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l'ennemi du journaliste

By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Seventeen schools competedat the Cougar Relays in Cranfordon April 13 and the WestfieldHigh School boys and girls track& field teams won the overall titlewith a 105 total. The Lady BlueDevils took first with a total of 58,while the boys placed secondwith 47 behind the GovernorLivingston Highlanders, who had65 points.

The Cranford Cougars took fifthoverall with a total of 71.33. Thegirls finished second with 38.33points, and the boys placed fifthwith 33 points.

Blue Devil sophomore JohannaMermer (1200 meters), seniorLily Burtness (400), sophomoreMeghan O’Dwyer (800) and jun-ior Gabby Stravach (1600) placedfirst in the Distance Medley Relay(DMR) with a time of 12:59.44.Mermer handed the baton toBurtness in second position thenBurtness had the lead when shehanded the baton to O’Dwyer,who had the lead at the exchangewith Stravach, who finished downthe home stretch with a hugekick.

“I knew we were seeded first,so I tried to keep the lead. Thenat the end, I got second by alittle, but I knew that everyoneelse would [do well]. We went toSummit last week. Actually, Iadded time since Summit, butthis team overall did a lot bet-ter,” Mermer said.

“Basically, we were just be-hind, so I just looked at her back

and went for it. I think it’s reallyexciting we have two sophomoresand a junior. It will be exciting forthe future. I don’t know what mytime was, but I think I did well. Ifelt fast,” Burtness said.

“I was a little nervous at first,

because Lily passed the girl, andI thought now I have to keep thisplace. Once I got in, I realized wewere a lot more ahead. At theend, I thought someone was rightbehind me, so I sprinted,”O’Dwyer said.

“When I got the baton, I sawthat Meghan had a pretty decentlead. I tried to keep up our lead,because the rest worked really

hard to get us there,” Stravachsaid.

Cougars Amanda Bush, LauraVan Horn, Megan Romanovichand Keara Reilly finished sev-enth at 14:20.67.

Cougars Ashley McGuire,

Regine Hunter, Kate Dezer andBryanna Grant finished first inthe shuttle hurdles at 1:07.88.The same foursome also finishedsecond in the 4x100 at 52.27.Grant also had the best height in

the pole vault at 9-0.“We ran the hurdles and we

came in first in our heat. We didmuch better than last time, go-ing over the hurdles. I went overat nine feet in the pole vault and4-8 in the high jump so far. Icould go 9-6, but my back washurting a little bit, so I juststopped at the nine,” Grant saidbefore competing in her stron-gest event, the triple jump.

“I ran the 4x100 earlier and wecame in second in our heat. Wehave a new 4x1 team, so thatwas our debut. We did really wellfor our first time running to-gether. We ran the hurdles andwe came in first,” Hunter said.

Grant and Hunter placed 1-2 inthe triple jump with respectivedistances of 36-6.5 and 36-5.Blue Devil Mae Devin took sec-ond in the pole vault at 8-6.Hunter had the second-best leapin the long jump at 16-4, andBlue Devil Elena Chermak wasthird at 16-2.5.

Blue Devils Meghan Reilly at113-7 and Christina Mosco at104-0 had the second- and third-best tosses to win the javelinrelay. Cougar Alex Krowicki hadthe sixth-best toss of 91-4.

Burtness, Natalie Marcotullio,Stravach and O’Dwyer finishedsecond in the 4x800 at 9:54.18.Burtness, Jenna Helfand,Marcotullio and Amanda Fischertook second in the 4x400 at4:06.3. Cougars AlbertaMcAleavey, Jen Schneider, Bushand Reilly finished eighth at4:38.71. Amanda Fischer, LizziePonce, Chermak and Helfandplaced second in the 4x200 at1:48.8.

WF BOYS, GIRLS WIN DMR; WF BOYS WIN 4X4; COUGARS GRANT, HUNTER WIN TRIPLE JUMP

Blue Devils Win Overall Total at Cougar Invitational Relays

Probitas Verus Honos

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesRECEIVING THE BATON IN THE DMR…Westfield Blue Devil Kevin Smith receives the baton from Mike Reilly tostart the final leg of the Distance Medley Relay. The Blue Devils won the event.

