2005 Westfield Girls Outdoor Track Review

It was at the Union County Relays that the Westfield Girls Track team gave a glimpse of the 2006 season and how strong and deep their middle distance talent is. Using only one of their regular 4 by 800 runners, the Blue Devils were easy winners in the 3200-meter relay with a team comprised of two freshmen, a sophomore and junior Meg Driscoll.

At many schools the loss of senior stalwarts like Emily MacNeil and Annie Onishi would be catastrophic but the Blue Devils developed a strong corps of underclassmen and appear poised to be strong again next year.

Onishi and MacNeil graduate with 16 track and field letters and a boatload of school records and first place finishes between them. MacNeil and Onishi were both members of the 4 x 400, 4 x 800, Distance Medley Relay, and Sprint Medley Relay teams, which all hold school records.

Both have held varsity status on the team since their freshmen years and both were members of the 4 x 800 team that qualified for the Penn Relays for the past three years. Onishi was the top scorer this season, and has been among Westfield’s top three scorers for four years.

She has been a leader by example on the track,” said Westfield Coach Jen Buccino.

MacNeil has been one among the team’s top scorers for four years. She has been a four-time Watchung conference champ, three-time county champ, and 2002 State Sectional champ over her four years and holds the school 400-meter record. She also was the Group 3 800 meter indoor champion this year and paced the Blue Devils to the county indoor championship.

To replace them Buccino will count on Driscoll and the other member of the top 4 by 800 team, Miriam Becker-Cohen, who also ran on the school record setting distance medley relay. The other members of the county 4 by 800 team, sophomore Ayn Wisler and freshman Stephanie Cortinhal and Catherine Cognetti as well as sophomore distance standout Jen Danielsson also figure prominently. Daniellson became the first Blue Devil 3200-meter champion since 2002 when she captured the Sectional crown and dropped her time by a minute during the season.

“Our strength will remain in the middle distance for next year, however we will need to work on depth in the 1600 and 3200,” said Buccino.
“ We have gaps to fill in the sprints, jumps and throws, and need to work on some depth as well,” said Buccino.

Buccino will need to replace top javelin thrower Olena Borkowsky, triple jump record holder Ali Rodino and top shot put and discus thrower Christina Henry but has rising sophomores Emily Perry, Erica Ammermuller, and Marlena Sheridan to fill gaps.

“We have a strong core of youngsters that gained valuable experience and solid veteran leadership,” added Buccino.

“Since we are traditionally not lacking in numbers of incoming athletes each spring, we hope the combination of the above will create the right ingredients for a stronger season next year.”

2005 Westfield Boys Outdoor Track Review

Few schools in the state could match the star power of the 2005 Westfield Boys Track team. Seemingly no stage was too challenging for their talented pole-vaulters Mike Woods and Michael Gorski and their distance star Jeffrey Perrella but the Blue Devils fell short in smaller meets as a lack of depth kept them from any team championships.

Woods and Gorski were nearly unbeatable in two man pole vault relay competitions and saved their best effort for the prestigious East coast Relays, when the two combined for a meet record of 29-9, by each jumping a personal best. Woods soared 15-3 and Gorski jumped 14-6.

“Both boys developed steadily their entire careers, worked hard and good things happened” said veteran Westfield Track Coach Jack Martin.

Woods cleared 15 feet for the first time in the Union County Championships to upset favored Anthony Abitante of Governor Livingston, the state’s top pole vaulter and give the Blue Devils their only first place finish. What made the achievement more unique was that Woods had borrowed Abitante’s pole because he thought the pole was better than his was at clearing the height.

After a sub par performance in the slippery conditions at the Group IV championships, Gorski and Woods recovered smartly at the most important individual meet of the year and finished second and third at the Meet of Champions behind Abitante. Junior Lawrence Kao came on strong near the end of the year to also qualify for the state championships in the pole vault.

Perrella was also his best at the biggest meets. Facing many of the top runners in the nation at the Penn Relays 3000 meter run, his third place finish was astounding as was his time of 8:33.50, which smashed the Westfield school record formerly held by Blue Devil great Cliff Sheehan and the Union County record by Anthony DeBenedictis of Roselle Park.

Perrella also won the 3200-meter run at the state sectionals and followed that up with a personal best time as he finished a strong second in the 3200-meter race at the Group IV championship at Egg Harbor. Perrella did even better at the Meet of Champions, finishing third in the state and bettered his personal best again with a time of 9:20.12.

Perrella also was outstanding in the mile and had a season best of 4:21.2.
“ I feel like I had a good season but my goal is to win races not finish second or third,” said Perrella.

“My season was alright, I didn't win many big meets but I was always right there knocking on the door. Hopefully, next year will be different.”

“Jeff ranks up there with the best at 3200 and could be up there in 1600 as well. His cross country performances are definitely among the best as well,” said Martin

There was a big drop in performances after the big three. Losing standout 800-meter runner rob Broadbent midway through the season hurt the team in numerous ways, including relays where Broadbent was a key member.

“He was a big loss,” said Martin.
“Most importantly I feel bad for Rob because he worked hard and is really into the sport.”

Westfield had a deep and strong distance group made up primarily of underclassmen. Ameer Rogers, Raymond Chen, Jay Hoban and Kris Kagan will team with Perrella to make the Blue Devils one of the top cross-country teams in the state next year.

The season ended on a sad note with the death of long time Westfield Track and Cross Country Coach Walt Clarkson. Martin is among the many coaches and runners that Clarkson left an indelible mark.

