,” Bevilacqua said. “I looked up the rankings of some of the teams. Our team’s best time was 8:07. It was around the top 10 teams in the state. The top team in the state was under 8:00, which is insane. I knew some of those kids would be there so I was nervous about that especially since the Meet of Champions, it’s in the same place, it’s always in Toms River in the bubble, and it’s hard to breathe in that atmosphere with all the people there.”, Bevilacqua is the one newcomer to the 4×800 relay from a year ago. After Brandon Tubby graduated, the Raiders needed to replace their former anchor. Joining a trio of veteran half-milers on a relay that had done well last year could have been intimidating or inspiring., “It’s kind of both,” Bevilacqua said. “They’re all really good. It’s kind of hard to try to keep up with them. That’s their main race.”, Bevilacqua has always been a shorter distance runner. When he was a sophomore, his coach entered him in the 200 meters at the sectionals for a chance to run a varsity time., “I was off by .5 seconds,” Bevilacqua recalled. “I didn’t want that happen again so I started running as much as I could.”, Every night as often as he could, Bevilacqua went out for a two-mile run. It started to help last year when he ran varsity cut times in the 55 meters, 100, 200 and 400. And this year they have asked him to compete in the 4×800 regularly., “The first time I ran it, the coach told me that I was going to be the fourth guy needed for the 4×8,” Bevilacqua said. “I was really stressing out, and I hated that it was going to be me and I was really hoping it was going to be someone else. Now I’ve gotten used to it, and I want to do well with the team.”, Learning to run it has been his biggest challenge. There are only a few opportunities to compete in the 4×8, and he tries to take something from every chance he has., “Usually, all my other races are pretty tight sprints,” Bevilacqua said. “You basically give it all you can until you’re done. The 400, you kind of have to pace yourself. It’s not a full-out sprint. It’s still a very quick race. When it’s the 4×8, I try to stay with the group that’s near me and if I can I try to pass one guy who’s close to me. It’s huge to learn how to pace yourself in the 4×8., “There aren’t a lot of chances actually 800 in general. The first lap, I usually try to get out to a really fast start. The first five or six seconds, you try to get out fast. I consider it a different race. I try to hold a decent steady pace for the 400. Then the third lap, I’ve noticed it’s my slow lap. I’ve been trying to work on improving that. The fourth lap, you basically go with whatever energy you have left.”, For Shipley, the 800 has become his main race. Last year, he advanced to the outdoor Group IV championships in it, and he’d like to do better this spring., “I definitely would like to get to MOCs in the open 8,” Shipley said. “I made it to groups and didn’t do as well as I wanted to in it. If I do run good times, I have a chance to get to MOCs in the open 8. That’s my goal for the season.”, Shipley has plenty of motivation coming off the winter season. He didn’t run quite as fast as he wanted to, but he was encouraged by the team’s success., “We definitely are excited for the spring,” Shipley said. “I think we can do big things as long as we’re all healthy. Mitchel is still dealing with a lot of stuff. Once he gets healthy, we can have a great team. Me and Mitchel want to get as close to 1:55 as we can. We just want to beat our PRs from last season which are 1:57. Dominic can break 2:00-flat. He’s gotten close and I know he can do it in the spring. Joey, it’s his first year doing the 800, but he’s adapted pretty well. He’s already ran a 2:04-2:03. I think by the spring it wouldn’t be a ridiculous thing to say he could break 2:00. It’s pretty amazing how he went from being a 200 sprinter and 400 runner to an 800, which is a completely different animal. Going into the spring, as long as we’re all healthy, we’re pretty excited for it.”, Shipley feels that he has trained well enough to lower his personal record, and he is focusing on the other aspects of racing as he heads into the spring. He says he is hungrier than in the past., “My training has been pretty intense,” Shipley said. “We’ve all been pushing ourselves to our limits. I don’t think there’s much more we could do. We haven’t missed many workouts. With the training, I don’t think there’s much room to improve there. It’s just to get back in racing mood and not wimp out and just tough it out better than I’ve been doing this year. It’s more mental toughness during the race.”, Shipley will continue to compete next year The Citadel in South Carolina. He expects there to have a familiar focus in track., “They’re a smaller school,” Shipley said. “They don’t have as big of a team. I’d do cross country, I don’t know how much I’d compete in it as much as train. In the spring and winter, I’d focus on the 800. I haven’t run the mile in a few years so I don’t think I’d be put in that. I’d be mostly focusing on middle distance.”, He is looking forward to his best spring season as he prepares to jump to the next level. Bevilacqua, too, is aiming to have a breakout spring. He has already been to the spring practices because he doesn’t want his training to fall off, though he’s considering cutting back some of his two-mile running in the hope that he’ll be even sharper in the spring., “Last year, I wasn’t too confident,” Bevilacqua said. “I thought I did pretty well last year, but I didn’t know what to expect going into spring. My sophomore year of spring track, I wasn’t too good. I wasn’t expecting it to be any different. I wasn’t too confident. Then I came out and ended up doing pretty well. I’m hoping I do the same again this season and actually get better than I was before.”, The Raiders are hoping they have the depth across the events to show well this spring. Shipley is encouraged by who is returning for Hillsborough., “I haven’t gotten a full look at the boys, but I have an idea and I’ve talked to my coach,” he said. “For throwing, I’m sure if the same people come out as last year, we’ll do pretty well. They were pretty consistent. Tarek (Elkabbani) and Ryan Wheaton, if he’s healthy, they’ll do well. We have one good high jumper, Joey Sabo, who jumped 6-feet at groups. He did really well. We’ll definitely have good high jumpers. Sprinting, I know we have some good sprinters like Thomas Deluca and Cael O’Brien. It’s the same distance team from last year, we’re just missing (Brandon) Tubby really.”, Even after replacing their top distance runner, the 4×800 reached the state’s highest level and medaled at the MOC. It’s something they hope to build on this spring., “It’s definitely hard, especially losing our biggest runner last year,” Shipley said. “It’s hard to find somebody to make up for that. This year, we’re a little more consistent. We’re all running around the same time. Instead of one fast time and three decent times, we’re all closer to 2:00. It’s good in that aspect. As long as we can be healthy and ready to run, then I think we have a pretty good chance to go to MOCs for outdoor 4×8. It’s a lot more challenging for the spring.”
