Final championship races of the spring season are done

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 29, 2014

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014

Final championship races of the spring season are done

The final two races of the USATF Fast Five were run this past week; the Fitzgerald’s 1928 Lager 5K and the Sunset Classic 5 Mile.

The Lager run was the masters men’s championship and it showed with the up-front runners.  Atilla Sabahoglu, 36, of Piscataway won the race in 15:49 with nineteen year old Michael Horowicz of Montclair second in 16:11, and after those two the rest of the top ten were all masters.  Hector Rivera, 43, of Clifton was third in 16:22.  Elliott Frieder, 43, of Montville was the highest scoring local.  He finished sixth overall in 16:31.

Several local men finished in the top three in their age division.  Three took first; Roger Price in the M65 in 20:12, Edward Smith of Mountain Lakes in the M70 in  22:48 and George Studzinski of Kinnelon in the M80 in 34:39.  Beau Atwater of Bernardsville placed second in the M55 division in 17:56 and Kevin Higgins of Randolph took third in 18:49.  Bill Bosman of Rockaway placed second in the M60 in 19:34. 

The Morristown based Garmin Runners won the M40 team division with a combined time of               1:24:51.04 for the top five men.  

 Morris area women also did well.  Susan Bessin of Madison placed third in the W45 in 20:32.  Joyce Morgan of Boonton was second in the W50 division in 21:32 and Jane Parks of Morristown won the W60 division in 21:41.  Patricia Tummey of Randolph now in her new W85 age division finished in 56:32 for first.

Both open and masters women raced in their 5 mile championship on Thursday evening in Bloomfield at the Sunset Classic.  Sarah Pagano of Ringwood won the women’s race in 29:26.  Maria Danna of Kenvil was third in 30:11.  Catherine Smith of Wayne and Misa Tamura of Ridgewood finished seventh and eighth in a battle to be the first masters women.  Smith finished first in 32:20 with Tamura just three seconds back.

Susan Bessin of Madison won her W45 age division in 35:15 and Joyce Morgan of Boonton won her W50 division in 36:12.  Nora Cary of Morristown won the W55 division in 36:24 and Jane Parks also of Morristown won the W60 division in 36:47.

Danna led her Adidas Garden State Track Club open women’s team to first place in that division.  Bessin’s Garmin team was second open team and first in the W40 division.  Morgan’s Do Run Runners team placed second in the W40 and first in the W50 division.  Cary was also a scoring member of the Do Run team.

Races coming up

Back to back races begin tomorrow with the Battle of the Business 5K hosted by ADP and Sobel and Company at the Green in Florham Park.  The battle will draw more team runners than any other race in the area with the exception of the Verizon Wireless Classic in July.   In 2013 643 runners and walkers finished the race.  Well over 400 of those were in one of the various team divisions.  This race offers divisions for large companies and small companies of less than 250 employees as well as a team division for non-corporate males and a non-corporate coed division.  Corporations can enter three or three hundred but only the top three runners score.  Registration opens at 6:00 p.m. with the start at 7:00 p.m.  

Tuesday night is a far different race.  The Morris County Striders will be hosting the first of their cross country 5k series races at Johanson Field off Powerville Road in Boonton Township.  The series is part of the USATF cross country series as well.  In addition to the Tuesday July 1^st race, is one on July 15^th, July 29^th and the final on August 5^th.  Registration begins at 6:00 with the start at 7:00 p.m.

Of course next Friday is the Fourth of July and there are a small bunch of races for those who want to celebrate with a run.  They include the 35^th running of the Cranford Jaycees 4 mile Firecracker at 9:00 a.m.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

New Jersey athletes at the National meet in Sacramento

Here is info about athletes from the NJ/NY Track Club.  Several of the competitors came up through the NJ high schools.  Tune in tonight to watch -  all times are Pacific - three hours later then NJ time.  Madeline

 

NINETEEN ATHLETES SET TO COMPETE AT USA CHAMPS.

More Than Any Other Club

(June 26) Nineteen members of the NJ★NY Track Club are set to compete in the USA Outdoor Track & FIeld Championships starting today at Sacramento State University's Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calf. This is more than any other club competing. The championships will conclude on Sunday. A live webcast and national television coverage (see below) will offer fans the opportunity to cheer the club athletes on from home.

"I am extremely proud of the fact that we are sending nineteen athletes to Sacramento and that we "top" the list of clubs who have qualified athletes," stated team coach and founder Frank Gagliano. "A great outcome would be to get 3-4 athletes on the podium and 8-10 making it to the finals."

