Individually, Rafael Hernandez and Kelvin Almonte are gifted track and field athletes from Memorial High School.
Together, Hernandez and Almonte form a lethal combination that helped the Tigers win the Hudson County Track Coaches Association championship and a third place finish in last week’s NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV championships.
“It’s the greatest thing we could do,” the junior Hernandez said after winning the gold medal in the 3,200-meter run in 9:43.69 at the state sectionals, literally running away from the field. “It’s a dream that we’ve talked about for so long to be able to do all of this together. I’ve always been there for the team and I’ll always be there.”
“It’s very exciting,” said senior Almonte, who won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.55 seconds and finished second in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.04 seconds. “I’ve been here since my freshman year and been waiting for a chance like this.”
When Almonte won the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles, he looked to the sky, then fell into the arms of coach Julio Lopez, who was waiting for Almonte at the finish line.
“It has a nice ring to it, state sectional champion,” Almonte said. “It took a lot of effort. I have a lot of pride in being able to win. I’m pretty surprised. I really couldn’t believe it.”
Hernandez and Almonte were also instrumental in leading the Tigers to the HCTCA title, winning by more than 30 points.
Hernandez won both the 1,600-meter run (4:19.55) and 3,200-meter run (9:28.82). Almonte won both the 110-meter hurdles (14.66 seconds) and 400-meter hurdles (55.35).
For their efforts, the Memorial duo has been named as The Hudson Reporter Co-Athletes of the Week for the past week.
Lopez has nothing but sincere praise for both of his athletes.
“Rafael is a very determined, very driven young man,” Lopez said. “He’s only about 5-foot-5, but he has so much desire and motivation to overcome everything. He’s a very hard worker and listens to what I tell him.”
Lopez said that he gave Hernandez a strategy in the state sectional 3,200-meter run, after he was boxed in during the 1,600-meter run and finished third.
“I told him to race out and take the lead,” Lopez said. “Just like that, the race was over. That’s the way he runs the best. He can’t win in a crowd. So he has to go out and just run away from everyone.”
“Coach Lopez told me to push the pace and see if I could keep it up,” Hernandez said. “Over the last 800 [meters], I did check to see if anyone was coming. I was really surprised with how much I was out there.”
Hernandez won by a full five seconds. It was a dominating performance, but no one should be surprised by his sensational efforts. After all, as a freshman, Hernandez broke the long-standing Memorial school record in the 1,600-meter run (4:36), a record set by the immortal Sal Vega, who went on to have an All-American career at the University of Tennessee and later became both the athletic director at Memorial as well as the mayor of West New York. Hernandez ran a 4:34 in the event as a neophyte.
“I’ve been training so hard,” said Hernandez, who will try to duplicate his efforts this weekend at the NJSIAA Group IV state championships. “I’m now confident in championship meets that I can carry it on to another week.”
Lopez likes what Hernandez brings to his team.
“He’s only a junior, but the kids look up to him,” Lopez said. “At one time, Rafael was the only distance runner I had. But he was the one who encourage the others to run distances to help the team. He’s not afraid of anything. He’s also an excellent student on the honor roll with a 4.0 [grade point average]. He’s a likeable kid who really influences the others on the team, both running and with their school work.”
Almonte said that he was nervous before competing in the state sectionals.
“I don’t know why,” Almonte said. “I just felt that way right up to the trials. I had good runners next to me and that got my adrenalin going to make me run faster. When I hit the last hurdle [in the 110-meter hurdles], I knew I had the lead. I was really happy.”
Both Hernandez and Almonte said that they were motivated after teammate Onasi Cuevas pulled a hamstring Friday and was unable to run. With a healthy Cuevas, the Tigers could have captured the overall team sectional championship.
“When Onasi got hurt, we all knew we had to pull together,” Almonte said. “It really motivated us. Seeing Onasi hurt was tough to see, but we just had to put more effort in. I think it motivated the entire team.”
Almonte was a basketball player, before Lopez convinced him to concentrate on the hurdles.
“He came out and asked him to run one lap and he couldn’t do it,” Lopez said. “But by the time the outdoor season came, he just took off.”
Lopez said that Almonte has improved in the hurdles from 1:05 to now 54 seconds.
“He’s one of the hardest working, nicest kids you’ll ever meet,” Lopez said. “He’s a pure gentleman. You will never see him mad or curse. His parents did a great job raising him.”
Lopez was so proud of both of his athletes.
“These two kids would do anything I asked of them,” Lopez said. “They’re both leaders. You don’t see kids like that anymore. Most kids are into it for themselves. These kids are into it for each other and the team.”
“We’re the kind of guys who can’t let anything bring us down,” Hernandez said.
Sure looks that way. – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.