All stories written by: Paul Schwartz – record Sports Department
TOMS RIVER – Park Ridge coach Mike Farrell went home Saturday from the state Group 1 and 4 state championships with a set of certificates attesting to the runner-up team finish by the Owls behind Group 1 state champ Highland Park.
The package of 20 seemed like overkill to Farrell, who admitted “we only have eight girls out for winter and only four are here.’’
But those four girls nearly brought a gold state group title home.
The Owls grabbed the early lead after two events as Megan Gasnick took third in the 400 and Samantha Green had a huge personal best in the 1,600, running 5:12.84 for second. And surprisingly, with just the relay to go, the Owls were still first after Green impressively took the 800.
But in the end Park Ridge came up five points short of the trophy but left pleased with their overall performance.
“The two girls who didn’t score, (Alli Uhl in the 400 and Sarah Geormaneanu in the 800) had seasonal bests,’’ said Farrell. “And what can you say about Sam and Megan?”
Green, who won the Group 1 state cross-country title and then left basketball to run indoors, finally is at peace with her decision to run full-time although she admits that running twice as many laps indoors as outdoors for the same distance takes getting used to.
“I didn’t make the connection right away and I was annoyed early in the year that my mile (1,600) times weren’t coming down,’’ said Green, who won the 800 in 2:22.03, reversing a sectional loss to Verona’s Kathleen Ashley. “But I’m really with the way everything has gone this winter.’’
Gasnick ran 58.73 for third in the 400, but was disappointed to finish behind Kayleigh Furth of Newton and Butler’s Rebecca Kneppel, who she had defeated last week at sectionals. “They’re both great runners and I know I beat them last week. But I didn’t have my usual kick today and they deserved to win.’’
Pentathlon leads to state gold
For the second straight session, two North Jersey athletes who competed in Wednesday’s Bergen County pentathlon, won gold medals at the state meet.
Of course, for Jenna Rogers of Rutherford, the runner-up in the pentathlon, her victory in the Group 1 high jump was pretty routine.
She came into the competition at 5-4, cleared it and then made 5-6 on her first attempt to eliminate Kenady Wilson of Willingboro. She took one attempt at a group record 5-9 but then stopped.
“I’m starting to feel tired because this is a long season,’’ said Rogers, who still has Eastern States on Tuesday, State Meet of Champions on Feb. 24 and the Nationals next month. “I want to be national champ again and I have to get back to training hard and getting some rest.”
That’s not the issue for Hasbrouck Heights senior Monika Lucic, who won the pentathlon Wednesday with a brilliant final event 2:23.4 800, a five second best and then won the Group 1 55 hurdles, running 8.93, for her second personal best of the day.
“I’m so pumped and excited for spring, and this just makes it even better,’’ said Lucic, who also placed in the high jump and ran on the 4-x-400 team that just missed qualifying for the Meet of Champs. “I wanted to come down here and improve and winning (the hurdles) just makes it even more special. I just don’t know how to feel right now, because I didn’t think about winning.’’
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TOMS RIVER — J.P. McCarten and his Glen Rock boys team were checking the entries at Saturday’s Group 1 indoor track championships, when they reached a startling conclusion.
“We can win this thing,” or words to that effect were exchanged between McCarten and his team and the strategy was set.
Joe McCabe would run the 800 and Andrew “Noodle” Laguttuta would try a double in the 1,600 and 3,200. Kyle Patel and Pierce Tuttle would try and duplicate the 1-2 finish they got in the North 1, Group 1 sectional meet and Jarod Forer would try and win the pole vault. Then the Panther relay would try and score enough points to hold off McNair and Willingboro and win the program’s first ever indoor state title.
And boy, did they come close. The Panthers held the lead for most of the afternoon before coming up just short of Willingboro and McNair, 40-36-33.
Laguttuta ran a personal best 4:27.84 for fourth in the 1,600 and within a half hour Patel and Tuttle had gone 1-3 with Patel winning the first field event state title in school history by nearly seven feet in the shot put. Glen Rock had a lead they wouldn’t relinquish until the final event
Forer was third in the pole vault and McCabe took third in the 800 and with three events left, Glen Rock led McNair, 32-20 with Willingboro a distant third with 12. But the Chimeras went 2-3-4 in the high jump and McNair’s Fahd Nasser easily won the 3,200. Laguttuta ran 9:51.82 in the latter event, an eight second PR but both schools had closed within 2 points with only the relay left.
“I knew we had a good relay but both of theirs were much better than us, and they ran like it,” said McCarten. “We did what we could.” McCabe and Nathan Schlect ran a great second half of the race and won the second to last heat in 3:37.87 and then had to wait for the seeded heat.
Willingboro went 3:32.82 to win the race and meet, while McNair was third in 3:34.48. Glen Rock did grab the final medal, in sixth place.
