Final Recap

**First half of the post courtesy of Josh**

Hello, hello, people! We’ve got another exciting post just for your reading pleasure (no pictures of Robby Cooper this time).

On Tuesday April 12th, the team went to Washington Township for the dual meet. Unfortunately, East lost the meet, but it’s ok because no one has really seen what we can do. Anyway, Steve Omari ran ~9:57 in the deuce for second. Marcus won the 800. I would try to give you better descriptions but I was told not to compete in this meet and wasn’t present.

That Saturday at Woodbury, The DMR took a solid 4th in their division with a solid anchor leg from Steve Omari, in 11:19. The 4x800 team, consisting of Mike Wang (2:07 high), substitute Josh Elkan (2:07 high, but not quite as high as Wang), Chris Arnold, and Andrew Cheeseberger also placed 4th in 8:41.

The next week, East had a dual meet during spring break against Eastern. Talk about a fun one! The 1600 had much critical acclaim, with Steve Omari running a 4:32 for first, and Scott Zhao making his triumphant return. Additionally, Russell Beatty kicked down Josh Elkan for two times nobody wants to hear. In the 3200, Steve came back to win in 10:17, with Ricky Zhao and Damon Glatz right behind for the sweep.
East won the thriller in overtime.

Saturday the 23, East had the ole Highland Frosh/Soph. Unfortunately, meet directors took the times and put them right where I put my uniform top at SJ Open, and so they live now only in our memories. However, I know Chris Arnold ran either a 4:57, 5:00, or 5:06, and that Mike Wang ran real fast. Mike Minion also broke 5 at this meet I believe, a wonderful accomplishment for a tenacious sophomore.

Monday, April 25, East hosted Cherokee, and it went right down to the nitty gritty. Steve Omari shocked the world with a 4:32 to win the 16, one could plainly see that this meet was not progressing the way Cal wanted it to (“We haven’t won a damn event on the track yet!”) Again, Steve Omari doubled and took 2nd in the deuce.
Unfortunately, our pole vault pit was not adequate for performance, and so we had to forfeit the nine points to Cherokee, which gave them the W (and I don’t mean the Walder). It’s ok though, we were missing like 8 of our guys.

That weekend was the Penn Relays. The 4x400 of Mike Oliver, Bradley, Marcus, and Reber won their section to repeat as champions.

Monday, May 3rd, East hosted Lenape in the last dual of the season. Steve Omari took 2nd in the 1600. DJ Rodriquez was 3rd in the deuce, negative splitting a 10:13Josh Elkan came through big in the JV 4x400, finally accomplishing his high school long goal of breaking 60, with a stunning 56.9. The crowd was unbelievable, the stage was set, and he just went for it. He looked like a damn champ, doing it too. As Dave Riches would say, at that moment, he was “the man.”

That weekend, East competed at the SJ Open. Josh Elkan and Hot Like Mexico both ran 4:44 in the 1600. Ben Dillon ran a 4:49, an incredible time for a freshman. Jared The Chef ran a 4:52, also very impressive. Scott Zhao ran 10:09 in trainers. Honestly, he kicks ass, and takes names.

Next up was Countys. Steve Omari had a nice performance, running a 4:35.61 in the mile. Elkan came through around 4:45. Next up was the deuce. DJ Rodriguez had a break-out race for the season, running an impressive 10:01. DJ closed in a 70 that night, what a kick! Scott Zhao also competed in the 3200, and he ran 10:18.

After County’s, Maniscalco surprised us all with an impromptu time-trial. Surprisingly, many people had some impressive times. To begin with, after setting the world record for the 200, Mike Wang closed in a 4:42. Ben Helfand ran 4:46, as did Ben Dillon who was close behind. As Maniscalco says, “Russell struggles at getting under 5”. Well somehow he ran 4:47. I believe Mike Minion was well under 5 that day as well. Most importantly, Walder blazed a trail with a stunning 5:04.

Alright, so after the time-trial, the freshman went to the Indian Frosh Finale, where the infamous urinal incident happened. Unfortunately, NJ Runners did not post the times. I know Joey, Ben Dillon, and Jared all had decent races though.

Finally, Distance Night came around the corner. First up was the 800. Andrew Berger, dressed in all black, had a nice race with a time of 2:07. Then, my boy Aaron Zucker came through at 2:30, also having a good race. Alex Dzurbiy decided to race as well, awesome. He was around 2:36. Next up was the 1600. Josh Elkan had a great first 3 laps, but ran into some trouble on the last one. He ran 4:47. Mike Wang had a nice performance, running 4:44. Tyler Russ also had a great race, running a PR of 4:50. The most notable performance was definitely Mike Anderson’s 5:25, a huge PR. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do in cross country. Walder ran 5:05, and then decided to run another 1600 back at East. That one was like a 5:40. Put em together and you have a half decent 3200! Speaking of the 32, Russell and Ricky decided to go at it one more time. After going out in around 5:03, the battle was on. Russell closed in on Ricky in the end, but didn’t quite catch him. Russ ran 10:21, Ricky ran 10:20. Overall, it was a good night for the East Distance Team.

The final race of the year for the East distance team was sectionals. In the 1600, Steve Omari came just shy of advancing to States, running a PR of 4:31 for 7th place. Jared had a nice race, coming in at 4:52. In the 3200, DJ Rodriguez once again had a phenomenal race. DJ broke 10:00, running a 9:57. He was also one spot away from advancing to states. Scotty ran a 10:17, and Ben Dillon had a nice PR of 10:31.

Overall it was a nice season. Everyone needs to keep in mind what Coach talked about in the meeting. This is a big year boys.

Keep on running.