LITTLE SILVER – Red Bank Regional (RBR) football player Junior Nigel Mitchell (Red Bank) always knew he was fast; but in conditioning for football in the off-season he found a second sport in track and field, and what a career it is shaping up to be! After only two seasons on the track, Nigel became RBR’s first state champion runner in over a decade, winning the 200 meter dash at the NJ Group 3 championship at Central Regional High School with a blazing time of 21.73. Prior to the championship, he had won the Monmouth County Championship 200 meter dash as well as the NJ Group 3 North 2 200 meter sectional championship. He was also the runner up in the NJ Group 3 100 meter dash with a time of 10.93. He also contributed to breaking the school 4x100 meter relay record along with fellow teammates Trey Soya, Brycen Greco and Alex Terody who ran the school record-breaking time of 43.16 at the NJ Group 3 North 2 sectional championships placing second overall, and qualifying for the Group 3 State Championship meet.
Nigel loves football, and has played from an early age. As RBR’s wide receiver, running back and cornerback he plans to play football in college. One of his football coaches, Danny Mendoza, has been mentoring Nigel and encouraged him to try track as a sophomore. Coach Mendoza took over the responsibilities as the boys and girls sprinters coach in the spring of 2017. Nigel got a taste of what he was capable of during his sophomore year but really hunkered down and devoted himself to training in early March for the 2018 track season
Nigel states, “In the first season, I came in second a lot and everyone congratulated me, but I was not happy, so I came into this season knowing that I wanted to be first because I dislike the feeling of coming in any place but first place. I like to live by the quote ‘If you are not first you are last.’”
Coach Mendoza says of his star runner, “He started winning and got addicted to winning and therefore started to work harder and harder. He came into this season with a great work ethic and dedicated himself to the track.”
Coach Mendoza feels great gratification is watching Nigel grow and achieve great success from the 5’7” 140-pound freshman he first encountered to the 5’11” 175-pound strong young man with great speed who has dedicated himself completely to the track and the football field.
He adds, “He is cashing checks now. I like to tell my athletes, ‘you work Monday through Friday so you can cash your check on Saturday which is usually meet day.’ He understands that hard work pays off and he still has a lot left to go. We expect a lot of good things from him for this year’s football season and even bigger things on the track.”
In addition to Nigel’s great success, RBR has concluded one of its best spring track and field seasons in recent memory with four athletes advancing to the Meet of Champions. Sophomore Maggie Cahill (Shrewsbury), took the 100 meter dash Monmouth County Championship along with placing second at the NJ Group 3 North 2 sectional championship, and placed sixth overall in the Group 3 State Championship 100 meter dash final. Junior Brendan Loftus (Little Silver) was the NJ Group 3 North 2 sectional champion and placed second in the NJ Group 3 state championship meet in the shot put. Charlotte Cochrane (Little Silver) also qualified for the Meet of Champions in the 1600m and placed 4th overall in NJ Group 3 in the 3200m.
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