June 16, 2021

After Good Run in CVC, Sectional, and Group Meets, PHS Track Relishing Last Chance to Show its Stuff

ON THE RISE: Princeton High girls’ track pole vaulter Peyton Reynolds clears the bar in a recent competition. Junior Reynolds placed first in pole vault at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) Championships in late May with a leap of 8’0 as PHS won the girls’ team title at the meet which concluded on June 1. The Tiger girls went on to place ninth at the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet in early June. Last weekend, PHS competed in the state Group 4 meet with Kendall Williamson taking eighth in the 100 meters and advancing to the upcoming Meet of Champions on time. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

Kendall Williamson was the lone Princeton High track and field athlete to advance to the upcoming Meet of Champions, but she won’t be the only Tiger athlete competing this week.

PHS already had scheduled a Last Chance track meet at home for this past Tuesday and the response to it was significant from the outside and from within their roster. More than 15 teams sent athletes, and Princeton was welcoming most of its team for one last event to cap the year on a high note together.

“If we had another meet, I think a lot of them would join,” said PHS head coach Ben Samara. “It’s not just about training and competing. The camaraderie and friendships that they’ve developed on the team, they don’t want to leave that. It really becomes something special throughout the course of a season.”

While in some situations or years, athletes are looking to wrap up and head into their summer vacation, most of Princeton’s team was looking for more time together on the track. Their commitment has impressed the coaches all season, and seeking one more meet only confirmed their dedication. It has PHS considering hosting the same Last Chance meet next year, but pushing it closer to the Meet of Champions date of June 19 so it aligns with athletes’ training cycles.

“Our entire crew is going to run on Tuesday save for a couple of the kids that ran at groups over the weekend,” said Samara, whose program also hosted an invitational meet last week.

“Obviously Kendall won’t run. We had 30 athletes set PRs [personal records] last Tuesday. With that many kids PRing, it’s showing that all their hard work is paying off. We’re going to enter as many kids as we can this Tuesday and we’re hoping for a huge batch of PRs to end the season. A lot of our kids that didn’t get a chance to compete at our conference meet and sectionals worked for about a month from the middle of May until the middle of June now, just for the chance to PR. And so many of them did. We’re so happy that so many of them stuck with it and continued to work, and so we’re excited to give them another opportunity.”

Junior star sprinter Williamson will represent PHS at the Meet of Champions being held at South Plainfield after advancing out of the Group 4 state meet. The Group 4 meet and Group 2 meet were hosted by Franklin High over last Friday and Saturday with rainy conditions. Williamson ran 12.64 seconds to take eighth place in the girls’ 100-meter finals. She ran 12.67 in the preliminaries. Williamson ran 25.76 seconds for 11th in the 200 meters, just hundredths of a second off her personal best. The top three finishers in each group
advanced automatically plus the next six best times between Groups 2 and 4.

“Group 4 is the toughest group in the state,” said Samara. “We knew with the way the advancement rules are that those Group 4 athletes were going to be at a disadvantage in terms of qualifying spots. Our kids fought really hard. Kendall did a fantastic job in some not-so-great conditions, running a pretty good time in the 100 to make the final and secure her spot. We were really proud of her. I think she really benefited from running in the conditions we saw at the CVC championship because if you can run through that, you can run through anything. We had some really good performances that just missed qualifying but were really solid nonetheless.”

Ada Metaxas was the next highest individual finisher at groups for PHS as the junior jumped 15’ 10¼ to take 14th place in the girls’ long jump.

“I think she’s had some really big meets in a row, doing three or four events, and I think she was a little tired coming out,” said Samara. “I told her after she jumped that she has nothing to be ashamed of. The things she was able to do for our team this year, the events that she put herself in without a lot of experience, that she was able to score in, she’s become such a leader on this team and she’s built herself into an incredible athlete. She will be a force next year.”

Robin Roth ran 11:39.97 to take 17th in the girls’ 3,200 meters. The sophomore ran faster than she had at the CVC Championships and the Central Jersey Group 4 sectionals the previous two meets.

“Robin also is a kid who, over the last couple of weeks, has gone to the well in multiple events,” said Samara.

“She’s been working really hard to stay on track through all of the things that we’ve been doing. coach [Jim] Smirk talked a little bit about the tactical things she did in the race over the weekend, and she made a lot of really good tactical decisions in that race. She’s somebody who we forget is only a sophomore and in her first outdoor track season because of the pandemic. She’s got so much room to still grow. It’s going to be amazing to see what she does over the next two years.”

The girls’ 4×400 relay of Williamson, Megan Rougas, Alysse Kiesewetter, and Catherine Howard placed 16th in 4:11.09. Howard is a senior, but Williamson and Rougas are juniors who could return, along with Kiesewetter, a freshman who got invaluable experience by making it to groups in her first year of high school.

“Last week, we got to sectionals and she kind of had a little ‘deer in headlights’ thing, and learned some lessons from that,” said Samara.

“She got to come and run at groups and she’s somebody that will be a real star on our team. Being able as a freshman to have that sectionals experience and that groups experience will really benefit her in the years to come. I think there are a lot of athletes that were in a similar position.”

For the PHS boys, the 4×800 relay of Collin McCafferty, Addison Motto, John Zammit, and Andrew Kenny ran 8:13.21 to take ninth place. The top two relays advanced automatically plus the next six best times at the site.

“The boys 4×8 was tremendous,” said Samara. “They ran a really solid time and ended up being one of the first wild cards out. They really brought it. They got put in the unseeded heat and they won it and they put themselves in a really good position. Even though they ended up missing (Meet of Champions), they have nothing to hang their heads about. They ran fantastic all season and they really should be representing themselves at the Meet of Champions, but that’s just the way things happen in New Jersey. They should be incredibly proud of themselves for how they competed.”

The Last Chance meet and the Meet of Champions appearance by Williamson, her first, will wrap up quite a spring season for the Little Tigers after a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PHS girls won the CVC Championship and the boys’ 4×800 was the highlight for a young group.

“Over the course of the season, coach Smirk and I have been so impressed with the resiliency of this team,” said Samara.

“Just the way that from the time COVID started through the winter when we had a beautiful January that we weren’t allowed to work together, and then a February that was covered in snow, and that abbreviated winter season all the way through that spring, through injuries, and weather, this team has just been so incredibly dedicated and resilient. It’s not something every team can say. This group of kids at this school, it’s a special group of kids.”

The PHS squad began the year like everyone – unsure exactly how it would unfold, how meets might look, and how many opportunities that would have. They have made the most of each, and the Tiger track and field team can credit the leadership of its senior core that stuck through every up and down.

“We have 15 great seniors on our team who have weathered so much adversity, not just through the pandemic, but through this season,” said Samara.

“Kids like Khalil Benjamin, who was jumping 21 feet before he had a hamstring injury. He never quit and just kept working and working and ended up winning a javelin title instead, which is such an incredible accomplishment. Then you have Dan DiLella, who’s one of our captains, who has been working through a really serious back injury and never once showed his teammates anything other than resolve and drive and determination to get back on the track. Every single one of these kids has a story and every single one of these kids is so special to us and to our program. Every year we graduate these seniors and then we see them come back and continue to motivate the kids who are still there. That’s one thing that makes our program special.”