Holy Cross Boys, Girls take it to Burlington Division

(Pub May 11)
Winners: The Northern Burlington boys won their first Liberty Division and the Burlington Township girls won their first since 2002. The Palmyra boys and the Florence Township girls each won the Freedom Division and both the Holy Cross boys and girl squads won their sixth straight Patriot Division.

Close call: Two individual wins by jumper/thrower Warren Oliver helped Palmyra win the meet's closest decision, a 13-point win over Florence Township, to give Palmyra its first division title since 2004.

Fast finish: Moorestown senior Kevin Healey needed a 61-second last lap to fend off Northern Burlington junior Michael Bowden (4:28) in the 1,600, winning in a 15-second personal best 4:26.

Quote: "Your goal is you. Your goal is not the other person on the track," Burlington Township coach Sorina Haddock said. "Your goal is to identify what your best is and attack that goal so the focus is always on you and not on somebody else."

NORTHERN BURLINGTON – Let's hope Holy Cross freshman Shannon Grogan approaches waiting in line differently than she does racing.
"I don't like people being in front of me," the sprinter said.
The only number Grogan took Saturday at the Burlington County Divisional meet was No.1 – four times – helping the Crusaders match the Holy Cross boys team by winning their sixth straight Patriot Division title.
Racing on Northern Burlington High's track, Grogan won the 100 (12.97), 200 (26.8), 400 (1:01.99) and joined her upperclassmen teammates, Rose Johnson, Beth Peak and Rachel Byrne, to win the 4x400 (4:22.6).
"I just try to follow the seniors and juniors because they're such great and do my best for the team," she said.
Grogan raced on her first track this past winter, and while achieving her main objective of staying in shape for spring-time soccer, the freshman took home more gold medals than a novice should. Even with her success, Grogan was set to skip spring track.
But when spring came around, so did she – at the persuasion of coaches Mike Gouth and Ed Battaglia. Still, she has trouble following everything her coaches tell her.
"They tell me to race the clock but I just race the people in front of me," she said. "If I see somebody in front of me my goal is to get them. That's the first thing."
The Crusaders won eight total events , including seven of the nine races, to help give them a meet-best 181 points. Maple Shade was second with 106.
Johnson, a senior, was the Crusaders other double champion, winning the 400 hurdles (1:08.79) and the high jump (personal-best 5-3).
Based on the scouting report Gould gives her before the race, Johnson – a self-described anxious competitor – can't afford to run a split second slower.
"He always lies and says like 'They did so great' and 'You guys got competition' and 'They're running 4:08' so I get nervous," Johnson said. "He always does that and then you start running and you're like 'What happened?"
The Holy Cross boys won the Patriot Division more narrowly, staving off a comeback by Cinnaminson by scoring 138 points. The Pirates scored 123.
Senior thrower Frank Allen hurled a personal best 52-4.5 to win the shot put and a meet-best 150-8 to win the discus.
Between the two events, Allen – a 6-4 former heavyweight wrestler who weighs in at a fit 270 pounds -- goes from yin to yang, running wind sprints with teammate Aaron Faunt (second in shot) to get hyped.
"I went from discus, where you have to be nice and relaxed, not even thinking anything, to this," Allen said. "I need something to get me going. I need to be explosive when I throw shot."
Other male winners for the Crusaders included junior Matt Cusack in the 1,600 in 4:36 and senior Rich Fisher in the 400 in 50.24. The duo joined Dan Gasper and Terrance Osborne to win the 4x400 team (3:29.23) and Cusack ran a 9:59.71 in the 3,200 to place second to Cinnaminson junior Todd Campbell's impressive personal-best 9:48.6.
Campbell separated from Cusack after a couple laps and just kept separating.
"I was just trying to keep moving in the middle," he said. "I didn't want anybody to come up on me in the last 800."
Despite three gold medals and one silver from Moorestown senior Bryan Burnham – winner of the long jump, 100, and 200 – and an "out-of-body performance" by Moorestown senior Kevin Healey, who won the 1,600 in 4:26 with a 61-second final lap, the Northern Burlington boys won their first Liberty Division title ever, scoring 145 points to Moorestown's 125.
The team Dave Specca, Thaddeus Richards, Jarrett East-Brown and Saidu Mustaphu nearly clinched the division after winning the 4x400 relay in 3:25.94, a school record.
Coach Tim Tedesco credits East-Brown, owner of three silvers, as being a major contributor.
"He brought us up in the relay to help give our anchor a chance," Tedesco said.
East-Brown passes the credit to his distance squad, led by 3,200 winner junior Michael Bowden.
"We got some pretty fast kids. Our distance kids are amazing," East-Brown said. "They just come out and perform every meet."
The Burlington Township girls outpointed Moorestown (112) and others to win the Liberty Division title, winning five events including Tiffany Chamberlain's victories in the 400 hurdles (1:05.71) and the 100 hurdles (16.06).
"We never thought we would come out here and win these kind of meets, but I think this year we're learning the importance of teamwork and how if we do our responsibility we'll get at that spot that we've always wanted to," Chamberlain said.
Palmyra –led Warren Oliver wins in the javelin (165-5) and the high jump (6-4) -- won the boys Freedom Division with 149 points and despite fielding limited numbers, Florence won the girls' with 145 points.