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.