Clarkstown North Track Preview

The Top Spot:

Clarkstown North’s track and field teams faced Suffern on Tuesday afternoon, and the boys won for the first time in years while the girls fought valiantly but fell to the mighty Mounties.

Last year the track team finished 5th at the Rockland County championships and with nice mix of experience and youth Head Coach Edward Benvenuto and the Ram Coaching Staff are hoping for a very good year.

Patch recently caught up with Coach Benvenuto to discuss this year’s team.

Patch: As far as age and, more importantly experience goes, what type of team do you expect to have this season?

Coach Edward Benvenuto: We have a good mix of returning veterans, young newcomers, and some first time upperclassmen and women.  We, the coaches, are all looking forward to see how far the latest iteration of North Track and Field can take us.

Patch: What were some of the weaknesses your team had last year that you hope to improve upon this season?

Coach Benvenuto: Our issue, each year, is our team depth.  We often have trouble competing with the larger schools in the section simply because of their depth. We have many athletes that are among the best in the section, but unfortunately, in most cases we don’t have more than one athlete to contend in those events.

Patch: Who are some of your returning players coming back who you see being big contributors?

Coach Benvenuto: On the boys side: we have several key returners: Guido Porcelli and Dan Aran in the throws, Vincent Bhandal, Ryan Kilgannon and Jeremy Job in the jumps, and Billy Delay and Zach Rose in the running events.  In addition, we expect there to be many more contributors as the season progresses.
On the ladies side: we have several key returners as well.  Uche Emili and Kerinanne Lynch in the throws, Shannon Kay and Lorraine Santiago in the jumps, and Emily Betts in the distance events.  We expect there to be many more contributors as the season progresses.

Patch: Who are some of your new players you are expecting to thrust into a larger role on the team?

Coach Benvenuto: Two newcomers that stand out to us are Travis Samuels in the sprints and Chris Boddy in the jumps.  The ladies have a variety of young newcomers that could make an immediate impact for us.

Patch: How has the team been preparing in the off-season?

Coach Benvenuto: We have had many two season track athletes who only had several weeks off in between the Winter and Spring seasons.  In addition, we have a core of dedicated athletes who are always working hard to improve their technique or strength in the weight room.

Patch: What are your goals for the season as a team?

Coach Benvenuto: Always to improve, each and every season, and to emerge among the elite teams in Rockland County and all of Section 1 Track and Field.

Patch: Are there one or two games circled on the schedule this season?

Coach Benvenuto: Every Year: League 4A Championships and the Rockland County Championships

Patch: What are you personally looking forward to this season?

Coach Benvenuto: We hope to become one of the best teams around and have our best finish ever (on both the boys and girls side) at the County meet.

--

College Sports Notebook: 

Spartans, Salerno on a torrid streak

Frank Salerno of New City had four hits and Nick Barbalato of Mahopac added three to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team to a 13-6 victory over the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference contest at Harbor Yard in Connecticut.

The Spartans have won five straight to improve to 16-8 overall, 4-0 in the ECC, while Bridgeport fell to 3-7, 0-2.

STAC was well-represented in an East Regional poll this week, as it moved up to the No. 4 slot in the d2baseballnews.com rankings.

Matt Marotta of Suffern had an RBI in the first inning as the Spartans struck early, and Mike Russo of Boca Raton, FL, had an RBI double, driving in Barbalato.

The Spartans drove Bridgeport starter Nick Vautrin out of the box in the second inning, after Salerno doubled to bring home Derek Hirsch of Roslyn. But reliever Garret Rogers walked catcher George Wargo of West Haverstraw to force in a run, and Marotta added a sacrifice fly to open a 5-0 lead.

Bridgeport pushed across a run in the third inning on starter Nick May of Middletown, but the freshman left-hander avoided further trouble, and worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

STAC put the game away in the eighth inning as Salerno’s fourth hit of the day keyed a three-run rally.

Senior right-hander Ken Frawley of White Plains got the win in relief, improving to 3-1.

Salerno went 4 for 5 with three runs scored while Barbalato went 3 for 5.

The Spartans return to action when the University of Bridgeport visits Provident Bank Park in Pomona on Friday at 3 p.m. STAC then travels for a big twin-bill at Molloy on Saturday before returning to PBP to complete the weekend set with Molloy on Sunday.

Mortarboard musings

• The struggling Manhattan College softball team (1-18) can only hope for better when it opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Rider (7-15-1). First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Herb and Joan Young Field in Lawrenceville, NJ. Amanda Babcock of Haverstraw is second on the Jaspers in hitting with a .239 BA, behind Kate Bowen of Newton, CT, who is rolling along at a .357 clip.

• The St. Thomas Aquinas College softball team, coming off a doubleheader loss at Queens College, hopes to bounce back today with a doubleheader at home against Molloy at 3:30 p.m. Sharis Ruiz of Greenwood Lake went 2-for-3 in the second game against Queens after the Lady Spartans were held to two hits in the opener. Maura Power of Pearl River had an RBI in the second game, which Queens pulled out with two unearned runs in the sixth inning.

--

Weekly Sports Poll:

With March in it’s final week this week’s sports poll deals with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in New Orleans. Kentucky and Louisville will play the early game on Saturday night quickly followed by Ohio State and Kansas. Now the only question left in the NCAA Basketball season, is

--

The Daily Sports Digest is Patch’s way of increasing reader involvement in sports coverage. We would like to provide you with for you to add your best photos and/or videos to share. If you see anything in our high school scores, standings or schedule that requires updating, please e-mail Mark Rinaldi directly at HVDailySportsDigest@gmail.com or like us on Facebook and post updates on our wall. Marc Maturo covers college athletics across the nation. Please send updates of your local schools or players to marcmaturo@aol.com.