Weekly Update May 3

May 3
This Past Week
On Wednesday we went up to Northern Burlington, where they have an exceptional distance runner in Michael Bowden. In a rare occurrence, the teams tied 70-70. Moorestown actually won the Sprints, Field and Throws, however we came up short in the distance events. Bowden won both the 1600 and 3200, and NB took 1-2 in the 800 and a third in the 3200 – outscoring our Distance Squad 19-8.

Moorestown did have some very good performances. Weintraub and Horton ran great races in the 1600 to take 2nd and 3rd to Bowden with PR’s of 4:43 and 4:44. Horton held off a fast closing RV runner to take that important 3rd place and secure a point (we obviously would have lost the meet without that effort). Stalle again had a PR in 2:08 for a 3rd place finish. Matteson finished up our scoring with a strong 2nd place finish in 10:16 in the 3200 making sure he held off a tough NB runner who wound up third.

The meet was also a great opportunity for a number of PR’s. Robinson, Szumski and Samocki all PR’d in under 5:00 earning Varsity letters. Also PR’ing in the 1600 were Bennett and McDonnell – two new runners who continue to keep improving every week and having great attitudes. It was also nice to see Sheehan, Thomas, Fowler and Regan also notching PR’s in the 1600. That is 11 PR’s in one race – NICE! Also earning a PR was Ems, who is rounding into shape with a 10:46 in the 3200.

On Thursday night Wolff and Friedman went down for the South Jersey Relays Open 3200. Wolff ran a PR 10:01 and Friedman ran a 10:08, both good solid times.

On Saturday we traveled down to Buena for the South Jersey Relays. The Freshmen led it off with a DMR 2nd place in spite of a limping Jenai. Lentz ran a very nice 3:49 lead off 1200 leg, Nece looked good in his 800. There was really no competition for Inglis on his final leg as he held the team’s second place thru the finish line. Spirgel ran two freshman races – a sprint and the anchor on the Sprint Medley Relay about 15 minutes later and continues to show determination and a nice stride.

Our JV A DMR of Wilson, Thomas, Bennett and Samocki also earned medals. The JV B DMR of Reutsch (best race of his season in the lead off 1200), Regan, Shah (PR in his 800) and Jospehson was not far behind. The Varsity DMR looked very good with a solid 3:30 split from Szumski, McDonnell in 57 in his first 400, M Friedman in a solid 2:14 800 and Robinson in a PR 4:50 1600 split.

Our 4 X 1600 relay ran a very solid 19:13. Horton, Balch and Weintraub all had 4:45 splits, which was a big PR for Blach. Unfortunately Matteson’s calf injury returned during his leg. We are hoping he recovers quickly to build on the fine finish he had against NB earlier in the week.

Stalle anchored the Sprint Medley Relay with a big drop in his PR to 2:04. With his rapid improvement, we can only wonder where he will wind up this season, or what he could have done if he had run with us for a couple of years… Sheehan finished the day off with a nice anchor in the JV Sprint Med, and it is good to see him settling in after a rough start with injuries.

The Week Ahead
By the time this gets sent, the Willingboro meet will be over. As I write this I am hoping for a solid performance where the Distance team again rises to the challenge and provides leadership for the whole Track Team.

Wednesday will be RV at home. This will be a chance for all of the runners to set another round of PR’s hopefully! The meet will start at 3:45 with the Long Jump and Triple Jump, then move onto the running events. RV is the leading team in our Division this year, and the Distance crew will have our hands full to score as many points as possible. With Danny MacBride in the sprints, Corey Pizzichello in the Jumps and our Pole Vaulters led by TJ Hagan, we have a shot if things go right.

Saturday will be the Divisional Meet. Only three runners in each event, but I would encourage everyone to show up for this meet. If we have a good day, we could surprise some people… We will name who will run which events on Thursday after the RV meet.