Natalie Englese continued her strong winter start with a pair of first-place efforts in the Merli Invitational held at the Bennett Center in Toms River last Wednesday.
Englese won the 55 meter dash in 7.60 sec and the 400 meter in 58.86. The 400 meter time is the top time in the state at this point in the season. Englese also split a 57.0 in the girls 4x400 relay to bring the team back to fourth place.
"I expected us to place very high if not win," said head coach Peter Kane. "This was a meet among Group 1 and Group 2 schools. We didn't have a bad meet but we didn't place as high as I would have liked."
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Other top performances came from the boys distance and mid-distance teams. Jeff Sun (2:08) finished sixth, Billy Haussner (2:11), Dan Cleary(2:17), and George El-Khoury (2:11) all ran great races for this early in the season in the 800 meter run. Roy Colicchio placed fifth and ran 10:42 in the 3200.
When you have 90 athletes on the squad, there's always a surprise or two along the way. One of them is junior Bobby Anstatt, a football player who is making his track and field debut in order to get in better shape for spring lacrosse. He took up the shotput and, as it turns out, is the best one on the team, throwing the shot 37'7.5" at this first meet.
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"That's a great first throw," said Kane. "We have a lot to work on, but to be competitive in this county he'll have to throw in the 40's, something I think he'll be doing very soon."
On the girls side, keep an eye on Rebecca Shiminov, who is making great progress after taking up hurdling this winter.
"She has had a very good start to the season," said Kane. "We didn't spend much time high jumping so far this season and she tied her personal best of 4'6" ,just missing 4'8" and is running well on the track. We like to diversify the athletes in their events and she is really showing that she can handle the tasks and really has shown such a great increase in her self confidence. I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to push herself this season and outdoors."
Another surprise performance was from freshman Erica Faraone, who finished 2:48 in the 800 meter run, the second fastest time on the team right now.
Those surprises and the steadiness of the veterans have the Cougars excited about what's in store for the next few weeks.
"Our team is coming along right now," said Kane. "Some of our strong events are not contested in the indoor counties (pole vault, triple jump, javelin) but I'm excited to again see us take a step in the right direction and perform well. I like any opportunity to get the kids high level competition and Union County is one of the strongest in the state."
The Cougars will show off their skills at the Union County Relays at the Jersey City Armory on Saturday January 9.
