Sandy and its effect on sports

            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  14^th in 16:57, junior Tom Phillip was 22^nd in 17:22, senior  Brendan Donovan was 32^nd in  17:34.94, and junior Vinnie Papandrea  was 38^th in  17:44.22, Junior Jimmy Sweeney  was 41^st in  17:51.09  and senior  Liam Laverty              placed 53^rd 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 21^st place in 20:32 and was closely followed by freshmen Amanda Bush (23^rd in 20:41) and Megan Power 25^th in 20:53. Sophomore Julie Byrne was 30^th in 21:05 and sophomore Keara Reilly was 47^th in 22:01.