“Westfield track and field is what it is today because of Walt. Much of what we do today
(Especially the importance of team) is an extension and continuation of Walt’s.
philosophy. Walt was a man who was genuinely interested in WHS success in all
sports, not simply track and cross country,” said Martin.

2005 Outdoor Track Meet of Champions

It was the biggest and most important individual competition of the New Jersey Track and Field season at the Meet of Champions, a week ago Wednesday, but the pole vault jumping area at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield had a familiar and local look as Westfield senior Mike Woods and his friend and rival Anthony Abitante of Governor Livingston were the only two jumpers attempting to clear 15 feet 6 inches.

Abitante of Gov. Livingston of Berkeley Heights cleared the height on his final try to win the pole vault and defeat Woods, who jumped 15-0. The duo have a rivalry based on mutual respect and sportsmanship which was accentuated earlier this season at the Union County Championships, when Woods cleared 15 feet for the first time to upset Abitante What made the achievement more unique was that Woods had borrowed Abitante’s pole because he thought the pole was better than his was at clearing the height.

Adding further to the local flavor was Westfield senior Michael Gorski, who made it a clean sweep for Union County with a 14-6 effort for third. The 14 points from Woods and Gorski combined with a third place finish in the 3200 from junior Jeffrey Perrella to give the Blue Devils 20 points. If official team standing had been kept, the Blue Devils would have which placed fourth in the entire state behind Old Bridge, Notre Dame and Phillipsburg, which each got almost all of their points from one performer.

Veteran Westfield Track Coach Jack Martin, who has coached his share of stars over the years, was pleased but not necessarily surprised.

“I thought we had the type of team this year that could perform well at this level,” said Martin

“Most of the boys improved tremendously this year. All the coaches did a
great job in each of the areas.”

Perrella continued to excel in the biggest meets of the year, with a strong third place finish on an unbearably warm and humid evening to post a personal best of 9:20.12 Perrella was one of only two runners to follow the blazing pace set by overall winner Robert Papazian of Gill-St.Bernards the eventual winner in 8:59.78. Perrella finished less than two seconds behind second place finisher Ben Massam of Chatham, but did gain revenge on Geoff McGrane of Randolph who had defeated Perrella at the Group IV championships the previous Saturday. Perrella also defeated county rival Joe McKenney of Cranford in their first outdoor 3200 race of the season.

Martin, who coached Matt Elmuccio, the only three-time distance champion in the history of the Meet of Champions and isn’t easily impressed, had high praise for Perrella.

“Jeff ranks up there with the best at 3200 and could be up there in 1600 as
well. His cross country performances are definitely among the best as well,” said Martin.

Until this year, Perrella had played soccer in the fall and in his first year as a cross country runner was first team all state.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s four entries in the Meet of champions failed to score but sophomore Kyle Rowbotham continued to impress by almost placing in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles despite being in the second fastest heat. Rowbotham was fourth in his group in a personal best of 56.04 and has finished his first year in the intermediate hurdles with a flourish.

“We are very pleased with how he ran- 11th in the state as a sophomore is phenomenal, especially when it's your first season doing an event,” said Scotch Plains Fanwood coach Jeff Koegel.

Rowbotham had to quickly move over to the triple jump competition where he finished a record setting first season with 40-07.75 for 22nd place.

“We kind of expected that he wouldn't triple jump as well. The problem is that they only mark your first jump and will not mark any subsequent jumps unless they are better than the 12th best jump in the first round. His second and third jumps were better, but they were short of that mark and did not get measured as a result,” added Koegel.

In the girls competition senior Michelle Regg finished 30th in the triple jump with a leap of 31-03.50 and Katie Zaleski finished a record setting year in the pole vault with a clearance of 9-6, tied for 19th place.

2005 State Track Championships (Perrella)

Proving once again that he saves his best performances for the biggest races, Westfield Junior Jeffrey Perrella ran a personal best time and finished a strong second in the 3200-meter race at the Group IV championship Saturday at Egg Harbor. Even so, Perrella
was not totally satisfied with his performance and vowed to run better at the final meet of the spring, The Meet of Champions, which was held this past Wednesday at South Plainfield.

“I think if I maybe pushed the fourth and fifth lap, I could have won,” said Perrella.
“I did a personal best. but I am not at all pleased. I feel like I
could have and should have won that race but I just didn't. I can run faster, a lot faster, and I am going to do so at the Meet of Champions.”

Last fall, Perrella had improved on his state meet performance, to run his finest race of the season in finishing sixth at the Meet of Champions in a personal best 16:07, which vaulted him onto a first team All State Cross Country status.

Earlier this Spring, Perrella had outrun some of the nation’s top runners to finish third in the Penn Relays 3000 Meter Run in a Westfield record 8:33.2.

Veteran Westfield Coach Jack Martin has mentored many great runners in his long career and Perrella has total confidence in following his coach’s strategy.

“Jeffrey rarely gets or shows nervousness. He is able to follow a race plan. I look for him to do well in the Meet of Champions,” said Martin.

Perrella stayed neat the back for most of the first mile. In the second mile, he mostly stayed in second as the leaders changed three times.

“At one point I wanted to take over and push the pace a little bit more but my coach said to stay relaxed and be ready for any moves ,” said Perrella.

Perrella also placed sixth with a time of 4:24.37 in the 1600 race run Friday in a torrential downpour, which made the track extremely treacherous.