Competing in his first USA Championships is first year club member Ford PALMER. Palmer, a 2013 graduate of Monmouth University, has had a breakout year highlighted by his 3:38.58 at the USATF High Performance Distance Classic in May.

Action begins tonight with 1st round heats in the women's 800m (Caroline KING, Cydney ROSS, LaTavia THOMAS), men's 800m (Robby ANDREWS, Brian GAGNON, Mike RUTT, Ben SHEETZ), men's 1500m (Liam BOYLAN-PETT, Kyle MERBER, Ford PALMER), and the women's 3000m Steeplechase (Ashley HIGGINSON, Rebeka STOWE). All events will be webcast live on USATF.tv

Below is the complete entry list for the club with event dates/times.

EVENT	ATHLETE	ENTRY MARK
Thursday
Women 800m (1st round) - 4:15pm PT	LaTavia THOMAS	2:00.61
	Caroline KING	2:03.21
	Cydney ROSS	2:03.91
Men 800m (1st round) - 4:40pm PT	Michael RUTT	1:45.43
	Brian GAGNON	1:45.45
	Robby ANDREWS	1:46.28
	Ben SCHEETZ	1:47.26
Men 1500m (1st round) - 6:30pm PT	Liam BOYLAN-PETT	3:37.31
	Ford PALMER	3:38.58
	Kyle MERBER	3:40.40
Women 3000m Steeplechase (1st round) - 7:50pm PT	Ashley HIGGINOSN	9:35.72
	Rebeka STOWE	9:57.37
Friday
Men 3000m Steeplechase (1st round) - 6:22pm PT	Donn CABRAL	8:35.87
	Travis MAHONEY	8:38.67
Women 1500m(1st round) - 7:03pm PT	Heather WILSON	4:07.47
	Nicole SCHAPPERT	4:09.87
	Stephanie CHARNIGO	4:11.33
	Amanda WINSLOW	4:26.28 (mile)
Women 800m (sem-final) - 8:09pm PT	TBD
Men 800m (sem-final) - 8:26pm PT	TBD
Women 5000m (final) - 9:05pm PT	Lauren PENNEY	15:30.33
Saturday
Women 3000m Steeplechase (final) - 1:56pm PT	TBD
Men 1500m (final) - 2:14pm PT	TBD
Sunday
Women 800m (final) - 1:30pm PT	TBD
Men 800m (final) - 1:40pm PT	TBD
Men 3000m Steeplechase (final) - 1:52pm PT	TBD
Women 1500m (final) - 2:39pm PT	TBD

Broadcast and webcast information

Click here for different view

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 22, 2014

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014

 

Johnson goes under 15, wins the President’s Cup Night Race

On a perfect night for summer racing, Chris Johnson of New Providence won the President’s Cup Night Race  Monday in 14:50, Thomas Young of Fort Lee was second in 15:01 and Justin Scheid of Sparta was third in 15:08.  The race was the USATF New Jersey men’s championship. On the women’s side Maria Danna of Kenvil took over the lead from Elena Rozhko of Morristown to win her division in 17:34.  Rozhko was 20 seconds back in 17:54.

Johnson was comfortable letting his running partner Chris Croff of Summit go right to the lead.  “He likes to go out hard”, said Johnson.  “I always like to go out kind of conservatively and grow into the race and hopefully negatively split the race if I can.”

“So I knew that guys were getting out as fast as they did,” he said.  “I wanted to have a nice conservative first mile and have enough left in the tank and kind of push the next two miles.” 

Croff was in the lead going up Millburn in the first mile, with Scheid right with him.  There was a small gap and then a handful of guys with Johnson hanging in fifth place.  Coming down the hill on Essex after passing the one mile clock, not much had changed. 

With a 4:48 on the clock when he went through, Johnson said that he began to move up when reaching the end of Essex.  He used the slight downhill where Essex and Millburn merge and went into the lead on the way out to the Millburn High School turnaround.

“I caught up with the pack and once I caught up with them I kept pushing  because I knew that they had gone out in a slightly faster pace and they might be hurting a little bit more,” said Johnson.

By the time they reached the school Johnson had only Young on his heels.  He said that he put in another little move, to try to create some distance because he knew he had the hill on Millburn in the last mile.

“I like to work the uphills to my advantage and that’s what I was able to do,” he said. 

While Johnson is relatively unknown on the local scene he has solid credentials.  He was a standout at Governor Livingston High School, and raced both cross country and track while at Colgate University.

