Team of 2008: Timber Creek, a Team of Firsts

Team history wasn't brought up too often by the Timber Creek coaches or by the athletes writing it.

They were too busy living in the moment to revisit the past and if you recall the Chargers' modest past, they might've been a smart decision.

The same athletes who bowed out of the divisional race with a loss to Winslow Township last year and then baby-stepped into the Top 20 for the program's first time have changed gears this year, winning the Patriot Division, vaulting to the top spot and earning the Courier-Post Cup, emblematic of the best team in South Jersey.
To see how far the Chargers have come this season, you must first start where they began.

"Last year we were a little tired," sixth-year coach Chris Grottini said. "I don' think we were as healthy or as focused either. We really went into last year without a goal and if you don't have a goal, you don't really achieve anything.
"But when you have goals, you go in wanting to achieving things. When you accomplish one, you can cross something off and set a new one."

The first goal might've been to just stay healthy. Senior Dorian Evans, who qualified for the Meet of Champions in the long jump as a sophomore, missed most of last year after tearing his left knee during a football game.

Their next goal was knocking off Winslow from its perennial perch atop the Olympic Conference Patriot Division. Delivering the Eagles their first loss in 30 dual meets, the Chargers won 89-50 and coasted to a 5-0 record and divisional title.

The next on the list was a little more ambitious.

"We figured we had a really good shot at winning sectionals," Grottini said.
Grottini wasn't just trying to keep up with the school's other programs, which, by the way, have tallied sectional titles in wrestling, basketball and baseball this year.

He knew his team possessed both a balance that would win dual meets and stars that could win events, and, if enough of them, a title.

"We took a deep breath," he said.

If they didn't believe it, Grottini showed them, meeting with his athletes before sectionals to show that their better is better than other teams' better.
But they didn't need to be at their best to win.

Between all their studs – seniors Eric Smith, Geoff Mock, Tyrone Brown, and Evans, and juniors Montez Blair and Saliym Starkey – only Blair won a sectional title; the others helped chip in the other 64 points, enough to defeat defending champ Delsea by nine points.

Blair, a high jumper, set the bar for the rest of South Jersey when he cleared 6-10 to begin the season – then raised it to 7-0 at the Woodbury Relays.

Still, the one he stepped up most may've been Mock, a sprinter who accepted a greater role this season and produced, taking second in the 400 (49.75), third in the 100 (10.92) and the 200 (22.24), and fourth as the anchor to 4x400 relay team of Derrek Henry, Starkey and Allen Jackson.

Strides were being made and being encouraged, even small ones.

"They really did recognize what their teammates were doing. It added a nice communal feel to things," Grottini said. "Even if they didn't score points, they would know if someone ran a good race, or had their best jump or throw. It wasn't 'Hey, look at me.'"

Other teams were looking at the Chargers as contenders by the time the State Group 3 Championships rolled around; the Chargers, though, were looking at each other.

Unbeknownst to him when lining up for the opening event, Starkey, a 10th seed, would start the school's first successful state-championship campaign by winning the 400 hurdles in 55.02 by four hundredths of a second and in the slower heat.

He may've also started a team tradition.

"Winning is contagious," Grottini said. "They said 'If he's going to do that, well then I'm going to do this.'"

Three others won state titles during the two-day championship in South Plainfield: Blair in the high jump (6-8), Smith in the triple jump (45-10.5) and Evans in the javelin (188-2).

"I just wanted to score some points and try to pull it out for the team for the win," Evans said.

Said Smith: "It feels really good to come out her and help my team. Especially in the triple jump – I know we really needed that. Everyone else did their part."
History buffs or not, the 2008 Chargers sure made some.