“The conditions were simply horrible. It was pouring
rain. The first lane was submerged completely in water, at some places it was even ankle deep. But you know, that is racing, so you have to detail with it,” said Perrella.
Led by Perrella’s nine points, the Blue Devils placed twelfth with 15 points. The other six points came from fourth and fifth place finishes from their pole-vaulters, Mike Woods and Michael Gorski, who each jumped 14-0. The conditions forced the pole vault to be switched to Saturday but may have hurt their performance according to Martin.

“Both Mikes did well. The postponement probably hurt a bit as
neither boy had extra clothes. They should do better in the Meet of Champions.”

Despite being shut out in the girl’s competition, Scotch Plains-Fanwood will send triple jumper Michelle Regg and pole-vaulter Katie Zaleski to the Meet of Champions as wild cards. Regg finished two inches out of a scoring sixth place and Zaleski lost a tie on fewer misses. Even so, Zaleski will be the ninth seeded of 43 competitors in her event, showing how strong Group III was. The top two finishers in the Raiders’ section from two weeks ago had the top two pole vault performances.

“Her Pole Vault coach Pete Kane has her switch to a longer and stiffer pole once she gets over 10'0". She still has some trouble getting up and over smoothly on that pole, but she can't
get high enough on the pole she uses for the lower heights. If she can get over 10-6, she should be in medal contention,” said Raider coach Jeff Koegel.

Sophomore Kyle Rowbotham also qualified in two events. He qualified for the triple jump with a leap of 41-05.00 and placed tied for sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a 56.84 effort in the pouring rain.

“Kyle went out and ran a sensational race. He placed out of the slowest heat. A lot of people let the weather get to them, but Kyle didn't. He went out and ran aggressively, was smooth over the hurdles, and really didn't make any mistakes,” said Koegel.
Despite being seeded in the first heat, neither Raider 4 by 400 relay placed in the first six.
“These things happen. That's why we have the meets,” said Koegel.

2005 Westfield Golf UCT

On Friday Tiger Woods missed his first cut in seven years underscoring what an unpredictable sport golf is and may help explain how the state’s number two ranked team, Westfield was somehow upset in the Union Country Tournament last Thursday by a Cranford team that the Blue Devils had easily defeated twice.

Even though they were dethroned for the first time since 2001, Coach John Turnbull’s team still has a lot to be proud of and much to look forward to.

They have a season record of 18-0 and have won 40 straight matches, spanning three years.
Included in their victories was a sterling triumph over the state’s number three team, Christian Brothers Academy when the top four shot a nearly flawless 152.
They repeated as conference champion, edging a strong Scotch Plains team.
They regained the individual county title as senior Ryan Shallcross, claimed the individual crown with a 2-over-par 74. Shallcross, who also won the individual crown as a freshman and sophomore, was six strokes ahead of the field, which had five players -- two from Cranford -- shoot an 80
Monday the Blue Devils began their quest for a state championship by competing in the state sectionals where they are favored but only need a top three finish.

Turnbull was admittedly shocked by the series of events that unfolded Thursday. He expected Oratory to provide the toughest competition and never really considered Cranford as a serious contender, but except for Shallcross the Blue Devils had an uncharacteristically bad round by their number one player, Jimmy Arbes, who shot 85 and the usually dependable Garrett Cockren who suffered through an 88.

“Jimmy played very poorly for him. It was his worst round in three years and he is really our number one player,” said Turnbull.

“ He was player of the year in Union County last year and was having a much better season then Ryan up until the 5th through the 18th holes. If Jimmy just has an average day for him we win.”

Turnbull was pleased that Shallcross bounced back from a fifth place finish in 2004 to win his third title. “Ryan is a great ball striker but has been putting poorly up until this tournament He is a great competitor and is always very into it.”

In addition to Shallcross, fifth man Nick Petraca finished tied for second with an 80 but lost a three-way playo9ff to wind up fourth. shot an 81 for seventh.

Turnbull’s record at Westfield is 129-7-2 over seven years with five county titles, five conference championships, three sectional crowns, two group four championships and one Tournament Of Champions.

Turnbull is counting on Arbes to bounce back in the key matches ahead.
On Monday Westfield traveled to Mahwah for the state sectionals and (fill in the result here)
“Jimmy has been a very steady player for three years and has had one bad round of golf in nearly three years,” said Turnbull.

“Last year was one of the finest seasons any HS Golfer in NJ could dream about. He never shot over forty the whole year.”

Scotch Plains-Fanwood Coach Steve Ciccotelli was equally philosophical about his team’s disappointing sixth place finish.

“Golf is very fickle game. This doesn’t take away from the great season we have had ,” said Ciccotelli, who also coaches football.

The Raiders have enjoyed an excellent 12-1-1 season, tying East Brunswick and losing to Westfield 164-173 at Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains on May 5.
It was the 24th straight season the Blue Devils have defeated the Raiders with Turnbull on the losing end of many of them as Raider coach.

Juniors Jack Davis and Clayton Blach have paced the team in most matches along with senior Mike Sprung.

“Jack has a very strong all around game, especially his irons play ,” said Ciccotelli,
The Raiders (fill in Monday result here).

2005 Penn Relays (Perrella)

Nobody saw it coming. Not the coach or the runner but with a lap to go in the 3,000 meter championship at the prestigious Penn Relays there was Westfield junior Jeffrey Perrella with a chance to win a race against the top high school runners in the country. Although victory eluded Perrella, his third place finish was astounding as was his time of 8:33.50, which smashed the Westfield school record formerly held by Blue Devil great Cliff Sheehan and the Union County record by Anthony DeBenedictis of Roselle Park.

