HHS Track's Guzman, Teammates Advance to CJ III Finals

Angel Guzman is having a great season for the boys track team. If he can ever find a way to get away from Hopewell's Sam Snyder, it would be even better.

Guzman placed second in both the shot put (46' 11 1/2") and discus (155' 8") while competing in the Central Jersey Group III championships, held this past weekend at Monmouth Regional. Guzman trailed just Snyder in both events. The same thing also happened in the two weeks ago.

"It was a real good weekend for him," Hightstown Coach Jim Firtek said of the championships. "He really wanted to make groups in both events. We'll see what happens next weekend."

The top six finishers in each event advance on to the Group III finals, which will be held Friday and Saturday at South Plainfield.

There, Guzman will be joined by Luke Dermody, Marcus Lawrence and the members of Hightstown's 4x400 team.

Lawrence placed fourth in the shot put with a distance of 45' 5 1/2".

"I thought he had a chance if he got over 45 feet," Firtek said. "He did that and came real close to his personal best."

Luke Dermody placed sixth in both the 1600 (4:33.62) and 3200 (10:02.43).

"We thought he had a chance for sixth in the two-mile, but the mile was a real surprise," Firtek said. "We were ecstatic he placed in both events."

The 4x400 team of Eric Anderson, Abdul Namoya, Emmanuel Marfo and Tyler Foss placed sixth with a time of 3:28.26.

"The 4x400 seems to be becoming a bit of a school tradition the past couple of years," Firtek said.

"Every year we just seem to be filling in the holes. The team was sixth in the Meet of Champions. Tyler was on that team. To have him come back to lead the team this year was a huge advantage."