Ben has been an elementary school counselor and high school track coach for the better part of the past 20 years. The son of 1976 Olympic decathlete Fred Samara, Princeton University's head coach for more than 40 years, the sport runs through his blood. This past weekend, Ben's Princeton High School boys won their County championship for the second time in five years, overcoming a multitude of obstacles to take the title.
More from The Trentonian (original article from Kyle Franco can be found here):
ROBBINSVILLE — Things looked so bleak for the Princeton High boys track & field team after the first day of the Mercer County Tournament Meet that coach Ben Samara considered resting star Zach Della Rocca given the adverse weather conditions for day two and what is still at stake this season.
The Tigers had hopes of capturing the county title this weekend, but after Della Rocca, the standout sprinter, didn’t get to the line in time to compete in the 400 and top-seeded discus thrower Oleg Brennan fouled out, PHS was down 20 points it thought was in the bank.
But Samara’s charges weren’t going to let that adversity, plus the Saturday morning downpour, stop them. Quallen, a junior, leapt a personal-best 44-11.25 to win the triple jump on day one and then returned on day two to take fourth in the long jump (19-10.00) and run in the 4×100 as the Tigers picked up six key points with a surprise third-place finish despite running in the second of three heats.
“It gives you confidence,” Quallen said of his PR in the triple. “I went in on the first jump, and it wasn’t my best jump, but it kind of opened me up and I just let it rip on the second and third one trying to hold that lead. That opened us up to maybe winning so that made me want to try other events. I’m not really a long jumper, I don’t really run the 4×100, but I wanted to do it for my team.”
That’s what the county meet is all about: trying to score points for the team.
The Tigers also got a 10-point first place from the 4×800 of Marty Brophy, Andrew Kenny, Charles Howes and Joshua Barzilai, which finished in 8:17.69. Brophy was third in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600, Kenny was second in the 800 and Sean Wilton (shot put, discuss) and Devin Levy (javelin) got key points in the throws.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Quallen said. “What we tell our team every day is it’s going to be rainy, it’s going to suck and everyone is going to be like I’m not going to do well and we got to push through that and that’s the culture we are building on the team. That’s how we train our athletes.”
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