“If I said I saw it coming, I would not be completely honest,” said veteran coach Jack Martin.
“ Jeff has been running great this spring. I thought a good time would have been 8:40. The best part is that if Jeff had more experience, he would have won the race.”

Perrella went into the race as the 22nd seeded of the 24 runners but went for the lead right away.

“I think everyone was afraid to take the lead at such a big race. I was nervous and scared, but one race is no different than any other,” said Perrella.

“I took it out at the speed I wanted to run through the whole thing and everyone else was just kind of scared.”

While pleasantly surprised with his performance, Perrella had been well prepared by Martin, who has coached runners like Matt Elmuccio, Andy Jacob and Sheehan to big race successes in the past. Only last fall, Perrella had his best performance in the biggest race f the fall, the Meet of Champions, where his sixth place finish vaulted him to the all state cross country team.

“It has a lot to do with training. Since I qualified for Penn, I
have been preparing myself so I would be able to run fast, and the
same thing with the Meet Of Champions,” said Perrella who was effusive in his praise of his veteran coach.

“Martin has us work so that we peak during those races and turn in our top performances,” said Perrella.
“He knows what the athletes need to do to run fast and he gets them to do it.”

In spite of everything the time was shocking and puts Perrella in rarified distance running air.

“I have been waiting to go under 9:20 since the beginning of winter track. Things just never went right for me over the winter and I turned in poor performance after poor performance. I have been training hard and smart and now, finally, things are starting to look normal again. I have my form back and I have built up my finishing speed,’ added Perrella.

“It has been a goal of mine to run a 9:09 3200 meter and a 9:13 2
mile, the school records. I know now that they are well within my
reach and I hope to shatter them both before the season ends..”

There were tow other notable performances by Blue Devil performers.

Despite the horrible, rainy conditions, Mike Woods jumped a personal best 14' 7" to finish in a tie for fifth place.

The Girl’s 3200-meter relay team missed its goal of making it to the finals but turned in a strong 9:34.7 performance..
Annie Onishi split 2:23.2 to lead off, and was followed by Miriam Backer-Cohen in a personal best of 2:26.4, .Meg Driscoll in her fastest time of the year 2:26.6.and Emily MacNeil anchored with a 2:17.9.
In their ninth appearance in the 4 x 800 in the last 11 years, it was the third fastest performance in Westfield history.
The 4 by 400 team ran 4:14.4, for 4th place in their heat,.

2005 Boys Union County Tennis Review

There was drama until the final match at the Union County Tennis Tournament as Westfield and record-breaking coach George Kapner wrested the title back from Summit for the first time since 1998 Friday at Donald Van Blake Courts in Plainfield. The Blue Devils, who earlier in the week had made Kapner the winningest coach in Westfield history, pulled out an 81-76 squeaker over the Hilltoppers on a victory by the second-doubles team of Andrew Levy and Jack Trimble. 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, over Summit's Vir Singh and Ben Sangree.

Westfield also got victories from freshman second singles
Kevin Shallcross and the first doubles team of Brian Kender and Lee Bernstein. as well as a second from freshman third singles Ravi Netravali. Both doubles teams defeated a Summit pair as the Blue Devils won two of the three head to head matches in the finals against their rivals to give Kapner his eighth and perhaps most gratifying Union County Tennis title.

“It’s extremely satisfying ,” said Kapner.
“Summit and Scotch Plains-Fanwood were very worthy adversaries so it certainly was not an easy task. More important to me, however, was that the team, all five positions, has been getting stronger and more confident in the last two weeks. It is very gratifying to see all their hard work come to fruition.”

Kapner was effusive in his praise for his doubles teams.
“As a high school tennis coach, there is only so much you can do with singles players in the short high school season,” said Kapner.

“But your doubles teams have to be put together from scratch and taught how to play doubles when their training heretofore has been almost exclusively in singles. I have to give most of the credit
to two seniors, Brian Kender and Andrew Levy, who took two underclassmen, Lee Bernstein and Jack Trimble, under their wings and made them top notch doubles players.”

Scotch Plains-Fanwood also had an excellent tournament finishing third with sixty points but the Raiders may have hoped for more after joining Summit as the only two teams to advance everybody to the semi finals. It set up a quasi-dual meet with the six time defending champions, which Summit took 3-1. The only SPF player to advance to the finals was freshman second singles player Ryan Krueger, who would lose in the finals to Shallcross for the second time this year but Raider coach Mark Cunnington was pleased with his effort.

“Ryan has definitely turned the corner ,” said Cunnington.
“The semi final match is a match he doesn’t win earlier in the year, but Ryan has toughened up and learned how to win the big points.”

After going 10-0 on Thursday, the Raiders appeared to be off to a great start Friday as both their double teams took early leads in their matches with Summit only to fall in close matches.

Seniors Billy Albizati and Jeremy Sanders would recover to finish third on first doubles, while senior Greg Leischner and freshman Scott Leyden would do likewise on second doubles.

Seniors Jason Kruger and John Altman finished fourth on first and third singles respectively.

The Blue Devils had started the week by upsetting eleventh ranked Bergen Catholic 3-2 to give Kapner his 740th victory, spanning six sports one more than legendary Westfield Coach Gary Kehler.

