Impressive track performances; Alvarez hired at Prep
In any other week, the performances of two athletes last Saturday at the HCIAA Track and Field Championships at Lincoln Park in Jersey City would have been worthy enough to receive Athlete of the Week honors, each in their own right.
First, in the boys’ championships, Memorial’s Bryan Durango won three events, capturing the 100-meter dash in 11.0 seconds, winning the 200-meter dash in 23.1 and taking the third gold medal, the 100-high hurdles in 15.8. Durango completed the triple while battling a sore hamstring as well. It was an impressive day, as Durango led the Tigers to the team championship over Bayonne.
In the girls’ meet, St. Dominic Academy’s Danielle Biondo was a one-woman wrecking crew, capturing the 1,600 and 3,200-meter championships, while finishing second in the high jump. Biondo’s fine performance enabled the Blue Devils to capture the team title, defeating Memorial by a slim six-point margin, 97 to 91.
Another individual performance of note belonged to another Memorial boys’ runner, Anderson Tejada, who finished second in the 1,600, won the 3,200 and third in the 800-meters…
St. Peter’s Prep hired George Alvarez as its new basketball coach last week, replacing Joe Macchi. Alvarez, a former player at the Prep, spent a few years as an assistant coach at Union Hill, working with Chuck McBreen and Dave Settembre with the Hillers. Alvarez was a finalist for the position when Macchi received it four years ago. He comes with experience, the dedication and organization and the willingness to continue the winning tradition…
One of the best success stories of the baseball season has been the job that rookie head coach Rich Nesbit has done at Lincoln. Nesbit has guided the Lions to 11 wins this season, which is about 11 more than anyone thought he could muster with the troubled program.
However, Nesbit’s team suffered a tough break last Friday, when it was facing North 13th Street Tech in Newark. The Lions were trailing 6-5 in the fifth inning when umpires ruled that the game was over due to some silly 5:45 p.m. curfew in Branch Brook Park in Newark. The curfew forces the high school teams off the field regardless of the inning and the score, all so that an adult softball team can use the facility.
So Nesbit’s team gets hit with a 6-5 loss in a game that was not completed. And the loss eliminated the Lions from contention for a possible state playoff bid. Now, that’s a tough break…
Note to the powers-that-be at Ferris: Who exactly is your head football coach? After all, every other team has been doing five months of off-season conditioning. You would figure that someone would be hired by now.
However, the guy who was thought to be the frontrunner, former assistant coach and former Ferris standout Keith Price, took an assistant coaching job at New Jersey City University. So much for that.
So it’s very interesting to see which way Ferris is going to go now, if they even have a plan…
Major league baseball update: Secaucus’ Mark Lukasiewicz is back in the big leagues with the Anaheim Angels, although he gave up a game-winning homer to Bobby Higginson in his major league debut last week…
St. Peter’s College product Victor Santos will now be a part of the Detroit Tigers’ rotation. He’s yet to give up an earned run in 22 innings and went almost six hitless innings in his first major league start…
Jersey City native John Valentin returned to the Boston Red Sox, with his injured knee finally recovered. And Valentin was back playing the position he played at St. Anthony and Seton Hall, namely shortstop…
Some things never change…