In May Johnson was the first New Jersey runner in the Newport 10,000, finishing in 31:28 and fifth overall amongst the professional runners that come to the Jersey City race.  At the Ridgewood 5K he finished in fourth with a 15:09, and earlier this month he won the elite division of the College Avenue Mile in 4:20.9.

Johnson was on the Adidas Garden State Track Club C team that placed fourth.  The club has enough members that they were able to field seven teams.  Up front they were so evenly matched that their D team was first, A team second,  B team third with Johnson’s C team fourth.  Only 26 seconds separated the first team from the fourth.  Thirty teams entered the race.

Masters Men are running tonight in Glen Ridge             

The Fitzgerald’s 1928 Lager Run, the USATF masters men’s 5K championship, is tonight in Glen Ridge.  With an early start of 6:30 p.m. this race always promises to be on the hot side.  The competition is always hot as well, with close to fifty teams expected to enter. 

Fast Five leaders have been posted

The Fast Five leaders have been posted on the Long Distance Running page of USATF NJ.  Elena Rozhko of Morristown has the distinction of leading both the open women and masters women’s division.   Still to be run is tonight’s masters race in Glen Ridge and on Thursday the open and masters women’s championship, the Sunset Classic in Bloomfield.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 15, 2014

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014

 

College Avenue Mile races were a success

Without a doubt, the College Avenue Mile races in New Brunswick this past Saturday, June 7^th was a success.  Yes, some road racers shied away, fearful that they might get hurt trying to speed through a mile, but two hundred and ninety nine raced.

Of course not all at once.  There were several divisions based on either ability or age divisions.  The fastest runner was Chris Johnson of New Providence who finished first in 4:21 in the Elite men’s mile.  To no one’s surprise, Cheyenne Ogletree of Port Reading won the Elite women’s mile in 5:02.  What may have surprised others is the third place finish of Maria Danna of Kenvil who finished in 5:10.  Danna recently won the Roxbury Community Benefit 5K.

Danna runs for the Garmin racing team along with Elena Rozhko of Morristown who won the W40 race in 5:16, and Sue Bessin of Madison who won the W45 division race in 5:48.

Although Ogletree’s Adidas Garden State Track Club team won the open division and placed three other teams before the Garmin women’s team took fifth place, the Garmin team won the W40-49 team division.  The Randolph based Do Run Runners were third, and their team won the W50 to 59 division.

Mark Williams of Columbia won the M40 division in 4:40.  Brian Crowley of Hillsborough, at age 49 was at the top of the age division yet finished third in the race in 4:47 and first in the M45 division.  Both men run on the Garmin team and along with Gary Rosenberg of Morristown, Mark Zamek of Lavallette and David Small of Hoboken nailed the M40 to 49 team division.

Zamek finished in 4:56 for second by a nose over Peter Kashulines of Mountain Lakes who is credited with the same time in the M50 division.  William Zink of Wyckoff won the division in 4:54.

Kashulines headed his Do Run team to first in the M50 -59 team division.  Other notable local performances included Mary Christian of Flanders who won the W50 division in 6:01, and 59 year old Nora Cary of Morristown who finished in 6:25 to win the W55 division.  The indomitable Jane Parks of Morristown won the W60 division in 6:50.  Roger Price of Randolph won the M65 division in 5:56 and Ed Smith of Mountain Lakes won the M70 in 6:21.

From all accounts the runners had fun.  Some had raced a mile before but most had not.  They should be able to report back to their friends that they didn’t get hurt and they enjoyed the experience. 

The most popular event may have been the relay that took place after the serious racing was done.  That could be misnaming the event.  Some teams were husband and wives or boyfriend and girlfriend. Others were people who compete on the same team and they got quite serious about racing against their near competitors.

President’s Cup Night Race tomorrow night, Lager next Sunday

President’s Cup Night Race 5K will go off at 8:00 pm tomorrow night in Millburn.  A week from today, on Sunday, June 22 will be the Fitzgerald 1928 Lager Run in Glen Ridge.  Both are part of the Fast Five series

You’ve got to be in it to win it.   After two Fast Five race, the just completed Mile and the Stomp the Monster, leaders are emerging.  Joshua Neyhart of Port Reading is in the lead with 1,394 points on the men’s side and Ogletree on the women’s side with a perfect 1,400.

What is interesting is that many in the top eight are also in the top eight masters file.  They include locals like Rosenberg who is fourth in open men, and fourth in masters men which is being scored through highest PLP percentage scores.  Rozhko is third overall woman and first master.  Bessin is in eighth place open women and fourth masters.

Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany and Joyce Morgan of Boonton are both in the seventh spot in their respective masters list.

The best four scores out of a possible five races will determine the winners.  Expect to see most masters racers bumped out of the open file after tomorrow’s President’s Cup race which is the Open men’s championship.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Track and Field meet next Saturday

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 8, 2014

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014

Track and Field meet next Saturday

Road runners can get a crack at track and field next weekend, when the USATF New Jersey open and masters championship takes place at Georgian Court in Lakewood on Saturday, June 14th.  Road runners can choose from a 10 kilometer race that is the first track event in the day’s lineup, or the 5,000 meter run that follows the 5,000 meter race walk. 

In the afternoon are the 800 meter run and a 1,500 meter run for road runners who want to try those shorter more intense distances.  Also in the afternoon are the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters.  Relays wrap up the day’s events.

More information can be found at   http://usatfnj.org/tf/index.html

Local man wins Stomp the Monster 5k, Local woman is third woman overall

At the Stomp the Monster 5K in Marlboro this past Sunday Yousseff Rochdi of Rockaway hit the finish line in 15:07 to win the race.  The race, which seeks to raise money to stomp out cancer, was the USATF championship for women.  Elena Rozhko of Morristown finished in 17:44, for third woman overall and first masters woman.

Rozhko lead her Morristown based Garmin women’s team to third place in the team competition.  The team competition was dominated by the Adidas Garden State Track Club that placed a team in first, second and fourth.

According to my unofficial score keeping of the teams, the Adidas Garden State Track Club’s A team now has a good lead over the other teams with 48 points with the Garmin team in second with 36 points and Raritan Valley in third with 26 points.

Roxbury records broken on Monday night

At the Roxbury Community Benefit 5K this past Monday 623 runners finished the race with Yousseff Rochdi of Rockaway the winner, setting a new course record of 15:19.  Rochdi was in good company with Justin Schied of Sparta second in 15:44 and Collin Frost of Randolph, the 2013 winner in third in 16:49.  Maria Dana of Kenvil was a repeat winner, finishing in 18:01 to lower her own course record of 18:13 set in 2013.

President's Cup Night Race will host Men's Championship next Monday

 

To break 15 minutes in a 5K, a runner must run at 4:49 per mile pace or faster.  For the past three years that time has not been reached in what is considered possibly the fastest 5K in the state, the President’s Cup Night Race. 

The race that is being held on Monday, June 16^th in Millburn is the USATF men’s state championship and will draw the best of the best that is currently racing in New Jersey.  Since 1999 only fourteen men have run under fifteen minutes with four men claiming that distinction twice.  Only one of those men is currently racing in New Jersey.  That man is Justin Scheid of Sparta whose fastest time of 14:42 was run in 2009.  In 2010 he won the race with a 14:50.  Scheid has been racing in 2014 but will need to knock some seconds off his mile pace to go under the magic 15 in eight days.

In 2013 the winner was Ken Goglas of Port Reading who finished nine seconds over the mark, in 15:08.  Stephen Mennitt of Edison was second in 15:12 and Scheid was back in 15:24.  Will the winner be Rochdi who won the Stomp the Monster on the 1^st in 15:07?  Are there other speedster ready to pounce? 

The President’s Cup Night Race is a great spectator course for the quick footed spectator who can dash between the two parallel roads that are the main streets of Millburn; Essex Street and Millburn Avenue.

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 President’s Cup Night Race 5K performances 

under 15 minutes since 1999 

By fastest time

1  Gene Mitchell                                  14:34   2003

2  Mark Nichol                                    14:37   2003

3  Jackson Kipng’ok                           14:38   2003

4  Chris Pannone                                 14:38   2009

5  Justin Scheid                                   14:42   2009

6  Stephen Ondieki                             14:43   2003

7  Matt Ruhl                                        14:47   2003

8  Stephen Ondieki                 1          14:49   2004

9  Justin Scheid                                   14:50   2010

10 Jeff Perrella                                    14:50   2011

11  Scott DeFilippis                            14:51   2006

12  Stephen Ondieki                           14:51   2005

13  Fouzi Aloui                                   14:53   1999

14  Gene Mitchell                               14:54   2005

15  Anthony DeBenedictis                 14:54   2004

16  Erick Too                                      14:57  2005

17 Nick Pellegrino                              14:57  2005

18 Fouzi Aloui                                    14:57   2000

19  Michael Mykytok                          14:58   2003

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