Story on pages 11 & 13

of The Westfield Leader





In the boys’ meet, Blue DevilsPat Terry (1200), Josh Capistrano(400), Michael Reilly (800) andKevin Smith (1600) captured firstin the DMR with a time of

10:52.49. The foursome was inthird position in each of the threehandoffs, but Smith inched hisway on the front runners thenpoured it on down the stretch to

cross first. Cougars ConnorMcMahon, Zach Inselberg,Brendan Donovan and KevinSzczech finished eighth at11:35.92.

“The start was really messy. Igot buried behind some guys, sothe rest of the race, I had tomove up and put us in a positionwhere we were still in the race,”Terry said.

“When I saw that I didn’t havethe lead, I tried to catch up, butI think I shortened their lead.Mike Reilly tried to catch up withthe 8[00],” Capistrano said.

“Before I even went on andstarted running, all the guys said,‘Mike! You got to make up thatdistance. You got to go!’ I wentout really hard for the first 400and was way under-paced. I wasreally tired and tried to make upthe distance, so Kevin wouldn’thave to work as hard,” Reillysaid.

“I knew I had to run hard to

make up the gap. I knew if I gotout in the first lap, got into agood position where I knew Icould key off the guy, then Iwould be able to finish on the last

lap and have a chance of catch-ing him,” Smith said.

Smith and Terry were part ofthe Blue Devil foursome, along

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Blue Devil Boys, Girls Take First Overall, Cougars Fifth at Cougar Track & Field Relays





with Dan Luzzi and Matt Luppino,who recently placed first in the4x800 at the Holmdel Twilightmeet, so his efforts in the 800 hashelped with his kick in the DMR.

“The 800 is a lot of finishing

speed. That trains me well for mykicks in longer races,” Smith said.

Blue Devils Adam Lupicki, JoeObiajulu, Smith and Sid Douglastook top honors in the 4x400 at3:26.94. Cougars Matt Mustillo,

Matt Van Pelt, Hale Jeager andJoe DaSilva finished sixth in theevent at 3:49.12.

Cougars Jake Waleski, MikeHelmstetter, William Lennox andReggie Green finished second inthe 4x100 with a time of 45.42.Blue Devils Douglas, Lupicki,Lizzo and Jon Savorgiannakis fin-ished seventh at 46.11.

“We did really well today. Ourhandoffs allowed us to come insecond. In practice, we have beenworking on it a lot and gettingour timing down. I have the 400[leg of the Sprint Medley Relay —SMR] left to do, so I am excitedabout that. It is a good day fortrack and field,” Green said afterthe event.

Green also had his eye on thetriple jump in hopes of eventu-ally topping former teammateAdham McGuire’s school record.

“Adham is gone, so I can takehis record now,” Chuckled Green.“So I’m looking forward to thejump today. I am slowly gettingback into it. It’s day by day work-ing my legs back in the triplejump,” Green said.

Green had a distance of 37-1 inthe event. Savorgiannakis hadthe seventh-best distance of 40-1.5 and Lupicki was 11th at 38-1. Green, Tim Colter, Lennox andMcMahon placed fourth in theSMR at 3:50.77. Colter, DonavinWalker, Luke Eltringham and JackSchetelich took fifth in the 4x110hurdles at 1:15.26.

Blue Devils Peter Fagan at 13-0 and Peter Foltz at 12-0 took 1-2 in the pole vault. CougarsHelmstetter at 10-6 and DanHannen at 10-0 took 5-6. BlueDevils Obiajulu at 6-0 and MitchellBryk at 5-6 had the third and11th best heights in the highjump. Cougars Rob Kessler at127-7 and Rob O’Shaughnessyat 123-3 had the fourth and fifthbest tosses in the discus.O’Shaughnessy was fourth in theshot put at 41-0.5 and Kessler

was ninth at 39-8. Blue DevilMax Bohall had the eighth-bestthrow in the javelin at 132-9,followed by Kessler at 132-0.

