Falcons' Weekly Spring Sports Wrap-Up

This week was a good week for Monmouth Regional sports. The girls’ lacrosse team, the boys’ and girls’ track teams, and the baseball team all accomplished goals this week.

Lacrosse Team Goes to 8-1

The lacrosse team won two games this week, improving their record to 8-1. This team is in line to win the Public School Championship of the B North division, only having to win two games against divisional opponents Ocean and Neptune. Beating these two teams will make the Falcons the only undefeated team against public schools within their division.

Their first game was against Long Branch on April 26. The Falcons won the game 18-8 behind senior captain Tara Patti. Their next game, the key game against rival Ocean Township, was rained out on Thursday and it will now be played in the first week of May.

On Saturday, the girls went up against Pinelands. With the offense led by Patti, and the defense led by captain Haley Bowen, the Falcons pulled off the win. With Tara’s nine goals on Saturday, her career total of goals increased to 195, surpassing the previous record of 194. This awesome accomplishment follows her 100-goal season from last year, and Tara will definitely score more goals as the Falcons still push to win more games and go far in the end-of-the-season tournaments. Tara has decided to attend Rutgers University, and she has told me that she plans to walk-on to the lacrosse team there.

Freshman Jenna Eustace scored five goals, junior Courtney Washeleski scored two goals, and junior Lauren Gould scored a goal to help the Falcons win by a score of 17-8. Courtney and Tara also had two assists each, to go along with assists by sophomore Mackenzie Kapuscienski and junior Laura Vaccarro.

The Falcons still have a lot of work to do, especially this week with four games to be played, including a state game, as well as that game against Ocean Township. Congratulations to Tara and the rest of the team, a team that looks to be very dangerous with one of the Shore Conference’s best records at 8-1.

Baseball on a Roll

After a loss to rival Ocean Township on April 26, the baseball team won games against Manasquan and St. John Vianney. The game on April 27 started off with back-to-back homers by senior Bill VanMeerbeke and junior Luke Cahill in the first inning against Manasquan. Senior Danny Carroll also hit a homerun, and behind Luke’s pitching, the Falcons won the game 6-3.

As the number-11 seed in the Monmouth County Tournament, nothing much was expected of the Falcons against St. John Vianney. They had to prove to the rest of the county that Monmouth was in the tournament to win it. Behind a complete game pitched by Bill VanMeerbeke, and huge at-bats for Luke Cahill and senior Chris Lastella, the Falcons pulled off their first upset of the tournament with a 6-2 victory.

With his first at-bat with two outs in the second inning, Chris Lastella delivered with a two-run double to bring in senior Tom DenBleyker and sophomore Richie Burner. In the third inning, with doubles by Bill VanMeerBeke and Danny Carroll, and a huge two-run home run by Luke Cahill, the Falcons went up 5-0 on St. John Vianney. Bill pitched the whole game, only allowing six hits, as the team won 6-2. The Falcons face number-3 seed St. Rose next on their run to the Monmouth County championship.

Softball Looking to Make Comeback

The Softball team won 8-0 against Manasquan on Wednesday behind sophomore Sam Smith. Sophomore Colleen Phelan hit a Home Run, and Junior Karli Garabaldi hit an inside the park home run in the victory. Unfortunately the girls lost to Red Bank Regional in the Monmouth County Tournament on Saturday, but they look to fire back and win some games as the season comes to an end.

Falcons’ Track: Girls Beat Out Freehold and RBC at Tri-Meet

The boys and girls track teams had a tri-meet against Freehold Boro and Red Bank Catholic on Wednesday. The boys went 1-1 and the girls went 2-0 against these division opponents. At the boys meet, sophomore Bobby O’Brien won first place in the pole vault competition. The 4x400 team of Senior Sam Murray, Juniors Kerry Rugenstein and Jonathan Brand, and sophomore Eric Halvorsen won first place behind an exciting final lap by the anchor Kerry Rugenstein.

The throwing team had a huge day behind performances by Seniors Brandon Wall and AJ Visconti, and juniors Max Neis and Anthony Baklouk. AJ, Max, and Anthony swept the shot put, winning first, second and third places respectively. These three also swept the discus event, with Max winning first, AJ winning second, and Anthony winning third. In the javelin throw, AJ won second place, and Brandon won third. AJ threw personal records in all three events, and Max threw one in the shot put event.

The Falcons beat Red Bank Catholic by about a 30-point margin, only losing to Freehold Boro by seven points. The girls’ team beat both Freehold and Red Bank Catholic by significant differences. Freshman Chloe Yelle won first place in both the shot put and discus events. Junior Tyler Buck won first place in the javelin throw as well. Senior Stephanie Skove tied Monmouth’s record for the high jump with her performance on Wednesday, and she also participated in the Penn Relays this week in the pole vault event.

On Saturday, the Falcons competed in the Lions Invitational at Middletown North High School. Senior Brandan Ford won the Bronze Medal for his time in the 400-meter race, finishing just three spots in front of sixth-place runner Kerry Rugenstein. Kerry also led his 4x400 team of Brandan, Jonathan, and Eric to a fourth-place finish. Freshman Michael Whalen, who won second place at the tri-meet on Wednesday with his personal record of a 4:53 mile, won fourth place at the Lions meet Saturday. Junior Max Neis threw 39 feet in the shot put event, and 117 feet in the discus event, throwing two personal records on the day.

This week the Falcons face Neptune High School at home on Tuesday, and athletes that have qualified will also compete in the Monmouth County Championships on Thursday at Neptune High School.