“It is certainly a milestone ,” said Kapner.
“ I have spent a great deal of time recently thinking back over all the wonderful and talented young people, many of whom are now
well past being called young, who I have had the honor of coaching over the last three decades at WHS. “

Kapner grasped the irony of breaking the record of another man with the initials “GK”.

“I am humbled by the thought that my name will forever be linked with the name Gary Kehler. He was a mentor to me in the late
1970's and 1980's as I was developing my coaching career and he is, without a doubt, not only the greatest coach in the history of WHS, but one of a handful of the greatest coaches in New Jersey history”

2005 Westfield Girls Outdoor Track Preview

After a nearly flawless indoor season when they won the Union County team and relay titles the Westfield Girls Track team moves outdoors where the addition of seven events figures to make repeating that feat more difficult.

Indoor Coach Jen Buccino, who was named area coach of the year by The Courier News, hands the head coaching duties off to veteran mentor Nancy Carpenter. Buccino, an assistant coach for 17 years handles the talented middle distance corps featuring state 800 meter champion Emily MacNeil.

MacNeil finished the indoor season strongly by running a personal indoor best in the Meet of Champions final and following up with a personal best of 2:13 as anchor of the four by 800 relay.

Along with MacNeil the entire relay group of senior Annie Onishi and juniors Meg Driscoll and Miriam Becker-Cohen return and should be one of the top relay teams in the state.

“Our outdoor school record is 9:27 and I do believe that they are capable of improving that time,” said Buccino.

“We just have to put it together on the same day.“

Individually, MacNeil, the indoor Group III champion is hoping for an outdoor breakthrough.
“I would like to run a 2:13 consistently and hopefully break that and get down near 2:10 if I can by the end of the season,” said MacNeil.

Augmenting the middle and long distance strength is sophomore Erin McCarthy, who ran on the county champion 1600-meter relay team and figures to run the 200, 400, and 800. depending on where she is needed.

McCarthy, MacNeil, Becker-Cohen and Onishi combined to win the 1600 relay at the Union County meet to give the Blue Devils the title. Onishi’s strength is in the 800 and 1600, while Becker-Cohen specializes in the 400 and 800. Becker-Cohen, McCarthy and
MacNeil were all key members of the Westfield Soccer team.

The Blue Devils also have several members of the section champion cross country team to handle the long distance races including Jen Danielsson, Caitlyn Berkowitz and
Rachel Barrett. Freshmen Stephanie Cortinhal and Catherine Cognetti add even more strength to the 400 and 800.

That overwhelming strength made the Blue Devils a formidable indoor team where they were strong in six of the eleven events.

“Our strength is definitely in the middle and long distances .” said Buccino.

The best all around performer on the team is high jumper Emily Perry, who is also a top sprinter and hurdler.

Some of the other leading performers include Christina Henry, Olena Borkowsky, Karolyn Cook, Kate Anderson in the weight events, hurdlers Lauren Nolan, Danielle Parkinson and Marlena Sheridan, jumpers JoAnn Mathew and Alison Rodino and sprinters Ali Fleder, Erica Ammermuller, Mathew and Sheridan.

Buccino and Carpenter are also hoping for some pleasant surprises among the 112 girls
who have tried out.

“The weather has made it tough to sort everything out ,” said Buccino.

2005 Westfield Boys Outdoor Track Preview

With a staggering total of 143 athletes competing for spots, veteran Westfield track coach Jack Martin is excited about the prospects for the 2005 edition of the Blue Devil track team.

“This is a young team with a lot of potential,” said Martin, who has coached track for 30 years and been the head coach at Westfield since 1994.

“It is great to have so many kids on the team,” said Martin.

With such a large team, Martin is hoping for the weather to improve so he can better sort out his small army of athletes.
“The weather has not affected us too much. because we have been doing early season base work ,” said Martin.

Martin can again count on strength from his distance runners and pole-vaulters although each group is currently missing a key component.

First team all state cross country star Jeffrey Perrella leads the deep distance corps but
the Blue Devils continue to miss senior Rob Broadbent , who had had leg problems since the indoor season. Broadbent was a top 800 runner last spring and figured to build on a great cross country season, which culminated with a twenty fifth place finish in the Meet of Champions.

“The team has great potential, but the story of this year has been injuries. A lot of guys have had injuries and it will make piecing together a relay team very difficult ,” said Perrella.

Fortunately, the Blue Devils have four excellent juniors, who along with Perrella should make Westfield one of the top cross-country teams in the state next fall. Kris Kagan is the top returnee and has excelled in both the 1600 and 3200. Ameer Rogers, Jay Hoban and
Raymond Chen excel in the distance events while senior Scott Steinberg is more of an 800 specialist.

Perrella is hoping to run under two minutes in the 800, 4:20 in the 1600 and 9:20 in the 3200.

“I am feeling good ,” said Perrella.
“My health is great. I have begun my morning workouts again and am lifting weights everyday to try and improve my speed.”

While senior Mike Woods is one of the top pole-vaulters in the state, Martin is hoping for the return of his other top pole-vaulter, senior Mike Gorski, who is currently injured. Both Woods and Gorski cleared 13 feet last year and Woods place fourth in the indoor meet of champions. The Blue Devils are fortunate to also have junior Alex Kao who would be the top pole-vaulter on many teams but will need a healthy Gorski to win the pole vault relay at the biggest meets.

Although the pole vault is clearly the strongest field event, Martin is counting on senior javelin thrower Jeff Pazdro to score in most meets and senior Tom White leads the shot put and discus.