Cougars Waleski had the fourth-best time in the 400-hurdles at1:00.13 and James Budriesturned in a time of 1:04.12. Blue

Devils Dalton Herzog, JasonColasanti, Mike Esler and AndresChang finished fifth in the 4x800at 8:41.51.

Blue Devil Boys, Girls Take First Overall, Cougars Fifth at Cougar Track & Field Relays






By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Offense overcame strong pitch-ing in the fifth inning, at least, forthe Cranford High School Cou-gars, who exploded for sevenruns on seven hits to separatethemselves from a slight, 4-3lead and roll to an 11-5 victoryover the Westfield Blue Devils atMemorial Field in Cranford onApril 11.

The 4-0 Cougars received of-fensive production across theboard from all of their startinglineup. With a large contingent ofseniors, including four with fouryears of varsity experience onteams that have accumulated twoUnion County Tournament, two

BLUE DEVIL ANDROCONIS GETS 3 HITS; COUGARS WILLIAMSON, TROTTER BIG ON OFFENSE

Cougars Strike in 5th, Defeat Baseball Blue Devils, 11-5North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3and two Group 3 titles, the Cou-gars banged out 14 hits, whichincluded three doubles and atriple.

“They are a very solid team.Whenever they needed a hit, theygot a hit. That’s the differencebetween their guys and our guysright now. Our guys are just ten-tative in those situations. Theywent out, swung the bat, hit theball real well and made plays,”Blue Devil Head Coach BobBrewster said.

Blue Devil starting pitcher BradDeMartino was locked in a duelwith Cougar John Armstrong, whorecently tossed a two-hitter in anopening-season victory overMemorial, N.Y., up until the fifth

inning. In the first four innings,DeMartino yielded no more thantwo hits in any given inning, whilewalking none and striking outfour.

“DeMartino, up until that fifthinning when everything sort offell in on him, pitched a wail of aballgame. If we made a few playshere-and-there, it may have beena little closer, but they are anexplosive team. They got goodplayers. They love to swing thebat,” Coach Brewster said.

Cougar seniors Sean Feeney,Andrew DiFrancesco, ChrisFolinusz and junior Tommy Trot-ter accounted for 10 hits, nineRBI and seven runs scored.Feeney yanked a two-run tripleand scored twice. DiFrancesco

went 3-for-4 with an RBI and arun scored. Folinusz drilled anRBI double and scored once. Inhis last two at-bats, Trotterrapped a two-run double andadded an RBI single, while scor-ing once. Williamson went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.

“At first, I wasn’t waiting longenough. Then third at-bat, I justsat back and hit a nice shot. Thatone inning, with two on, we justkept hitting and hitting. That’swhat we had to do,” Trotter said.

“We started hitting later on inthe game. We started makingplays, and we found a lot ofholes. There were a lot of guysmaking contact with the ball,”Williamson said.

Designated hitter Sam Sheerer

contributed a double and a singleand scored twice. Jake Forrestalhopped an RBI single and scoredonce. John Oblachinski singledand Alex Plick scored once.

The 2-4 Blue Devils totaled ninehits, and Mike Androconis led thesquad with three hits and a runscored in four at-bats. MattStorcks moved up to the leadoffspot and delivered with a two-run double and a single, whilescoring once in four at-bats. EricDemers slashed an RBI doubleand a single, while scoring twicein four at-bats. Tyler Bowmansingled and scored, and ChrisArena added a single.

With his off-speed pitches,Armstrong managed to prevent

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesSLIDING SAFELY INTO HOME…Cougar Jak Forrestal, No. 4, slides safely home as Blue Devilcatcher Mike Ionta makes the tag in the fifth inning. The Cougars scored seven runs in the inning.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesBIG AFTERNOON AT THE PLATE…Cougar leadoff hitter Tommy Trotter whacked a two-rundouble in the fourth inning and added an RBI single in the fifth.





the Blue Devils from getting abreakout inning until the sixthwhen he gave up three straight

hits before being relieved by MattRavetier. Armstrong hit a batter,yielded one walk and fanned one.

