Boys Track Team Looks to Build on Recent Success

The Cranford boys' track and field team is looking to take the next step after a successful fall cross-country season in which they captured the North Jersey, Group 2, sectional title. With that kind of success under their belts and a large pool of athletes to choose from, their spring season looks bright.

"I think the boys are looking to build on some of the success that they had earlier in the year," said head coach John Schiano. "We've got a young squad with a solid veteran group to help these younger kids, show them the work ethic so they can have success. We had a very strong outing in the cross-country season. That was their first real taste of team success since they've been here, and we look for that distance core to really build around them."

The boys also gained a great deal of confidence from their solid winter season.

"In the winter, we had a record number of boys move on to the group meet," Schiano said. "We had the boys 4 x 4 team plus a few individuals and that's really, in the time that we've been here the last few years, the largest number of individuals that have moved on to the group meet."

One athlete to look for this spring has been a bright spot for his team, thanks to his all-around prowess.

"Probably our most versatile athlete is Jeff Sun," Schiano said. "He's a senior. He does a lot of the distance and a lot of the field events so he's a middle distance specialty guy for us. Plus he also does some of the things like pole vault, long jump and triple jump. He scores a lot of points for us and we kind of build around him."

Several other seniors will take center stage, including Tyler Ainge and  James Sowa on the 4 x 4 team.  They also work the sprints and do many of the field events.

"The spring season is going good," said Sowa. "We've had some good weather, so we're able to pole vault a little bit more, take the pits out and get a little more practice in."

"Training is going well," said Chris Witwick, who ran the 400 in the 4 x 4. "We're doing workouts and taking it slow right now, but as the season goes on, we'll start to get into the harder workouts.

Witwick also participates in the 200-meter, the 400 hurdles and is now starting to pick up the javelin.

"We pretty much just want to make a name for ourselves," Witwick said. "Over the past couple of years we havn't been doing well. We just have to work hard and just practice hard during practice and it will show during the meets."

And then there's Errol Petgrave, who became a fan-favorite during the wrestling season. The senior is ready to throw the shotput and the discus.

"I'm just looking to throw far, real far," said Petgrave. "I stay in the weight room, work on the technique, get the hips right, and get the form perfect."

Petgrave was a part of the track and field program in middle school, but dropped the sport in freshman and sophomore years before starting back again last year.

"I want to throw farther than 50's for shotput" Petgrave said. "I gained fame in wrestling and I want to get known in this again. I just hope we do well this year."

Schiano will be counting on what he considers the strength of his squad to carry them through the spring.

"The distance core is our strongest area, middle distance," said Schiano. "We've got Billy Haussner, George El-Khoury, Mike Cassidy, a lot of the guys from cross-country who are really going to help us out and score a lot of points for us."

And that's why last fall was so important, because it gives Schiano a chance to look back and point to what happened back then and use it as a springboard for success, as he continues to build the boys' side step by step.

"That's really helped the kids see that, hey, the boys for once, we can achieve some team success," said Schiano. "The boys have been used to looking at the girls and all the titles that they've won, county titles, sectional titles. So I really think that helped the boys in the fall and the winter, seeing that they too, could achieve team success. The other kids have seen that and they really look to build on that and they now expect to be successful. They know that showing up just isn't good enough anymore. They want to compete and be successful."

"We want to make a name for ourselves in the meets and be able to be competitive in sectionals and everything and move on as far as we can," said Sowa.

And with success, comes loftier goals. Just ask the coach.

"We would like to place top-three in the conference meet and place as high as we can in the county meet and the sectional meet and advance as many kids as we can."