The athletes earned their spots in next Friday’s state meet during the South Jersey Group IV sectional meet last week.
By JOHN Happ
Special to the Sun
The Cherry Hill High School East winter track and field team had five athletes qualify and advance to the NJSIAA Group IV winter track finals to be held on Friday Feb. 17 at the John Bennet Indoor Sports Complex in Toms River.
To advance to the state finals, one must finish in the top six of his or her event. Representing Cherry Hill East will be Senior Marc Meltzer, fifth in the 3200m with a time of 9:55.24; junior Kervens Mezilus, fifth in the 400m with a time of 50.56 seconds; sophomore Sarah Pierce who qualified in two events — the 1600m (sixth place with a time of 5:10) and 3200m (third place with a time of 11:06); junior Star Beasley, fourth in the high jump (4 feet 10 inches); and junior Alana Cohen, who finished tied for third in the pole vault.
Metlzer qualified for the state finals for the second consecutive year. Mezilus was the only non-senior in the top seven finishers. Cohen’s height of nine feet ties a school record set in 2006 and set by Tori Rossi. Pierce is the first female athlete since Meghan Marro in 2007 to qualify for states in more than one event. Beasley, Cohen and Pierce are the first female athletes to qualify for the winter track state finals since Maddy Berman in 2014.
The boys 4x400m relay team just missed qualifying for states when they finished in seventh place. This will be the first time since 2009 that Cherry Hill East did not qualify for the state finals in this event. Both Cherry Hill East teams, boys and girls, finished in tenth place in the field of seventeen schools.
The winter track team is led by first-year head coach Anthony Maniscalco, who coaches the distance runners, and assistant coaches Mike Surrency, who coaches the sprinters, and Jeff Bramnick, who coaches the throwers. While a traditional outdoor track is 400m in length an indoor track is half the distance and thus presents some strategic challenges for the runners.
Others that had strong performances include Seniors Michael Onu (ninth place in the 800m with a time of 2:03), Jake Ciocco (ninth place in shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 8 inches), Gilad Bar (10th place in shot put with a throw of 44-feet, 2.75 inches), Tyler Parsons (11th place in the 1600m with a time of), junior Danielle Allen (11th place in the 400m with a time of 1:01) and sophomore Dani Lazarus (12th place in the 1600m with a time of 5:29).
In the shot put the boys are led by a trio of seniors. Bar, Ciocco and Devin Brown and have medaled in several meets this winter season. Bar and Ciocco are quickly approaching 50 feet. Brown works hard on his technique, ad an adjustment made in a recent practice could reap great rewards, explains assistant coach Jeffrey Bramnick. The girls are led by freshman Eve Rosado and junior Chahat Sethi.
In the final South Jersey Throw Down meet of the season, Ciocco improved his personal record by a massive four and a half feet.
“Jake’s series was impressive, throwing a high 46, a 47 and a 47–11, I’m addition to the 49-even throw,” Bramnick said.
