By Tim Morris
Area high school track and field athletes are playing leading rolls at this year’s Penn Relays Carnival.
The Relays, the nation’s biggest track and field event, run April 28-30 at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Freehold Township High School’s Ciara Roche is one of the featured runners in the High School Girls Mile Run, while Colts Neck High School’s Jordan Brannan and Freehold Township’s Jake Konig are two of the boys highlighted in the High School 3,000-Meter Run.
Brannan and Konig are looking forward to running at Franklin Field for the first time.
“I like seeing a crowd in a huge stadium; it gets me going,” Brannan said.
“It’s exciting to be in a place where people love track,” Konig said.
“I’ll be on the same track as great runners. The last 100 meters of my race, I’ll be running where Usain Bolt has run.”
Before the 2015-16 indoor track and field season started, lining up at the starting line at the nation’s biggest track meet in historic Franklin Field was the furthest thing from Brannan’s and Konig’s minds. That all changed when they elevated their games under cover.
Besides running the two fastest times in the state at 3,200 meters, Brannan (Group III) and Konig (Group IV) won overall state championships, with Brannan capping his season off with a victory at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC).
The reward for their great indoor seasons was earning an invitation to compete in the 122nd Penn Relays, a sure sign that they have become elite high school runners. However, both want to do more than compete.
Despite winning the state MOC crown, Brannan had to run in the second heat (non-seeded) of the 2-mile run at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. He turned in a personal best of 9:10.22 in winning the heat and finishing 13th overall. He no longer wants to be on the undercard. He wants to validate his state championship.
“I want to prove I’m not one of the guys in the second heat; I want to prove I’m one of the contenders,” Brannan said. “This is a big race for me. I’m in the big time now.”
Konig is equally excited to be considered one of the top runners in a national-caliber race. For him, the Penn Relays 3K is an opportunity to put the MOC behind him (11th place in his only loss of the indoor season). The race, he noted, is a good redemption time.
Both runners are fit for the race.
“I’ve taken my training to the next level. The intensity is very high,” Brannan said. “I’m in the best shape of my life.”
Konig is ready as well.
“My training has gone well,” he said. “My focus has been on the Penn Relays.”
Although their styles of racing are different — Brannan likes to run close to the front with the leaders and make a move in the second half of the race when he senses its time to go, while Konig relies on a withering kick over the last 400 meters — both want to be in the same place at the bell lap: at or near the front.
Konig has another reason to look forward to running at the Penn Relays. The senior is headed to the University of Connecticut in the fall and one of his teammates will be Eric van der Els from McMahon, Connecticut, who will be in the Penn Relays 3K field. He is eager to meet his future teammate for the first time.
Roche didn’t need to elevate her game during the indoor season. The Patriots senior had already established herself as one of the best with accomplishments that include state championships, All-American recognition and a national championship (with the Patriots’ indoor 4×800 relay team). She is no stranger to Penn, having run with Freehold Township’s 4×800 relay team and earning an invitation to the Girls High School Mile last spring. She finished fourth in the race, posting a time of 4:59.13. She’s back in the 1-mile field again and running faster than ever, having set Monmouth County records this winter. One of those was the 4:54.17 mile she ran at the New Balance Indoor Nationals.
Having already run faster heading into the Penn Relays this year compared to last year, the Cornell University-bound Roche is a prime contender for the mile run championships. The Penn Relays has been one her goals for her senior year.
The mile is also an opportunity for Roche to exact some pay back. Also in the field is West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South’s Christina Rancan, who out-sprinted her in a frantic race to the finish line for the indoor MOC 1,600-meter title. Rancan had a time of 4:50.85 to hold off Roche (4:51.18).
There are a number of other athletes from the area who will compete individually at the Penn Relays.
In the field, Old Bridge High School’s Brandon Davis and Dominic Walton and Christian Brothers Academy’s (CBA) Will Lutkewitte will compete in the shot put. South Brunswick High School’s Nicolas Botett is spinning the discus, and Middletown High School South’s Dan Mastropaolo is throwing the javelin.
State MOC high jump champion Courtney Campbell of South Brunswick leads the girls in the field. Indoor state champion Danielle Notarfrancesco of Jackson Liberty High School and Red Bank Catholic (RBC) High School’s Fidele Jules are throwing the shot put.
The girls teams running in the 4×800 relay are Middletown South, Metuchen High School, RBC, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School and South Brunswick.
The high school girls compete April 28, and the boys compete April 29.
Old Bridge and CBA will run for the prestigious Championship of America Boys Distance Medley Relay title.
The Knights’ team of Gerard D’Ambrosio, Kenny Brakoh, Scott Belton and Rey Rivera were sixth at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, running a school-record time of 10:13.60. Old Bridge also won the NJSIAA Group IV State Relays Distance Medley Relay championship.
CBA shoots for a fourth Championship of American Distance Medley Relay title. At the New Balance Indoor Nationals, CBA ran Sean Martinek, Mike Zupko, Colin Trigani and Drake Anzano. They took 14th (10:26.12). Like Old Bridge’s quartet, the Colts were indoor group state champions, winning in Non-Public A.
The Penn Relays feature top college athletes from all over the country and one to keep an eye out for is East Brunswick High School graduate Sam Mattis from the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, in his first competition of the outdoor season, the Quakers senior broke the American college record for the discus with a throw of 221-3.
Mattis won a pair of Penn titles while at East Brunswick and would certainly like to add a college championship to his collection. Not only is the college title within his reach this year, but so is the Penn Relays meet record of 213-4 set by Louisiana State University’s Rodney Brown last year.
The college men’s shot put is April 30.
