Watchung Hills Track Looking for Competitive Season

OVERVIEW

The boy’s and girl’s track team kick off their seasons Saturday at the Skyland Conference Relays at Ridge High School.  With the season underway, both squads have different outlooks to their season.

The boys are poised to continue the success they had last season with a senior-heavy team.  First-year head coach Doug Kolody has full confidence that this team can build off last year’s season. 

The girls are quite the opposite of the boys as they are loaded with underclassmen ready to compete at the high school level.  The girls will be relying heavily on the leadership of their four seniors and if that happens, this young team will have the opportunity to improve with every meet.

LAST SEASON’S RESULTS

Before last year, the boys hadn’t had a team victory in two years.  Last year, they had two, and the experience gained by the returning athletes will be a key component to their success this year.  Kolody likes to gauge his team’s success with the level of improvement, and last year the improvement the team showed was something to smile about.

In the words of girl’s head coach Peter Lubrecht, “It’s difficult to measure success in track.”  Sarah Decker placed fifth in the section in the mile last year, and Amy Park placed sixth in the section in the javelin.  The girls were able to win one dual meet.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON

• CJ Defabio (Sr.)—Is one of the top distance runners in the state.  One of seven captains on the team, DeFabio is the defending county champion in the 2 miles and holds the school record in the 1600m and 3200m.

•Shaquille Henderson (Sr.)—Had the team’s fastest time in the 400 Hurdles at 58.7 last year. He can score many points for the Warriors this spring. He is versatile athlete and will compete for the Warriors in the 110 Hurdles, 400 Hurdles, long jump and high jump.

• Dan Caffrey (So.)—Dan returns as the freshman conference champion and freshman record holder in the javelin. 

• Matt Piekarski (So.)—Was the team’s fastest 800m last spring at 2:03.  He’ll look to run 2:00 this spring and will contend in the county and conference.

• Zoe Malkin (Sr.)—The senior captain will look to lead this young team and will look to compete with the county’s best in the 800m.

• Amy Park (Jr.)—Will look to build off a successful basketball season and be one of the team’s key contributors in the javelin and shot put.

• Stephanie Wong (Sr.)—Wong will be one of the team’s go to runners in both 400m intermediate hurdles and 100m high hurdles.

THEY’LL MISS

• Chris Kinney—The middle distance runner has since taken his talents to St. Joseph’s University where he will look to compete as a freshman.

• Chris Battapaglia—One of the key hurdlers for last year’s team, Battapaglia now attends Villanova.

• Jeff Wong—Had a personal best jump of 21’5” in the long jump last season.  He now plays soccer at Worcester Poly Tech in Massachusetts.

• Emily Blazak (Sr.)—The biggest loss will be an athlete who is currently enrolled in the high school.  Blazak was a key sprinter for the team, and will not participate this year due to a hamstring injury that occurred during the soccer season.

COACHES' TAKES

“We have high expectations.  We have 22 seniors on the team and we have a lot of juniors that will also be key contributors.  The upperclassmen that we have provide good leadership and we are looking to have some very good performances in a lot of events this year.”—Kolody

“We just want to improve.  We don’t really live on expectations because we’re really young.  If we show progress and we improve that would be great.  We’re just hoping to get better each day.”—Lubrecht

THEY SAID IT

“We have a pretty experienced team this year, so we’re looking to do well this year.  As captain, it’s all about helping the coaches out and making sure everything runs smoothly.  Helping these younger guys get used to high school athletics is a must.”—Defabio

“We’re looking for some really good runs this season.  We’re hoping to place at least sixth in the county and if we can work as a unit that will be a really big key for us.”—Malkin

2011 WATCHUNG HILLS TRACK ROSTER