This season, the Boys Winter Track team showed Morris Knolls what they were capable of. The team as a whole did very well, but a few individuals went even farther and pushed themselves to break school records.
Senior Ekwochi Njeze has been very successful in his running career at Morris Knolls. He says his proudest moment of the season was “winning the 600 in the Wayne Valentine Meet,” on Wednesday, January 11, where he won his “first gold medal ever” and “ran a PR of 1:27 flat.” When asked about what he likes about Winter Track he said, “I like training outside in the cold, it strengthens my mind and strengthens my soul,” and “everyone on my team, not just one person, everyone because they push me to work harder and run faster times.” Njeze says his goals for the rest of the season are “to do well in counties, go to the meet of champs in indoor track, and try and get to nationals.” As a senior, he is leaving after this year and when asked about what he will miss he says, “the people and coach.”
Another successful senior at Morris Knolls is Kyle Macarski. Macarski said his proudest moment of the season so far was “getting on the 4×8 and the 4×4 team.” He explained that the reason he likes running for the Boys Winter Track team is “the rest of the runners and the coach.” Macarski “admires coach Thalman a lot because he is like a mentor and motivator for the rest of the team.” His goals for the rest of the season are to “try and PR” and do his best. He says he’ll miss “the team and coach.”
Sophomore team member Brian Perez also had a very successful year, breaking the school record for the mile and the 4×8. Perez says he likes “running outside in the cold and running with all of the guys.” He “admires all of the captains and, most of all, the coach.” He wishes to “PR in the mile and do well in counties.”
Noah Schagelin, a sophomore, set new indoor records in the 8 and the 1000, he also broke his 400 record by about a second and is hoping to set more in the upcoming meets. “I think that we have a lot of developing runners this season, we lost a lot of seniors last year but we definitely still have some good guys and our Freshman and Sophomore teams are really coming up and we should be good in the following years,” said Schagelin when asked about his thoughts regarding the team this season. He also admires his teammates, namely “Brian Perez, he’s a great miler and Ekwochi Njeze, and Kyle Macarski, who are great seniors, and Fergie (Derek Ferguson) who isn’t running right now due to an injury, but they are great runners.”
Overall, the season has been a great success, with many members breaking school records and striving towards excellence.