Cinnaminson’s boys track team is once again division champions after going 3-0 in dual-meets this season with big wins against Delran, Pemberton, and Bordentown.
With the distance group having graduated many talented seniors last year like Matt McCarron, Patrick Storti, Alex Boyko, TJ Schill, Dean Clark, Adam Mitola, and the Coceano brothers, the distance side is currently in the rebuilding process with sophomore Jake Wickersham and junior Brandon Smith stepping up as leaders.
“I would say me and Brandon Smith both stepped up as leaders and we both taught the freshmen the same thing that the seniors taught us when we were freshmen,” Wickersham said.
The throwers group is having a successful season despite the loss of senior Malicah Etienne from last year. The group is young and shows a lot of promise and potential with junior Victor Meira leading the group and having a great season in both discus and shot put.
Along with the loss of many seniors, the team also lost former head coach Daniel Fourney, who, after a long successful career, passed the leadership to Timothy Callinan. Although he has years of experience coaching, Callinan is both excited and nervous for this new position and looks forward to continuing Fourney’s success.
“I guess you could say it was an honor taking over from Fourney because he’s done it for a really long time and had a lot of success. So I’m definitely excited and it’s a little nerve-wracking,” Callinan said.
Senior captain Josiah Saint Elien said he believes that even with coaching changes and senior losses endured this year, the team is working just as hard and has the potential to make it far.
“We have a new coach and he’s been on top of things,” Saint Elien said. “We both have been working hard and I really feel like we’re going to go pretty far.”
The team recently competed in their sectional meet last Friday and Saturday, and several athletes were able to qualify for the upcoming state championship meet with some great performances. Senior captains Saint Elien and James Loughran qualified in the 400m hurdles and 200m events respectively. Meira qualified in both shotput and discus, and junior Eddie Frey qualified in pole vault. Wickersham qualified in the 3200, and the 1600, and the 4×8 relay team (Alexander Lonardo, Ryan Scaricaciottoli, Brandon Smith, Josiah Saint Elien) also qualified.
These athletes will compete at the NJSIAA Group Championships at Delsea High School this Friday and Saturday.
