Since Super storm Sandy left her
indelible mark on the New York area on October 29, 2012 life has been anything
but normal for area residents many who endured over a week without power. While
not suffering the catastrophic floods from Hurricane Irene in 2011, it has
taken nearly two weeks for normalcy to return to Cranford and the effects have
also been felt by Cougar fall athletic teams. For Athletic Director Darren
Torsone it was a daily challenge of juggling events and contacting athletes and
coaches while dealing with little power and inconsistent phone connections.
“Following
the hurricane was a day by day situation that required a lot of patience by
everyone. The most important thing was
to make sure the schools and practice areas were safe before we could continue
to prepare for the state tournaments.
The NJSIAA has been working with schools across the state and adjusted
tournament schedules to provide time for communities to recover and teams to
prepare,” said Torsone, who also had to be cognizant of new rules regarding
practices and safety.
“The new
regulations related to acclimatization, concussions, and pre-season practice
all point in the direction of practice prior to competition. It was important for our athletes and coaches
to have some practice time before competing in their respective state
tournament. Your heart really goes out
to student athletes in many towns that have worked so hard throughout the
summer and fall and did not get a chance to compete,” said Torsone.
The football team last played on
Friday night October 26, improving to 6-2 with a 29-3 victory over Johnson. The
Cougars begin defense of their North Jersey Group III Section II crown when
they host South Plainfield tonight at Memorial Field. The girls’ soccer team,
which lost a heart breaking 2-1 overtime game to top seed Scotch Plains Fanwood
in the Union County semi -finals on Saturday night October 27 saw their season
end on Monday November 11 in an equally gut wrenching 1-0 overtime loss to
Mendham. The cross country team not only had to wait a week before competing in
the state section championships but had to leave the familiar confines of
Warinanco Park for Greystone Park in Morristown, one of the few venues that did
not sustain major damage.
“It has been
a challenging few weeks for everyone. We
have faced numerous obstacles in both the weather conditions and meet
scheduling. All of the downed trees and
debris have made it difficult to navigate the streets for distances runs. The parks and fields where we normally work
out are not useable. Fortunately the
track has been available for us,” said Cranford Cross Country Coach John
Schiano.
“It has been difficult to know when to
schedule workouts because the meet schedule is being continually adjusted. Not only were sectionals pushed back a week
but we lost our home course advantage as Warinanco is not able to host a race
and were relocated to Greystone Park which was unfortunately the home course of
our main rivals, Morristown and Mendham!
We were fortunate enough to get a chance to see the course before the
Nor’easter hit on Wednesday. We had a
bit of a feel for it so we will not be running blind,” added Schiano, whose
teams both qualified for the state finals this weekend.
The
boys were fourth with 114 points and an average time of 17:16. Senior Thomas
Feeney led Cranford with an eight place finish in 16:44, followed by junior
Connor McMahon 14th in 16:57,
junior Tom Phillip was 22nd in 17:22, senior Brendan Donovan was 32nd in 17:34.94, and junior Vinnie Papandrea was 38th in 17:44.22, Junior Jimmy Sweeney was 41st in 17:51.09
and senior Liam Laverty placed 53rd in 18:29.94.
“The kids had
not raced in two and a half weeks so they were a little rusty. However, we had faith in their training and
did well. These kids have worked hard
since the summer and were in shape,” said Schiano.
The young girl’s team nearly missed
the state finals for the first time in 15 years but squeezed in as the fifth
and final team on a tiebreak over Chatham.
Freshman Claire Drewniak finished five spots
ahead of the sixth Chatham runner after the teams tied with 140 points. Senior
Katia Oltmann led Cranford with a 21st place in 20:32 and was
closely followed by freshmen Amanda Bush (23rd in 20:41) and Megan
Power 25th in 20:53. Sophomore Julie Byrne was 30th in
21:05 and sophomore Keara Reilly was 47th in 22:01.
