Senior Patrick Cole is looking forward to the 2011 outdoor track and field season to be the biggest for Hasbrouck Heights High School.
The senior thrower who will be tossing the discus and putting the shot next school year at the University of Maryland believes the 2011 Aviators boys team could be record-breaking for the school with a state sectional and group championship.
"I think we have never been stronger before and he's (Hasbrouck Heights head track and field coach Robert Brady) has put a lot of confidence in us," said Cole.
For this season Cole helped his team win the Bergen County Division D title for the third year in a row at River Dell High School over two days, April 15 and 16.
Cole helped give the Aviators first place in the shot put and the discus relays.
The senior helped Heights dominant the shot put with his teammates sophomore Anthony Seidel and junior Chris Connors who scored first, second and third respectively in the individual race. Cole putted the shot 54-feet-7-inches for the best distance.
"It's early in the season and you can't be disappointed with it," said Cole.
His best shot put throw came at the Garfield Indoor meet of 57-feet-9-inch and his goal is 60-feet and beyond. He said that he threw the shot put 62 feet, but it hit a divider during the indoor meet. "When you hit 60 feet it is a big stepping stone and it shows that you have got a good reputation," said Cole.
In the discus Cole led the way along with teammates Seidel and sophomore A.J. Trainer to out throw Palisades Park for first. "In my teammates I have the utmost confidence in them," said Cole about his relay friends for the shot put and discus. "We're all great friends and have a close relationship."
Cole threw the discus 158-feet at the Bergen Relays and is aiming for up to 180 feet by the end of his senior year.
In addition the senior is targeted as one of the top shot putters in the state with only Morristown's Nicholas Vena, who won the state title as a junior last season, as the only athlete ahead of him.
"Patrick is dedicated to his sport and he is very hard on himself and challenges himself all the time to do better," said Hasbrouck Heights head track and field coach Robert Brady.
Last season Cole finished fourth with a throw of 56-feet-6-inches.
More disappointing was that he missed making the State Meet of Champions and is looking to get to the SMOC in both the shot put and the discus.
"This year I plan on going as far as I can and I plan on crushing the discus," said Cole who fouled three times in the state tournament last season. "This season I don't want to waste anything."
For him he said that in the throws that the big key is 'concentration.'