OCEAN CITY – The Red Raider boys track team is aiming high this season. So far it has a 4-1 record that features a close loss to Egg Harbor Township.
“We have big ambitions. We lost a couple of athletes to injury and one transferred to a different high school and it all kind of happened at the beginning of the season,” head coach Matt Purdue said. “We said we need some younger athletes to step up and fill some big shoes and I think the team has done a nice job doing that so far.
“We’re making progress and continuing to grow in our events. It’s been a highlight watching the team come together and perform at the last several meets,” he added.
The record is in the Cape-Atlantic League and the boys also ran at Cherokee Distance Night, the Woodbury Relays and last week two relay teams ran at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
The Raider boys track team opened the season with an 81-58 win over Mainland Regional on April 9. On April 15 at a double dual meet, the Raiders beat Oakcrest in a close contest, 76-64, but fell to Egg Harbor Township by a similar score, 74-66.
Last week the boys beat Absegami and Atlantic County Institute of Technology in another dual meet. The Raiders beat Absegami 101-49 and topped ACIT 103-33.
In many of the meets, the Raiders swept the top spots in all of the distance events – the 800, 1600 and 3200 meter races.
Senior Matt Hoffman can usually be found at the front winning the 800 and 1600 with junior Ethan Buck right behind. Buck usually is winning the 3200. The other distance runners adding points in those races are junior Kal Heyman, sophomore Erik Preisner and freshmen Michael Romano and Nick Aschmann.
Hoffman is the second highest point scorer on the Raider team this season and Buck is third.
Senior Luke Halbruner, who typically runs the 100 meters, 400 meters and competes in the long jump, has scored the most points for Ocean City so far. Junior J.P. Forster is forth on the list. He is a sprinter and jumper, doing the long jump, triple jump and high jump.
“We have a whole bunch of guys” behind them scoring points including Preisner, Anthony Gasparovic, Anthony DeRose, Heyman, Ben McGonigle, Grady Hanson, Jude Govern, Ryan Davis, Lukas Tuthill and Clifford Dirkes. They are all in double digits.
At the Penn Relays last week, Ocean City’s 4×100 team of Connor Berich, Forster, Jude Govern and Luke Halbruner ran a time of 44.50 seconds. In the 4×400, the boys finished in 3:33.64 with Hoffman, Ben McGonigle, Govern and Halbruner.
“It’s always a great meet,” Purdue said of the Penn Relays. “The competition is of course top notch. To be running at the same meet with top collegiate athletes, future Olympians and future NFL players is always exciting.”
Asked about the team’s goals this season, first is a winning record in the CAL. They had Cedar Creek Tuesday, after the Sentinel went to press, and coming up will be a couple “tough battles” with Hammonton, Millville and Vineland on the road, “so we’re focusing on that.”
Purdue said they have a few athletes who should qualify for Thursday’s South Jersey Elite Meet. He noted hosting the Cape May County meet May 16 “is always a highlight of the season because we not only get to be on our home track but get to compete with the boys and girls programs and we typically recognize some of our senior athletes on that day,” he said. The CAL meet is May 22 at Bridgeton High School, followed by the South Jersey sectional meet May 31 and June 1 at Delsea Regional High School, where the state meet will be June 7-8.
“Our ambition is always to have as many athletes as possible get through the South Jersey meet and onto the state championships,” Purdue said. He has confidence that will happen.
“We won the South Jersey Championship in cross country (in the fall) and had a good state meet and that continued through the winter track season. We had athletes go onto the state championships so they’ve had that experience of competing on the big stage. I think that will help them in the outdoor season.”
The coach said his team leaders who take on some added responsibility include Hoffman, Halbruner, Zion Hamilton and Talon Fischer.
Track and field, Purdue explained, “is a sport that you have to be patient with. You might not go out there and jump as far or as high as you think you can, and you have to put in a lot of time and effort to get to the level of achievement that will satisfy you. It could take a month, it could take a year or it could take two or three years. If you stick with it, put in the hard work and are dedicated, you’ll find that success. The older athletes help relay that message.”
Purdue makes a point of noting that although he is the one interviewed about his team, there is a staff of eight coaches, including volunteers, “who are very dedicated to the sport of track and field and we are incredibly grateful to them” including Steve Hoffman, Sean Matthews, Mark Benedetto, Anthony Johnson and Tom Tyrell.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