“He pitched really well. He hasbeen pitching phenomenally.Hopefully, he can do it again nexttime,” Trotter said.

Ravetier completed the finaltwo innings and allowed just onehit and a walk, while fanning one.

DeMartino got into a jam in thesecond inning with runners onsecond and third with one outbut escaped by fanning the nextbatter and getting the next toground out. The Blue Devils thenscored first after Storcks, whosingled and moved to secondwhen Boyle took a curveball tothe back, scored on a throwingerror.

In the bottom of the third,Feeney was on second andDiFrancesco was on first andpulled off a double steal whenFolinusz struck out. Williamsonstepped up and drilled his two-run single to right. Williamson

added his third single in the de-cisive fifth inning.

“It was a hit-and-run. They

stole, so I got two RBI on thatplay. I didn’t see too many off-

Cranford Cougar Baseballers Plate Seven Runs in Fifth, Defeat Westfield Blue Devils, 11-5

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Blue Devil Jacob Boyle

Blue Devil Tyler Bowman

Cougar Andrew DiFrancesco

Cougar

Chris Folinusz

Eric Demers, No. 13

Cougar Sean Feeney





David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesCOUGAR ATHLETES OF THE WEEK...Ashley McGuire, a junior on the varsity track and field team, helped the relayteam to several top four finishes this past weekend at the Cougar Relays. Alex Ballas, a junior attacker on the varsitylacrosse team, had 10 goals and four assists this past week and a total of 18 points this season.

Photo on page 18

of The Westfield Leader

Baseball Cougars RipLinden Tigers, 12-4

The Cranford High School base-ball team improved to 3-0 with a12-4 rout of Linden on April 9.Chris Folinusz (double, 3 RBI, 2runs scored), George Georgeadisand Sean Feeney (3 runs scored)each whacked a triple for theCougars, and Ryan Williamsonadded two RBI.Cranford 113 601 0 12Linden 120 001 0 4

Cougar Laxers DefeatMo-Town Boys, 7-3

The Cranford High School boyslacrosse team held a slim, 3-2,lead at the half then stepped it upto defeat Morristown, 7-3, inCranford on April 10. Alex Ballasscored a pair of goals in each halfand added an assist for the 3-2Cougars. Cam Kutzer, MarkChristiano and Tom Murphy eachnetted a goal and an assist, whileStefan Fedorchak and TomFitzgerald each added an assist.Ryan Shupp made 10 saves.Morristown (2-2) 2 0 1 0 3Cranford 3 0 3 1 7

Cougar Laxmen NipMontclair KimberleyDan Murphy fired in four goals

and Tom Fitzgerald netted twogoals and two assist to lead the4-2 Cranford High School boyslacrosse team to an 8-7 victoryover 4-2 Montclair Kimberley inCranford on April 13. LukeChristiano added a goal and anassist, and goalkeeper RyanShupp made 13 saves.Mont. Kimberley 1 1 1 4 7Cranford 1 2 3 2 8

Baseball Cougars TopUnion Farmers, 3-0

Ryan Williamson tossed a four-hitter and struck out four as the5-0 Cranford High School base-ball team shutout the UnionFarmers, 3-0, on April 16. JohnOblachinski, Tommy Trotter andAlex Plick each had an RBI, andAndrew DiFrancesco had a doubleand scored once.Union 000 000 0 0Cranford 001 110 x 3

Cougar SnacksCougar SnacksCougar SnacksCougar SnacksCougar Snacks

speed pitches today. He threwme two fastballs early and hethrew me another curveball,which I was fortunate to get a hitoff of,” Williamson explained.

“When you got a kid like that,who is the Player of the Year inUnion County and an All-Stateplayer, he [Folinusz] doesn’tstrike out very often. That goesto show you what kind of pitcherDeMartino can be. He can getsome of these kids,” CoachBrewster said.

