Too Close [Track-Releated]
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:06 am
The Ridgewood track team before today had won 26 dual meets in a row over the span of 4 years. We did keep it going with a win, but we barely won in a down-to-the-last-event 69-62 nail biter. Never have we had such a high stakes meet be so close. Paramus Catholic became a strong team out of the blue this year. We were actually down 16 points mid-way through the meet. We mounted a charge with a win in the high hurdles, a win in the 200, and a sweep in the 800, but still trailed coming into the 4x400. The 4x400 is scored as winner takes all in the NNJIL. Win it and you get all of its 5 points. That 5 points was the meet.
In light of how important this race was, a couple friends and I rallied the team. The entire boy's section of the bleachers emptied and everyone was out on the infield to support this vital race and to keep our streak alive. We won the 4x400 by an unusually large margin. Everyone understood the critical need to win that race, even the freshmen.
And so we stand at 28 duals in a row; the senior class remains undefeated. We have one more next week. If we win that, we will be the only senior class in school history to never lose a dual meet. 4 years, 30 wins, all consecutive. I don't even think that's ever been done in the entire NNJIL!
Not only did we win today, but we ran fairly. Due to the surface being bad, we were told that we had to take our spikes out. Plenty of Paramus Catholic and St. Joes runners [the "vast majority"] kept theirs in. The officials didn't even care and did a very poor job of timing as well. Explain how three sprinters cross the line at the same time, but one gets a 23.8, one a 25 flat, and one a 26 flat. Now explain how I lost to a guy, but got a better time than he did. Exactly, you can't.
The last dual meet is against Bloomfield and Montclair. They are public schools, so perhaps they will play by the rules? The meet is at home, so at least we can wear our spikes. Wow, I just realized how interesting it is that our record-sealing victory could be at home!
In light of how important this race was, a couple friends and I rallied the team. The entire boy's section of the bleachers emptied and everyone was out on the infield to support this vital race and to keep our streak alive. We won the 4x400 by an unusually large margin. Everyone understood the critical need to win that race, even the freshmen.
And so we stand at 28 duals in a row; the senior class remains undefeated. We have one more next week. If we win that, we will be the only senior class in school history to never lose a dual meet. 4 years, 30 wins, all consecutive. I don't even think that's ever been done in the entire NNJIL!
Not only did we win today, but we ran fairly. Due to the surface being bad, we were told that we had to take our spikes out. Plenty of Paramus Catholic and St. Joes runners [the "vast majority"] kept theirs in. The officials didn't even care and did a very poor job of timing as well. Explain how three sprinters cross the line at the same time, but one gets a 23.8, one a 25 flat, and one a 26 flat. Now explain how I lost to a guy, but got a better time than he did. Exactly, you can't.
The last dual meet is against Bloomfield and Montclair. They are public schools, so perhaps they will play by the rules? The meet is at home, so at least we can wear our spikes. Wow, I just realized how interesting it is that our record-sealing victory could be at home!