In other events Senior Jake Brandman is the top returning sprinter and
Senior Tyler MacCubbin and Kao are the leading hurdlers while MacCubbin, Kao and Richie Scvialabba pace the jumpers

“We need to get experience as the vast majority of our runners are freshmen and
sophomores,” said Martin.

The Blue Devils hope to be at full strength for later in the year when they will battle such strong teams as Union, Plainfield, Cranford, Elizabeth and Scotch Plains for the county title.

“The county is getting very strong again. To compete we need to get healthy,” said Martin.

.

2005 Westfield Girls Swimming Sections

Westfield Girls Swimming Coach Jaime Ruszala has been supremely confident all season that her team was deep enough to withstand the loss of just about anybody but she was hoping that assuredness wouldn’t be tested in a situation as important as last Monday’s NJSIAA/PSEG North Jersey, Section 2, Public A championships at Bayonne.

Fortunately for Ruszala, her confidence paid off as the Blue Devils
overcame the loss of two of their top swimmers to win their third consecutive section championship by squashing Bridgewater Raritan 96-72.

The victory elevates Westfield into the state semifinals where they met West Windsor Plainsboro South(WWPS) yesterday in a rematch of the 2004 semi final, which was won by WWPS.

The Westfield girls, who were missing Jacqueline DeLaFuente due to illness, lost another front-line swimmer early when senior Amanda Dickson had difficulty managing her asthma and was forced to drop out of the 200 individual medley halfway through the breaststroke leg.

Sophomore Darrell Ann Smith won two events, the 200-yard Individual Medley in 2:19.89 and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.72 and the Blue Devils also got victories from freshman Alexi Kuska and sophomores Katie Morgan, and Kylie Fraser to offset the loss of their top individual swimmer Jackie DeLaFuente, who missed the meet due to illness.

“Darrell Ann had a great meet yesterday in both events ,” said Ruszala.

The Blue Devils also lost versatile tri captain Amanda Dickson midway through the meet., when she had an asthma attack in the middle of her individual medley race and was scratched from her remaining events.

Dickson had joined Fraser, Brittany Reyes and Kirsten Selert on the meet opening winning 200 yard Individual Medley(IM) relay which posted a 1:55.98 time.

“Amanda swam well on the relay and it started the meet off great.,” said Ruszala.

“It scares the kids (and me) when someone is hurt. It is hard to juggle in a dual meet ,when we don’t have the boys events in between ours, so the girls who stepped up literally had to jump in the pool to swim.”

Ruszala is hoping that DeLaFuente, the two time Union County 100 yard breaststroke champion and a fine all around swimmer will be available for the state semifinals, but Ruszala can be heartened by the performances of her young swimmers who have made massive improvements since the beginning of the year, most notably Kuska and Morgan, who were barely on the depth chart.

“Alexi is an awesome kid and awesome swimmer, “said Ruszala,
“She keeps dropping time. I can definitely count on her.”

“Katie is a very consistent swimmer. Her breaststroke time yesterday was a high school best for her and moved her up on our top 15 all time Westfield list,” added Ruszala.

“She is an extremely hard worker and is always looking to improve in any way she can. “

Other heroes for the Blue Devils included Reyes and Selert, who swam on both winning relays, and Elizabeth Hawkins, who anchored the 200 yard free style relay .

2005 Union County Girls Indoor Track

Westfield High School seniors Annie Onishi and Emily MacNeil were not going to let fatigue get in the way of concluding their indoor county track careers with a flourish. With each running their third
event of the evening over the rock hard Dunn Center surface, they combined with sophomore Erin McCarthy and junior Miriam Becker-Cohen to win the concluding mile relay and enable to the Blue Devils to defend their team title with 45 points Monday night in Elizabeth.

Westfield was able to outlast Rahway and their superstar La’Shonda Carter, who won three individual events, scoring thirty of Rahway’s 41 points on her own. Four weeks ago at the same venue the Blue Devils had won the Union County Relays with many of the same cast of characters. Monday’s triumph concluded a dominant streak of major wins. The quartet, with Meg Driscoll replacing McCarthy had also won the Group III four by 800 relay and MacNeil also won the Group III individual 800 but on this night it was Onishi sharing center stage with her more celebrated teammate.

“Annie was amazing tonight,” exulted Coach Jen Buccino.
“It was not easy doing all those events but Annie knew how important her points would be towards winning the team title, so she hung in there.”

Onishi’s night started in the mile where she stayed close to the leaders before holding on for a third and six points. After MacNeil picked up a second place in the 440, the two were back in the 880, where MacNeil cruised to an easy 2:31 victory the fourth straight 880 yard title in her brilliant career. Onishi picked up six more crucial points by hanging in for third in 2:34.2. At that point Westfield and Rahway were tied with 30 points each.

Carter’s victory in the high jump brought Rahway to 40 points but
with Emily Perry adding a third in the high jump and Jen Danielson a sixth in the two mile to bring Westfield to 35 points, Buccino figured if the mile relay could finish first it might be enough to put the Blue Devils over the top.

“I was confident that our girls had enough left to finish first,” said Buccino.
“Our relay runners are a real team. Everybody knows their role and what they need to do.”

MacNeil led off with a powerful 65.3-second split that gave Becker-Cohen a healthy lead, which she held on to and handed off to. McCarthy.
Onishi had a small lead as she took the baton and was able to hold off her competition to win her heat with a 65.7 split. The time of 4:25.1 held up as the fastest over the two heats.


