Boys Track: Hopatcong Hopes to Duplicate Last Year's Perfection

While this week’s weather indicates Old Man Winter may have missed the status update, spring is in the air and that means the Hopatcong's ready to start the spring sports season. As the spring season draws near, we will take a look at each team as they gear up for their season. Today, we’ll take a look at the Chiefs' boys track team.

Overview

Hopatcong returns most of last season’s unbeaten squad and stand poised for another run at a section championship. With a lineup that is strong in all running distances as well as throwing events, if the Chiefs are able to sort out their hurdles and jumping they will be an extremely formidable opponent for anyone they face. A large influx of freshman talent will seek to help head coach Mike Juskus fill the Chiefs’ few gaps.

Last season’s results

The Chiefs went a perfect 7-0 during the season and finished with a Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division championship.

Keep your eye on

A.J. Cook, discus (Sr.) – Last year’s Section 1 Discus Champion, Cook will look to continue to maintain his status as one of the best throwers in the area.

Dylan Capwell, distance (So.) – Capwell finished as one of the top four distance runners in the state as a freshman last year. With an extra year of practice and maturity, Capwell will likely be an even more formidable runner in his sophomore outing.

Emmanuel Quqinoo, sprints (Sr.) – Quqinoo went to the Group 1 tournament last year, and aims to return with a stronger finish in his senior season.

They’ll miss

Matt Lott, hurdles and jumps – One of the few losses to graduation that the Chiefs will need to fill to continue their dominance.

Coach’s take

“I don’t think we have the depth that we had last year, but I believe we still have a chance at going undefeated. Our sprinters and middle distance runners are very strong. We have to regroup on our hurdles and jumps. We have a couple of holes we need to fill, but our squad is very strong overall.” – Juskus

They said it

“I finally listened to my coach after three years and worked out during the winter, so I’m feeling good for the start of the season.” – Cook

“We’re looking to go undefeated again. We have a lot of key seniors coming back that should contribute.” – Joe Prestifilippo

“We have a really deep team since we only lost a couple seniors from last year. Personally, I’m hoping to break the records in the 100- and 200-meter.” — Tim Sullivan

“We didn’t lose many seniors and we have a lot of good freshman coming in. So the team looks strong. As far as my personal goals, I’d like to shave five seconds off of my times.” – Capwell

“I think we definitely have the talent to go unbeaten again, and I’m hoping to break 20 feet in the long jump.” – John Ferguson

Roster

Brian Attas (Fr.)

Matt Baillod (fr.)

Brian Berry (Fr.)

Austin Brown (Jr.)

Eric Cabrera (So.)

Max Cafaro (Fr.)

Danny Cappiello (Fr.)

Calvin Cappuccio (So.)

Dylon Capwell (So.)

A.J. Cook (Sr.)

Zach Cook (Jr.)

Giancarlo Cruz (Sr.)

Eric Cucinella (Jr.)

Tom Donnally (Fr.)

Stephen Duncan (So.)

Juan Espinosa (Fr.)

Jesse Farrel (Fr.)

John Ferguson (Sr.)

Brian Fuentes (Sr.)

Alex Grabinski (So.)

Adam Kiely (Fr.)

Johann Lara (Fr.)

Alex Lekhtman (So.)

Kenny Lewis ((So.)

Alex Lieberman (So.)

Dan Lopez (So.)

Mike Martinek (Sr.)

Dan McCarthy (Fr.)

Patrick Menagh (So.)

Mark Minervini (Sr.)

Jonathen Nelson (Jr.)

Feyi Olugbenga (Jr.)

Trent Pazzano (So.)

Joe Prestifilippo (Sr.)

Emmanuel Qiqinoo (Sr.)

Napo Rivadeneyra (So.)

Stephen Rogers (Fr.)

Matt Sanders (Sr.)

Ryan Sheridan (Sr.)

Jake Smith (Sr.)

Austin Strub (Fr.)

Tim Sullivan (Sr.)

Andre Tan (So.)

Matt Vasquez (So.)

Tom Vicedomini (Sr.)