Holy Spirit HS Wins 4x800 In A Race Against Time
Holy Spirit High School capitalized on their potential at the 2019 Non-Public Group B NJSIAA Championships at Franklin High School in Somerset, NJ. Holy Spirit athletes scored points with a top six finish 23 times and claimed the state title on four of those occasions.
Despite showing promise in recent championship meets—especially among Holy Spirit’s relay teams—the impending departure of key seniors meant that this was their year. Under the state’s greatest spotlight, Holy Spirit’s athletes did not disappoint.
In the boys’ 400-meter dash, three Holy Spirit runners scored points, finishing in 1st, 3rd, and 5th places. Ahmad Brown won the race for the Spartans with a time of 50.32, while Elijah Steward finished third with a time of 51.73 and Terrell Moore rounded out the race with a 52.23 fifth-place finish.
Holy Spirit Senior Matt Keidat finished second in the boys’ 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.35, which is a personal best for Keidat. He, along with the top 3 finishers in each event, will take on the all-group Meet of Champions as a result.
Junior De-Quawn Johnson Jr. placed second in the boys’ 100-meter dash finals, followed closely by Devin Lee who placed third with a time of 11.52. Both runners scored key points for the Spartans in their eventual second-place team finish in the state championships.
The most interesting story in Holy Spirit’s surprise second place finish in the Non-Public B championships, though, was the success of their relay teams.
Longtime Holy Spirit sprint coaches French and Pfiefer tinkered with the construction of their relay teams starting all the way back in April of last year. Though Holy Spirit had a steady supply of raw, talented runners they had not put together a string of success. Until now, that is.
The boys’ 4x100, 4x400, and 4x800-meter relays were all an open contest up until the week before the state championship meet. In each event, there were roughly six challengers vying for a vaunted spot on one of Holy Spirit’s relay teams.
In the races preceding the state meet, Coach Pfiefer rested the locked-in runners and let the rest battle it out for the final spots. In the boys’ 4x800 races, locks Jack Cella and Matt Keidat were rested while Nick Bannan, Jimmie Pontari, Diego Taggart, Tom Finan, and Brady Snyder battled to be the last two runners in the state meet.
In tight races leading up to the final decision, Holy Spirit runners battled tight races separated by a single, momentous stride that would decide the relay lineup. When the dust settled, Brady Snyder and Diego Taggart edged out the field by mere seconds to make the final sectional and state championship rosters.
The Sectional Championships didn’t go as planned for the Spartans’ 4x800-meter relay team. Despite being the famed 1-seed in the Non-Public B South section and having the best 800 runner in the section, the Spartans got behind early. A respectable comeback effort by sectional champion Matt Keidat couldn’t overcome the Spartans’ early deficit, and they finished second in the sectional championship race.
That put them as the two seed going into the NJSIAA State Championships. A high-stakes rematch with Immaculata High School, the team the Spartans had just suffered a crushing defeat to in the Sectional Championships, would decide the State Champion in the 4x800-meter relay.
Holy Spirit was not unfamiliar with being the underdog, though. In fact, they thrive in this role. Just last year, a Holy Spirit 4x800-meter relay team was put together just weeks before the postseason track meets were due to begin.
In spite of this, the young 4x800-meter relay team surprised the rest of the state under the utmost pressure. Holy Spirit’s 2018 4x800-meter relay team shocked Non-Public B with a second place finish in the Sectional Championships and a fourth place finish in the State Championships.
This year, however, the Spartans had expectations. With senior Matt Keidat due to depart for Stockton University the following year, they were literally ‘racing’ against time to capitalize on their potential and capitalize they did.
The Spartans got out fast in the 2019 4x800-meter relay, with leadoff man Jack Cella turning in the first 800 meter run in first place by a single stride. After a clean handoff to Brady Snyder, the Spartans hung with Immaculata through the first lap, but Immaculata began to pull away and create some distance between the two schools.
By the next baton transfer, Snyder trimmed down Immaculata’s lead and made a successful transfer to Diego Taggart. Once again, Taggart got the job done and trimmed down the deficit even further.
When it was ace anchor Matt Keidat’s turn to take the baton, the deficit was minimal and manageable for the fastest 800-meter runner in Non-Public B South. Keidat recalled, “I looked ahead and realized the lead wasn’t as big as before [in the 2019 Non-Public B Sectional Championships].”
In just a single 400-meter lap, Keidat had significantly closed the gap between Holy Spirit and Immaculata. By the 500-meter mark of his relay, they were dead even. Immaculata’s anchor made a valiant effort to maintain their lead over the Spartans, but it was not enough. Keidat had wanted this his entire life, and he wasn’t going to lose this race.
In what felt like a two-minute blur to many on Holy Spirit’s squad, Keidat had dominantly overtaken Immaculata’s relay team to secure the Spartans’ first place finish in the 4x800 meter relay.
The 4x400 and 4x100-meter relays did their jobs as well, finishing in first and second places, respectively. In their one moment to make their mark on the track, the Holy Spirit Track and Field relay teams fulfilled their potential on the state’s most daunting stage.
Overall, the Holy Spirit Track and Field team lost to Immaculata in total points, and Immaculata was crowned the State Champion of Non-Public B. However, the dominant individual and relay performances by Holy Spirit’s runners were a spectacular display of their talent, potential, and coaching.
