On April 5th, the first meet of the Bernards High Spring Track season had officially began for both the girls and boys team. The season opener was against Gill St. Bernard’s School and both teams won.
Runner Stuart Gruters says. “The first match of the season went surprisingly well.We won 104-29 over Gill St. Bernards. We saw some great performances from the distance team, as well as the sprint team. The freshman team looked great. We saw some great debuts from the girls’ sprints and distance. The boys team did what they do best and went for it, shutting out nearly every race, and getting points wherever they could.”
For the boys, Dan Mayer did his 100 sprint in 11.8, Sean Sullivan did the 200 in 24.4, and Stu Gruters did the 400 sprint in 53.5 seconds. Richard Gruters did the 1600 in 4:46 and also the 3200 in 11:02. Connor Tamke did the high jump 5-6 and Nick Re did measured in the pole vault 9-6. The girls team also won this meet 94-44. Kate DeMarco did the 400 sprint in 1:09.5, Charlotte Principal did the 100 hurdles in 18.5 and Francesca Porambo measured in the pole vault 10-0. The team’s second match was anticipated to take place on April 9th but was postponed until April 21st.
The team’s next match occurred on April 13th with North Plainfield and Mount St. Mary’s. The girls team lost to North Plainfield 60-80 but tied 70-70 with Mount St. Mary’s. Boys track beat North Plainfield 80 to 60.
Skyland conference Relays took place on April 16th at Ridge High School. The boys team placed six out of the seventeen teams that competed that day. The girls team placed fourteenth out of the seventeen teams that competed in the division. Porambo placed second and
Emily Och placed eleventh during the pole vaulting event. For the boys, Daniel Mayer placed sixth and Luke Mase placed fifteenth during the long jump. Mase also placed ninth and Thomas Reilly placed thirteenth during the triple jump. There was also many other Bernards students who placed in the events that they competed in.
The teams have a meet on April 19th which will be a tri with Manville High School and South Hunterdon High School. As for the rest of the upcoming season, Stuart Gruters thinks “As I have more contact with the boy’s team, and especially the distance team, I can say with great confidence that the team looks strong.
“My brother, Richard, who is committed to TCNJ, and was recruited for their track team, so naturally we all look forward to him running some blazing times. Not to mention our new coach is training the 4×800 relay team to go back to nationals after a highly successful debut in winter track.”