“I’m very happy for the seniors,” said Buccino.
“They were determined to go out on a positive note tonight.”

Led by senior Mary Shashaty, Scotch Plains finished with fifth with 22 points. Shashaty was second behind Cranford sophomore Lindsay Gallo in the two mile that was inadvertently shortened by one lap, when the officials miscounted the laps. The runners wound up running 110 yards less than
normal.

When they rang the bell, for the final lap I started yelling at them that they rang it one lap too early ,” said Scotch Plains Coach Jeff Koegel.
“Of course, I got ignored by everyone standing at the finish line.”

In addition to Shashaty’s eight points, sophomore Sam Gates was third in the 400 and also anchored the mile relay to a third place finish, which helped Westfield by their finishing ahead of Rahway. The Raiders’ other two points came from a fifth place finish in the shot put from Kat Berka.

2005 Union County Boys Indoor Track

The loss of key personnel proved too much for the Westfield and Scotch Plains Boys Track teams to overcome as they settled for sixth and seventh
respectively at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth.

Westfield was missing 800-meter favorite Rob Broadbent, who has a stress fracture and will be out until sometime this spring, a tremendously disappointing development for what may have been the state’s most improved cross-country runner.

“Rob will be out pretty much until we start spring. He will be able to begin
some cross training in a couple of weeks, for now he is lifting weights. It was a sudden surprise at the state relays that intensified at the group meet and then diagnosed the following day., “ aid veteran Westfield Coach Jack Martin.

In addition to the injury, Martin attributed the Blue Devils’ performance to his low-key attitude towards the meet.

”We had such an intense beginning that it was difficult to maintain that level
and we thought it would be for the best to back off. In addition to Rob’s injury, the rest of the fellows are in the middle of exams .” said Martin

Despite scoring only 19 points, Martin had much to be pleased with.
“We did the best we could and had some nice performances ,” said Martin.

Martin was impressed with John Gagliano and Ameer Rogers, who took fourth and fifth in the 880 yard run and Jay Hoban who was sixth in the mile, Defending mile champion Jeffrey Perrella finished second after Martin had rested him for the previous week following the state meet, where Perrella had qualified for the Meet of Champions in March,.

The Mile Relay of Jake Brandman, Sam Kim, John Aleksandravicius, and Freshman Alex Tarlow completed the scoring placing fourth.

Scotch Plains was missing multi talented Sean Smith, who figured to place in the high hurdles, high jump and 440 yard run but sat out with a sore hamstring. “I tweaked it in practice but it’s feeling better now ,” said Smith

“I could have competed but the coaches thought it would be better to be cautious ,” added Smith.
The Raider’s top scoring performance was a surprise third place in the two mile run by junior Josh Zinman, who was a mere six seconds out of first place.

“JZ's race was one of the best he has ever run. I knew going into the race that he'd be able to place, but was unsure as to how the race would actually play out ,” said Scotch Plains Distance Coach Jeff Koegel.

“All things considered, this was probably the best race I’ve ever run ,” said
Zinman.

“We were able to adjust his goals for this winter season as a result of this performance , “ said Koegel.
“I'm very proud of what he did. He was easily the highlight of the meet for us .”

Also contributing to the Raiders’ eleven point performance were fifth places in the high jump from Iceberg Bryant, the shot put from Ted Acosta and sixth place in the mile relay.

2005 Group III Boys Indoor Track

The Jets weren’t the only team that came agonizingly close to a big victory last weekend. Although they finished a strong third in the Group III State Championships at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym Sunday, the Westfield Boys Track Team knows how close they came to winning the team title. Only Randolph and Morristown, which is coached by Westfield resident Paul Buccino, finished ahead of the Blue Devils’ 18 points.

Robert Broadbent finished a close fourth in the 800, all State Cross country star Jeffrey Perrella was third in the 3200 and Mike Woods was just edged out for first in the pole vault, finishing second with a jump of 13 feet.

“All three boys were in a position to win their events. They gave it their all
and came up a little short.,” said veteran coach Jack Martin.

“It's difficult for all the schools to be ready so early in the season, but that's the problem with the lack of statewide facilities ,” added Martin.

Perrella blamed a faulty strategy for his third place finish in 9:53.39.
“I know I could have won the race had I just stayed connected to the
leader (Geoff McGrane of Randolph) ,” said Perrella. McGrane won both the 3200 and 1600 to lead Randolph to the team title.

“The first and second place guys just got away from me with a
little less then a half mile to go, and I know if I had never let that gap form, I could have out kicked them.

“However, that isn't how it played out and I got third. Hopefully I'll get them come the Meet of Champions ,” said Perrella.

Broadbent will also be seeking revenge at the Meet of Champions after finishing fourth in the 800 in 2:02.84, but was just .35 out of second.. Broadbent made a huge improvement late in the cross-country season and should be one of the top 800-meter runners in the state.

Woods will join the two middle distance runners at the Meet of champions, finishing behind David McCullough of Toms River South who jumped 13 ‘ 6 to Woods’ 13 feet.

400 meter runner Scott Steinberg, 800 meter runner Kris Kagan, 1600 meter runners Jay Hoban and Ameer Rogers, sprinters Jake Brandman and Sam Kim, high jumper Tyler Maccubbin and Pole Vaulter Alex Kao also participated.

