Megan Koster Medalist Winner in State Track Meet
• Roche, Principe, Rossi , Sooksatan Among Top 10 Performers
Feb 7, 2010 – This was, in essence, "Championship Week" for the indoor track & field team. It began with the Essex County Championships Sunday, January 31 at Seton Hall, and was quickly followed on Wednesday (February 3) by the first round of the state meet at Toms River. As has been the case this winter, Megan Koster was the lone medalist in each meet, although the team did see a number of strong performances that finished just out of the medals.
At the Essex County Championship, Megan finished fourth with a jump of 4'8". She was awarded fourth place over Kayann Richards of Columbia and Katherine Mintz of Livingston by virtue of fewer misses during the course of the competition.
Other top ten performances at the Essex County Meet were seniors Pat Roche (3200m) and Dana Principe (1600m), junior Lianne Rossi (3200), and freshman Natalie Sooksatan (high jump). The NJSIAA state tournament began with the Group III, North 2 Sectional Championship meet on Wednesday, February 3, at the Bennet Center in Toms River. Megan Koster was again the lone medalist, finishing in a tie for fifth and advancing to the Group III Championship this coming Saturday (February 13). The top six performers in each section advance.
Megan again cleared 4'8", a mark of consistency in these meets. Just missing a chance to advance was senior Matt Russo, who finished seventh in the 880m with a time of 2:07.27. Junior Jordan Jimenez advanced from the trials to the finals of the 55m dash, finishing eighth with a time of 7.02 seconds.
Pat Roche, who finished ninth in the 3200m with a time of 10:15.12, recorded his best time of the season against a very strong field. On the girls' side, other top ten performances included junior Miki Tanaka (800m, 2:32.69), and freshman Natalie Sooksatan in the high jump.
As noted above, the season continues this Saturday with Megan Koster competing in the Group III Championship, again at the Bennett Center in Toms River. This is assuming that the other sectional meets are completed in time, as the recent winter storm in South Jersey caused the state to postpone these meets to Monday through Wednesday of this coming week, during which time another storm is forecast to hit the state. The weather is wrecking havoc with the state's track & field tournament, but thus far, Nutley has been fortunate to escape the storms.
High-Jumpers Capture Bronze Medal
At Essex County Championships
Jan. 13, 2010 -- The leading performance this past week once again was recorded by the female high jumpers who finished third at the Essex County Relay Championships on Sunday, Jan. 10 at Seton Hall University). The team of junior Megan Koster and freshman Natalie Sooksatan combined to win the bronze medal -- a very strong performance for such a young pair.
Another week's highlight came on Wednesday Jan. 6 at the Back Invitational at the Back Invitational at Drew University. Patrick Roche dropped his time to 4:46.58 in the 1600 meter run.
Freshman-Sophomore Events
The freshman class is showing great promise and in many ways became the focus of the past week. In addition to Natalie Sooksatan stepping up to earn a championship varsity medal at the county level (in only her fifth meet), the girls 4 x 800 meter relay earned a silver medal in the freshman race at the same Essex County Relays meet.
Ann-Margaret Conca, Katie Marano, Yuko Okabe, and Tessa Daidone combined to finish second behind Verona with a time of 12:26.67 att the Morris Coaches Frosh-Soph meet.
The new Super Essex Conference staged its first track championships Jan. 2 in the Jersey City Armory. Three Nutley athletes competed with the Raiders finishing in seventh place among the girls division, in 10th place for the boys.
Nutley's best performance came with Mizuki Tanaka's fourth place finish in the 800-meter run. Tanaka's time was 2:36.64. Jake Johnson of Columbia High School won the event 2:28.87.
Megan Koster reached 4-10 in the high jump for a third place finish. That event was also won by Columbia High with a 5-4 mark set by Brittney Jackson.
In the boys competition of the SEC's American Division, Patrick Roche was alone in scoring for Nutley. Roche competed in the 3,200 meter run and placed sixth with a time of 10:49.43. Jeramy Elkaim of Livingston had the best time finishing first with 9:38.57.2.
