Brian Marron, Staff Writer – Record Sports
Since Rob Brady began coaching in 1990, Hasbrouck Heights has enjoyed tremendous success with multiple county and sectional titles as one of Bergen County’s top girls track programs.
Yet, the Aviators found themselves in unfamiliar territory to begin spring 2017, being unranked in The Record preseason top 25 for the first time in recent memory. Not much was expected of Hasbrouck Heights after losing nine key seniors, but the Aviators came through to become The Record Girls Track Team of the Year.
“This year, I tell [the team] all of the time, they made me feel like a first year coach,” Brady said. “That was kind of like our rallying cry. To kind of show people how good we can be and how with a bunch of new kids that we could really put it back together quickly.”
Hasbrouck Heights racked up first place finishes at the NJIC Meadowlands championships, Division C at the Bergen County championships and a North 1, Group 1 sectional title before tying Park Ridge as Group 1 state runner-ups, proving that the Aviators were still very much a force.
Junior Kassie Ketcho emerged as Hasbrouck Heights’ top producer, as she won a sectional title in shot put while medaling in that event along with discus and javelin medals at Group championships. However, depth was the Aviators’ biggest strength.
Whether it was junior Monika Lucic consistently landing in the top three for hurdle events, junior Catherine Castellanos finishing just behind Ketcho in throwing or seniors Sydney Fontalvo and Ashley Quinn helping strong relay teams, Hasbrouck Heights could always rely on a well-rounded effort. As a result, the Aviators won North 1, Group 1 despite Ketcho being the only individual winner.
“We always try to get [the kids] to buy into the team concept of track,” Brady said. “A lot of people think track is an individual sport, but at Heights, we try to tell them that it’s a team sport based on individual performances. The team goes as far as each individual and how they perform.”
Hasbrouck Heights saw 13 different girls land on either the first or second team for All-NJIC Meadowlands.
From the season’s onset, each girl on the Aviators began to gain more confidence, which resulted in more success. From winning dual meets and bigger events like Lyndhurst Relays, Hasbrouck Heights, despite dropping a meet at Bergen County Relays, kept on rising before reaching a peak in league and state championships.
“You know at the beginning of a roller coaster, when you keep going up, you keeping getting higher and higher?” Ketcho said. “That’s pretty much what I compare the whole season to, because we kept climbing higher until we got to the point where we won the state sectionals, which was awesome.”
Seniors and veterans guided the ship, as Brady cited Quinn giving up javelin to help out in the 800 and other events while Fontalvo set the tone in practice by making sure everyone was focused.
“We had great senior leadership this year,” Brady said. “That was one of my biggest questions coming into this year was who was going to step up and take over that role, and I got to say this is probably some of the best of leadership that we’ve had.”
Quinn said Brady challenged her to take a leading role in anticipation of this season, which she readily accepted.
“I think I was at state groups [last season], and [coach Brady] said to me before my race ‘Remember, you’re going to be a leader next year,” Quinn said. “He was like ‘Are you ready?’”
Quinn responded off of the track by creating a group chat for the entire team and pushing to regularly hang out together. She would even send motivational messages to teammates before meets, and post encouraging quotes and photographs in the team locker room. The results were evident in the team’s results.
“I think what changed from this year to last year is how close we were as a team,” Ketcho said. “We would talk 24/7 in our group chat, and hang out and have team barbeques. I think that played a role where we all cared so much about each other that if someone had a bad day we wouldn’t keep them down we would lift them up for the next meet.”
In the end, Hasbrouck Heights rose together, winning for each other to cultivate team success.
“I really love that our team isn’t just two or three standouts,” Quinn said. “There’s a lot of people that go unnamed. Everyone just kind of stepped up, and I couldn’t be more thankful for it.”