Multi-talented Sean Smith of Scotch Plains qualified in one event, the 55-meter hurdles, where he finished second to Tyrell Ross of Clearview. Smith qualified fifth in the preliminaries but improved on his time in the finals, running 8:10.

Smith also finished tenth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 10 inches
and teammate Iceberg Bryant was tied for twentieth at 5 foot 6 inches.

1600 meter runner Adam Biner, 3200 meter runner Josh Zinman, sprinters Nehemiah Burney-Porter, Rob Ventura and James Alfano, 400 meter runner Kyle Rowbotham also competed.

2005 Group III Girls Indoor Track

When Emily MacNeil is feeling good at the 600-meter mark it is usually bad news for the other 800-meter runners. Taking command in the final 200 meters, MacNeil pulled away from a strong field to win the Group III 800 title Sunday at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym.

It was MacNeil’s first individual indoor 800 title after finishing fourth the past three seasons It was also the first individual state title for a Westfield girl and came a week after MacNeil had anchored the Westfield 4 by 800 relay to the Group III Relay title at the same venue.

“I just wanted to go out hard and try and stay out near the front with the
girls out front and then kick hard for the last 200 “ said MacNeil.
“ I felt real good for the last 200 so I just ran hard and was able to pull it out.”

“I am very happy that after three years of fourth place finishes here, she finally pulled it off., “ added Coach Jen Buccino.
“ The best part is that it happened her senior year, with her fastest performance at this meet., despite the meet falling so much earlier in the season.”

MacNeil’s time of 2:19.65 was all more impressive since the first two laps of the four-lap race were run at a moderate pace.

”She got out a lot slower than we planned ,” noted Buccino.
MacNeil reached the 400 in 70.8 and was in a pack that included Stephanie Herrick of Wayne Valley, Chavanne Hubbard of Franklin and Lauren Gregory of Morris Knolls. MacNeil was the only one of the leaders to run her second lap faster, finishing in a blistering 68.8.

“I was pretty surprised to go sub 2:20 because I usually don't break that
this early in the season but I was really happy with the results ,” said MacNeil.

“I knew going into the meet that she was capable of going under 2:20 and that if she did it might be enough to win but. there is always competition at this level,” said Buccino.

Also finishing strong was Westfield senior Annie Onishi, who passed two runners in the final 60 yards to finish sixth, which also qualified her for the Meet of Champions. MacNeil and Onishi scored all eleven of the Blue Devil’s points as they finished eighth overall well behind the winner Franklin, which scored 48.

“I'm always happy, as every coach would be, to see seniors cap off their careers this way. Both of them are running very well and yes I feel that we are much stronger than we were at this time last year,” said Buccino.

The best finish for the Scotch Plains girls was senior Mary Shashaty, who was eighth in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:48.46.

2005 Group III Relays

The Westfield Girls 4 by 800 relay defended its Group III crown Sunday at Jadwin Gym Princeton but it was far from the easy triumph of a year ago.

The Blue Devils, who cruised by seventeen seconds last year in 9:47.20 ran three seconds slower but their 9:50.96. was enough to edge Morris Knolls, which was second in 9:54.93.

“The goal was to win it again and to finish in under 10 minutes and they
accomplished that,” said coach Jen Buccino.

Westfield’s winning quartet featured three holdovers from a year ago with Senior Annie Onishi again getting them off to a solid lead with a 2:24.9 split. Another returnee, Junior Meg Driscoll followed in 2:32.3 and handed the baton to Junior Miriam Becker-Cohen, the only newcomer who ran 2:31.2 giving anchor Emily MacNeil a solid lead which she maintained through the finish line with a 2:22.4 clocking.

”Each of the girls did her job, “ said Buccino.
“We nearly replicated last year's splits despite the meet
coming earlier in the season.”

The big question mark coming into the meet was the fitness of Driscoll who had missed much of the cross-country season with a stress fracture.

“Meg is not 100% yet but she is getting stronger every day since she was in good shape in the fall. Her performance was very impressive yesterday when you consider she that she missed all of November for training, has been doing modified workouts, and working with the B group during track sessions ,” said Buccino.

The triumph helped the Blue Devil Girls to a fifth place finish in the team standings, well behind powerful Willingboro which tallied 46.

MacNeil,Becker-Cohen, and Onishi combined sophomore Gillian Kape to finish fourth in the 4 by 400 relay to provide Westfield’s other points.

The Westfield Boys concluded a busy week with a fourth place finish in the Group 3 Boys Meet. Earlier in the week the Blue Devils had swept the three distance relays en route to a fourth place finish at the Union County Relays.

Junior All State Cross Country runner Jeffrey Perrella, junior Kris Kagan and senior Rob Broadbent each ran on two winning teams at the county meet and combined with senior Scott Steinberg to finish third in the Group III distance medley in 10:56. Broadbent anchored the sprint medley to a third place finish. The first three runners were junior Tyler Maccubbin and seniors Jake Brandman and Sam Kim.

The top finish at the state meet for Westfield was the pole vault where the team of seniors Mike Woods and Mike Gorski finished second with a combined 23 feet 6 inches.

The Scotch Plains boys won both field events at the Union County meet to nearly win the team title. Multi talented Sean Smith and Iceberg Bryant won the high jump, while Ted Acosta, Mike Alleman and John Badala edged Elizabeth in the shot put as the Raiders scored 34 points Another strong Scotch Plains team is their shuttle hurdles quartet of Smith, Bryant, Nehemiah Burney-Porter and James Alfano which was second at the county meet and third in the state competition.