
Indoor Track: Ridgewood girls, boys make most of appearance at Nationals
March 20, 2015 Last updated: Friday, March 20, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Matthew Birchenough
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
The Ridgewood News
One last meet on the biggest of stages provided eight Ridgewood High School runners a nice sendoff into the upcoming spring track season.
The Maroons finished up the indoor season with solid showings from senior Carleen Jeffers in the two-mile, as well as the girls distance medley relay and the boys 4-x-800 team at last weekend’s New Balance Indoor Nationals at The Armory Track Center.
“Qualifying for Nationals is not something that comes easy. It’s a result of all their dedication and hard work that goes into it,” RHS head coach Josh Saladino said. “For some of them, it was their first time on the big stage and what was encouraging to me was they all rose to the occasion. No one was content just being there.”
Jeffers, who has been the team’s headliner all year, finished 15th in the two-mile as the Maroons’ lone individual competitor.
“Running against the best in the country and hanging in there and battling with them is an accomplishment in itself,” Saladino said of the senior’s performance. “She’s as mentally tough as they come. To beat her, you’ve got to give it your best, because she’s not going to give you an inch, and she proved that again in that race.”
Jeffers’ time of 10:51.37, when converted to 3,200 meters, represented a 2.5-second improvement on her personal-best mark.
Congratulations to Carleen on a fantastic season and Congratulations to Coach Saladino for another outstanding Indoor Track season. It is a special person who coaches both the boys and the girls, runners, jumpers and throwers for both, in weather more suited for Eskimo’s, and at meets that run late into the night in NYC, all day on Sundays in Toms River, and does it each and every day with a great attitude, love for the sport, and with the sole purpose of making each of his athletes better.