Biggest hurdle Mustangs may face are timing issues at meets, with the SAT
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD – The Mainland Regional girls track team is undefeated so far this season. The team’s biggest hurdles this season aren’t the competition as much as factors out of their control.
Coach Mike Colombo’s team is 8-0 through last week’s meets against Pleasantville and Holy Spirit. They Mustangs won 117-23 against the Greyhounds and 122-17 against the Spartans.
Even though the Mustangs have down from their usual roster of 90 athletes, 2021’s 62-member team is deep enough across the board to be able to defeat those teams depleted because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the other well-stocked teams.
The two toughest meets of the year – against Egg Harbor Township and Ocean City – came early in the season. Mainland beat Egg Harbor Township 81-59 the first week of the season and soon afterwards topped Ocean City 91-49.
“We are one of if not the top team in the Cape-Atlantic League,” Colombo said Friday.
The Mustangs are on course to end the season undefeated in dual meets heading into next week’s Atlantic County meet. What is hurting his team is the fact there won’t be a CAL meet, which usually follows the week after counties. Instead, the team will go right from the county meet into sectionals.
“Not having the CALs really hurts the kids,” Colombo explained. “It is one less opportunity to run fully automatic time. That’s what they’re recruited on, the fully automatic times, not so much the dual meet times.” The automatic timing – rather than having the race officials standing at the finish with stopwatches – are posted to MileSplit, a website that tracks and posts times of athletes across the state and across the nation.
At the CAL meet, Colombo said his athletes can choose to run a single event or perhaps two events so they can go for a personal record (PR) and use that time to be ranked on MileSplit. Instead, they will be timed at the county meet, but they could be running in multiple events.
“In counties, we’re going to run to win the meet so they may double up and triple up in events. They’re not going to PR (personal record) because they’re going to be tired. But in CALs they can pick two events or one event” to go for a personal record time, he said.
Because of having fewer chances to get their best times on automatic timing, Colombo is “a little worried” about sectionals, wondering where the girls will be seeded. “Sectionals only take fully automatic times. Some of my distance kids will run a lot (of events) at counties and they’ll do well, but they won’t be seeded high. Hopefully enough to get into the fast heat. And then they have to do their job when they get into a fast heat.”
He said those cross-country girls “just loves to battle and to compete. If they get into the fast heat I’m not worried about them.”
Those distance runners include Lily Malone and sister Chloe Malone, who run the 1600 and 800, respectively, along with Claudia Booth, Savannah Hodgens and Gillian Lovett who run the 3200.
“We have the cross country girls and basically the whole basketball team out,” the coach said. “They’re just competitors. Even the girls who are true track kids they’re with me in the winter (for winter track). They’re really nice young ladies who work hard in practice and when it’s time to compete – even against (depleted teams) – they’re still battling against the clock or themselves. I don’t have to say anything to motivate them. They’re already motivated and ready to go.”
The basketball players include Camryn Dirkes, Kaitlyn Boggs, Cadence Fitzgerald and Kasey Bretones. Those athletes are competing in the jumps and the field events and the sprints. Emma Crozier-Carole is undefeated this season in the high jump. The long-jumpers haven’t lost to any other team’s athletes, but compete each other for the top spot at a given meet, Colombo said.
Crozier-Carole just set a school record in the long jump against Holy Spirit, leaping 17’7”.
Ki’Yanah Sims-Hackney runs the 100 hurdles; she will be headed to Holy Family next year to run track.
The team’s big strength is as a collective. Although EHT was able to win events in the 100, 200 and 400, the Mustangs’ sweeps in the distance events evened things out, he said.
Another issue facing the team at sectionals is the timing of the meet.
“They scheduled sectionals on the same day as SATs and I have 26 juniors on our roster so we won’t be at full strength at sectionals,” Colombo said. “It stinks for the juniors because you should be in your best shape for sectionals, but you also should be in your best academic shape. It’s a tough situation for them.”
The team wraps up its regular season this week against Middle Township.
Mainland Regional 117
Pleasantville 23
100 meters—Makayla Surles P 12.3;
200—Surles P 27.0;
400—Mya Harper P 60.0;
800—Chloe Malone M 2:37.8;
1,600—Lily Malone M 5:55.2;
3,200—Claudia Booth M 12:06.2;
100 hurdles—Ki’Yanah Sims-Hackney M 16.6;
400 hurdles—Isabelle Vandenberg M 72.6;
4×400 relay— P 4:22.4;
High jump—Emma Crozier-Carole M 4’-8”;
Long jump—Paige Bonczek M 15’10”;
Triple jump—Camryn Dirkes M 33’3.75”;
Shot put—Kaitlyn Boggs M 30’9.5”;
Javelin—Dirkes M 107’-2”;
Discus—Cadence Fitzgerald M 94’-1”;
Pole vault—Eva Morrison M 10’-0”
