This was fun last year, so we’re going to do it again! Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.
Today: John Froelich, Overbrook
Froelich was South Jersey’s fastest sophomore quarter-miler this year, PRing with a 48.96 when he placed 3rd at South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Delsea. That made him Overbrook’s fastest 400 runner in 20 years, since Brian Gibson ran 48.84 at the 2005 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.
The only other Overbrook runners to runfaster than Froelich are Kenny Moore [47.4 hand-timed at the 1984 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield] and John Golden [48.0 hand-timed at the 1993 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township]. Both were seniors.
Froelich ran 51.83 indoors at Ocean Breeze but PR’d in his outdoor opener with a 50.10 at FAT Wednesday at Cherokee and then broke 50 for the first time a week later with a 49.77 at South Jersey Elite at Delsea. He PR’d again with a 49.51 when he won the Tri-County Championships, also at Delsea, and then dropped to that 48.96 at sectionals. He ran a near-PR 49.38 at states at South Plainfield, finishing behind only seniors Jermain Nelson of Pleasantville and Kyle Greenleaf of Barnegat.
The only faster sophomore in New Jersey this year was Nishanth Tamma of Monroe Township, who ran 47.84 at West Philly Nationals.
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From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 