Androconis led off the fourthwith a squibbling infield singleand a bobbled ball. Demersslapped an RBI double then when

Bowman tapped a bunt back tothe mound, Armstrong grabbedthe ball and threw wide of third,allowing Demers to score.

“Cranford booted the ballaround a couple of times. That’snot a Cranford team, but whenwe make contact, things hap-pened. When we hit fly balls,they are easy outs,” CoachBrewster commented.

Trotter cracked his two-rundouble in the fourth to give theCougars a 4-3 lead then themerry-go-round of seven runsput them in the driver’s seat.Colin Dursee relieved in the sev-enth and got all three Cougars

out.“DeFrancesco has killed us in

the past. The guy we still haven’tfigured out is Williamson. He hasbeen a nemesis to us for fouryears. Williamson, Folinusz andDeFrancesco. These are specialplayers! It’s fun to play againstgood players, because you hopeour kids pick something up fromthem. They never say anything.They just play the game the wayit’s supposed to, and you lovethat as a coach,” Coach Brewstersaid.Westfield 001 202 0 5Cranford 002 270 x 11

Cougars Plate Seven in Fifth, Beat Blue Devils, 11-5


Jacob Boyle





CRANFORD – Around 3:30a.m. every morning, two hugewater pumps are turned on atNomahegan Lake. In threehours, the pumps will drain thenorthern half of the lake so thatwork crews can start their day,bringing in the heavy equip-ment needed to remove whatthey jokingly refer to as “thesoup,” the watery mix of or-ganic sediment that has builtup over the years on the lakebottom.

When they are done with thenorthern half of the lake in an-other week or so, work crewswill shift to the southern end,hoping to have that cleared bythe end of April. In May, therewill be new plantings and shore-line restoration work.

Last fall, the Union CountyBoard of Freeholders approveda $1,495,358 contract to Let ItGrow Inc. of River Edge for theproject in Nomahegan, one ofthe most popular parks in theUnion County Park System.

The restoration of the 7.5-acre lake follows the rehabilita-tion of Upper Echo Lake in EchoLake Park and is part of a four-lake restoration plan that in-cludes Rahway River Park inRahway, Briant Park in Summitand Meisel Avenue Park inSpringfield.

“These man-made lakes areamong the most attractive andpopular features in our parks,and as with any built environ-ment they need periodic resto-ration to ensure a long andhealthy lifespan,” FreeholderChairwoman Linda Carter said.“Our goal is to preserve them

for the enjoyment of UnionCounty residents for many yearsto come.”

Extensive plantings plannedfor along the Nomahegan Lakeshoreline are designed to re-duce silt infiltration into the lakeand to make it more difficult forCanada Geese to have easy ac-cess to the water, which thendiscourages flocks from remain-ing in the park.

Two new aerators will be in-stalled in the lake, along withseveral areas lined with glaci-ated boulders to enable accessto the water for fishing.

When the lake was drained inmid-March, the resident fishwere collected and relocated toEcho Lake Park. And it was quitea catch, with more than 85 large-mouth bass, 1,300 sunfish, 320crappies, and a number of otherspecies all safely transported totheir new home.

Several invasive species, in-cluding carp, were found. How-ever, state environmental regu-lations prohibit those fish frombeing relocated.

In addition to the lake resto-ration and new paths, new drain-age piping will be installed inthe baseball field area to theeast of the lake. Nearly 1,700feet of perforated pipe will helpdrain the field area more quicklyafter rainstorms.

In addition, the sections offield affected by the project areexpected to be reseeded by mid-April and should be playable bymid-May, according to the con-tractors.

An estimated 46,400 cubicyards of soil was excavated in1930 to create the lake, whichholds an estimated 9.8 milliongallons of water. The lake is fedby a tributary of the RahwayRiver.

