Looking Back, Looking Forward

The post title is one of the many mantras of the YES Network, more specifically the YES Network describing its beloved New York Yankees. Chase Wright certainly did a lot of looking back on Sunday night, four times in a row in fact. And after the performance over the weekend and again last night vs. Tampa, the only looking forward the Yanks should be doing is looking forward to next year. Phillip Hughes may be good, but pitch counts of 80-85 won't get you through six innings.

It's really hard to get too much when it comes to sports, but this weekend was dangerously close to an overload.

Yankees-Red Sox, Mets-Braves, Cubs-Cardinals, eight NBA Playoff Games in two days, the tail-end of the Stanley Cup first round, the NFL's desperate attempt to hold an audience with meaningless draft banter, and another Rafael Nadal drubbing of Roger Federer on clay. And, on a personal note, I had the day off Monday to make up what I missed from Friday and Saturday.

While I would have loved to catch the first day of NBA Playoff action, spending the day at Holmdel High for the Homdel Relays was worth it, if only for being outside the first nice day since January. (That sentence sounds ridiculous. Thanks Global Warming.)

As far as the meet itself, the only new develpoments to make note of were Red Bank's performance in the 4 x 800 and the sprint medely relays, and Monmouth's relay team running its first real noteworthy race of the season. Everything else was pretty much what we've seen over the first couple weeks of relay meets, particularly Freehold Township's dominance.

I have to admit, I think I've missed out on the Patriots in the first few Top 10 polls. I saw them at the Rebel Relays, where it was hard to take any of the times seriously on account of the weather. I missed them last week at the Colts Neck Relays where they put on an impressive performance against a good field. They put up a decent effort against CBA on Thursday, and despite rave reviews from the CBA coaching staff, I elected against sticking them in the Top 10. The way they've performed at the big meets so far warrants much stronger consideration this week.

Red Bank is 4-0 in Class A Central and while the Bucs only finished 8th place in the Holmdel Relays Division II, they showed they're strong at the top of their track events, if not very deep. Dennie Waite had two terrific last leg 800s, running under 2 minutes in both. Waite said he had never ran under 2 minuted before, and was "shocked" when he saw his split of 1:56 in the 4 x 800. Despite the new-found prowess in the 800, Waite is going to turn his attention full-time to the mile, where he hopes to leave a mark at the Group II finals and perhaps later at the Meet of Champions.

Kerone Rhoden capped off a really nice week with a great 200-meter leg in Red Bank's sprint medley. I had him at a 22.75 split, but running down three guys in front of him was more impressive than the time.

It looks like Monmouth's relay is ready to turn it on for the stretch run, starting with this weekend's Penn Relays. They started posting the kind of times that youu might expect from a possible state championship relay, including a 3:17.8 in the 4 x 400. Rashon Verrett was the star of the day with a split of 47.1, and the other three were solid, but not spectacular. The collective group was extremely fast, but each sprinter has a faster run in him. Neither Charles Cox, Chris Cox, Verrett, nor Kelly Fisher had anyone to really push them, but Saturday will present a good test for the group.

We at the Press gave the pole vault a lot of attention early in the season, but the St. John Vianney vaulters have flown under the radar a bit the last couple of weeks, as pointed out by some of the comments on a previous post. The jumps haven't been other-worldly, no, but setting meet records is generally a good thing. Chris Favoloro and Mike Reese did just that combining for a 26-and-a-half foot jump, which was a foot higher than the 25 1/2 they jumped at Matawan the Saturday before. Favoloro looks like the best in the area right now, but there are a few guys that may have something to say about that.

If this past weekend was Ray Lewis-intense, this coming weekend is Bill Romanowski-intense, which could indeed be an overload (yes, I saw the option to use "overdose", but I'm taking the high road). Almost the exact same lineup as last weekend, plus the NFL Draft, plus the Devils and Rangers in the Conference semifinals, plus the Penn Relays.

As far as this week's Shore Conference action goes, the only meet with any major ramifications looks to be Red Bank travelling to Holmdel today (Tuesday April 24). Southern's highschoolsports.com page had their tri-meet with Jackson and Toms River North originally scheduled for Thursday and now postponed to an undetermined date. In our schedule, we have that meet originally scheduled for Monday, April 30, but now rescheduled to the following day, May 1. I'll keep you posted, but after all is said and done, it looks like Red Bank's quest for the the division title is one and only story before the Penn Relays.

I'll be in Philly for Friday and Saturday's events, giving blog updates on the action and anything else I find that's interesting. Judging by the weekend lineup, there should be plenty to talk about.