The track and field program at St. Dominic Academy is nothing short of historic.
One walk through the school’s main lobby and there’s a museum-like feel with all the trophies and plaques that adorn the trophy case.
There are tons of Hudson County trophies and plaques, 100 in all if you compile cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring.
There are even a handful of prestigious and adored plaques from the Penn Relays Carnival, perhaps the most respected track and field event in the country. It is widely believed that there’s nothing better than winning at the Penn Relays. St. Dominic has had teams to come home with track’s version of a storied religious artifact a few times.
However, there was one piece of hardware that was missing among the hundreds of other awards – namely an NJSIAA state championship trophy.
As the Blue Devils headed to the Bennett Center in Toms River last weekend for the NJSIAA Non-Public B championships, veteran SDA head coach John Nagel knew that there was a chance that the drought of never having won a state title could be coming to an end.
There were three huge reasons.
One, SDA was moved in NJSIAA Group enrollment classifications from a Non-Public A school (with all the larger Parochial schools in the state) to a Non-Public B school (those with smaller enrollments).
“We had a lot of good teams in the past that just couldn’t win in A,” Nagel said. “We came close a couple of times with some very good teams. We just came a little short.”
So the Blue Devils had a better chance to compete in the smaller group.
“No doubt,” Nagel said. “Who’s kidding whom? You only compete against the teams you’re supposed to compete against.”
Two and three, the Blue Devils had stud performers in senior Camille Bertholon and junior Malia Gray.
When a team has athletes that can compete – and eventually win – in three events, it usually gives your team a chance to win championships.
Bertholon and Gray are two such athletes, standouts in more than one event, with the ability to score major points each time they step onto the track.
“We’re very fortunate to have the two studs,” Nagel said.
Doing the math on the way down, Nagel figured that if he could get a set amount of points from Bertholon and Gray, then the Blue Devils had a legitimate shot of winning.
“I didn’t think anyone could get into the 50s [in team point totals],” Nagel said. “I couldn’t forecast wins, but I thought we could get 45 points from them at least.”
As it turned out, Nagel got more than just the 45 points he planned on.
Bertholon won three events, the 800-meter run (2:25.56), the 1,600-meter run (5:23.37) and the 3,200-meter run (11:44.62). The talented senior won the 3,200 by more than nine full seconds.
That’s 30 team points right there.
Gray won two events, the high jump by clearing 5 feet, two inches and the 55-meter hurdles in 9.14 seconds. That’s an additional 20 points.
As it turned out, that’s all the Blue Devils needed, because runner-up Villa Walsh collected only 43 points.
But for good measure, Celeste Aurora got a tie for third in the high jump and Jianna Bustamante finished fifth in the 800-meter run, so the Blue Devils got a total of 57 points.
And yes, St. Dominic had finally captured the long-awaited and desired NJSIAA state title. It might have been in a different group and with a team not as talented as others in the past. But it was a state trophy nonetheless.
“We’re never going to be the best St. Dominic team and we know it,” said senior Destiny Foster. “But we have a great amount of heart. The other teams might have had faster times, but I’m really glad we’re the ones who give such an amazing coach [Nagel] this amazing honor. I think we were in kind of disbelief and shock that it could finally happen.”
Foster said that when she received the trophy, she just admired it in amazement.
“I never even seen one up close, so to hold it was amazing,” Foster said. “I just kept staring at the trophy. I was afraid to take two steps in fear that I might drop it. There were like golden rays shining from the ceiling onto that trophy.”
Nagel said that he spent most of last weekend responding to congratulatory phone calls, texts and e-mails. For a man who had a serious battle with colon cancer a few years ago, this was a day that was not going to be forgotten.
“I was hearing from kids that I coached 30 years ago,” Nagel said. “Word gets out there a lot quicker. There were conservatively 20 texts just on the way home, from Oregon, from Colorado, from all over. It was really cool, especially when you get into the history of it, the networking of 30-something and 40-something women with 17-year-old girls. It ranks right there with getting a foul ball [at a professional baseball game] and Ashley [Nagel’s daughter] making the Dean’s list [at Quinnipiac]. This was the missing link. This is now forever’s team.”
Bertholon was still amazed a few days after the fact.
“This is something that’s going to last for a very long time,” Bertholon said. “Looking back, we put a lot of hard work into this. It’s now a very big deal for us. To think that we’re the first ones to win a state championship is kind of surprising. It’s also pretty crazy that two people could hold fort for the entire team.”
“It’s really wild,” Gray said. “I never imagined that I would be part of a state title. I just wanted to run my best and do whatever I could to help my team. I knew we never won before, so it’s just amazing.”
Foster made sure that the state championship trophy was well secured.
“I made sure that it was put into people’s laps and made sure someone held it,” Foster said. “It wasn’t going on the floor or on the seat of the bus. No one was touching it.”
And now, it will get a rightful place, a prominent place, among the others. Only this one is special, because it’s the first and only of its kind in the trophy case.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.