Councilman Mathieu Calls For A NewRepublican Party in Garwood

In Garwood’s Republican Pri-mary on June 4th, Republicanvoters must decide if they wishto stay with the establishmentRepublican Party and their Demo-crat positions on taxes, spend-ing, and debt or go in a newdirection of reform, tax relief,debt reduction, and spendingdiscipline. In order to keepGarwood affordable for all itscurrent and future residents, weneed a Republican Party that is aconsistent advocate for its tax-payers. The special interests andtheir spending constituencies aremore than well-represented! Butwho will stand up for the men andwomen who go to work everydayand pay Garwood’s exorbitanttaxes? Who will stand up for thesenior citizens who built our bor-ough and now struggle on fixedincomes that are falling behindour ever-increasing taxes? Whowill ensure that their childrenand grandchildren don’t have tomove out of our borough and ourstate in search of a lower cost-of-living?

To be a voice for the taxpayers,Garwood needs a new Republi-can Party and that is why I havechosen to run as a ConservativeRepublican in June 4th’s GarwoodRepublican Primary.

I am building a new GarwoodRepublican Party that standsupon low tax, low debt, smallgovernment, and free marketprinciples. I took a pledge neverto support a tax increase when Iran for Council in 2010, and withmy “no” vote on the 2013 budgeton April 9th, I have kept mypledge. The only problem is Ihaven’t had anyone else to vote“No” with me the last three years

— not even my fellow Republi-cans! Republicans should bringnew, fresh, alternative ideas tothe table instead of the old taxand spend model New Jersey isrejecting. I bear no ill will towardmy establishment Republicancolleagues, I just believe thatRepublicans should sometimesbe different from Democrats,particularly when it comes totaxes, spending and debt.

Because the Garwood Republi-can Party lacks such ideas, ourborough is missing the benefitsmade possible by the bipartisanreforms of the Christie adminis-tration

If Garwood Republican leadersvote the same way as GarwoodDemocrats, then why should any-one vote Republican? We alreadyhave a fine Democrat Party in ourborough made up of good, hon-est citizens who are our friendsand neighbors, and who havetheir own ideas about how tomanage our borough. I havecome to know their leaders per-sonally over these last three yearsand they are people of characterand substance. We need a fresh,new Republican Party thatcomplements and challengesthem, not one that criticizesDemocrats when they are inpower only to do the same exactthings when Republicans takecharge.

We need a Republican Partythat has the determination, for-titude, and courage of its con-victions to avoid being co-optedby the tax and spend lobbies.Sometimes there needs to bepolicy struggles between the twoparties, and within parties them-selves, to bring forth the best

ideas we have to offer. AGarwood Republican Party withDemocrat ideas and votingrecords will offer no such newideas.

So Garwood’s Republican vot-ers can judge for themselves, Iam putting before them myrecord of taxpayer advocacy,support for cost-cutting, opposi-tion to tax increases and exces-sive debt, and in favor of bring-ing new and innovative solutionsto local government.

I humbly ask for the honor ofthe Republican nomination onJune 4th in order to compete inNovember’s General Election asa Republican.

Jim MathieuGarwood Councilman

Local Letter to the Editor

CF’s Nomahegan LakeRenovation Progressing

Dinner on SaturdayTo Aid Local Squad

GARWOOD – The Garwood FirstAid Squad will hold its Third An-nual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiserthis Saturday, April 20, from 4 to9 p.m. It will take place at theGarwood Knights of ColumbusCouncil Hall, located at 37 SouthAvenue.

For $10, attendees will have anopportunity to enjoy a meal ofspaghetti, meatballs, salad andmore. Tickets are $8 for seniorcitizens and $5 for children. Thoseage 5 and younger may attendfor free.

The Garwood First Aid Squad isa non-profit, all-volunteer orga-nization that relies on donationsto continue to provide free emer-gency medical services to any-one who needs it. In 2012, thesquad responded to more than300 calls for service in Garwoodand its surrounding communi-ties. For additional information,call (908) 789-0300.


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Ballyhoo - goleader.com · start the final leg of the Distance Medley ... Ballyhoo New Jersey Sports, Humor and Commentary Page S-2 Thursday, April 18, 2013 goleader.com/ballyhoo