By Wayne Witkowski
Jackson Liberty High School’s boys track and field team hopes to have versatile senior Alonzo Aponte back from a hamstring injury for the Penn Relays April 29 as the prelude to the weekend showcase meets that follow.
Aponte would run the 4×400-meter relay with sophomore Dan Duffy, junior Ryan Downer and sophomore Matt Campbell. That relay collected a fourth-place finish in 3:57.93 in the Moorestown Invitational April 24.
Aponte also would run at Penn Relays on the 4×100 relay in which coach Todd Engle still is deciding on a fourth runner to go with sophomore Tom Mata and junior Jared Egerton.
Campbell has run well so far,winning the 400 hurdles in 58.92 and running on two winning relays for Jackson Liberty at the Moorestown Invitational, where the Lions finished in fourth place in the team standings. He also won a 2,000-meter steeplechase showcase in his division recently at The College of New Jersey.
At the Moorestown meet, Campbell ran the third leg of the winning 4×200 relay that was timed in 1:33.60, just 1.5 off the school record. Mata, Downer and Chris Ditta, a freshman, ran the other legs, in order.
Campbell and Egerton were on the winning shuttle hurdles relay that clocked 1:14.25. Duffy won the 5,000 meters in 16:37.29 and ran a fine 2:05 split in the 800-meter segment of the sprint medley that was third in 3:46.49. Downer ran 53.00 in the 400 meters, while Mata and Ditta ran the 200-meter segments.
The 4×100 relay was third at Moorestown in 46.35, and the distance medley was fifth in 14:04.62. Mata was fifth in the long jump, where he reached 18-8.
Jackson Liberty also has a 2-3 record in dual meets.
“We’re doing pretty well despite that,” Engle said.
Downer also was injured but has been working his way back into form.
Engle said he also has seen solid efforts in the throwing events from seniors Alan Skolkin and Miguel Santana and sophomore Andrew McCarthy. Skolkin has been hitting 45 feet in the shot put and 120 feet in the discus and has thrown over 100 feet in the javelin. Santana has emphasized the javelin, where he has thrown in the 120- to 125-foot range and has reached 115 feet in the discus. Engle said McCarthy is one of the best sophomores in the state in the discus, where he has reached 133 feet. He threw 125-0 at Moorestown, finishing fourth.
The Lions head into the heart of the outdoor track and field season starting the first weekend of May with the Ocean County Relays, followed from there by the Ocean County Championships, the Shore Conference Championships and then the state sectional and group meets.
That means everyone will need to further cut their times and raise their efforts, including seniors Niles Jackson, who has shown leadership while competing in the jumps, and sprinter Rich Montelbano.
At the Penn Relays, Jackson Memorial High School’s boys team will enter its well-regarded 4×400 team of Mike Kaba, Tyler Towns, Ryan Rafferty and Brendan Sweet and it 4×100 relay of Vin Lee, Mike Schoener, James Cook and another runner to be decided this week.
Rafferty, who is pointing toward defending his Ocean County championships beginning next weekend with the Ocean County Relays, said he is concentrating on the 3,200 meters as he wraps up his high school career before heading to Monmouth University.
“It’s staying in New Jersey, and I really related to the coaching staff,” Rafferty, an NJSIAA Meet of Champions distance events qualifier, said of his college decision.
