By TOM WILLIAMS

Indoor track is not a Cape-Atlantic League sport (though it easily could be). There are few available sites that can handle the state’s larger meets, forcing the NJSIAA to hold its Meet of Champions in New York.

But Ocean City High School has fielded an indoor team during the winter season for decades. The teams were coached during the recently ended second decade by Debbie Cathcart, Bill Moreland, Kevin Greene and Matt Purdue and they had success. In fact, Purdue’s boys and girls teams both finished second in the South Jersey Group 3 Meet over the weekend.

Despite the absence of a CAL championship, an OCHS All-Decade Indoor Track team  appears here for the first time, covering the seasons from 2010-19. And a boy who was two-time state champion and a girl who holds two school records in the same events are the Indoor Track Athletes of the Decade.

Miles Schoedler was a state champion in both the 800 meters and 1600 meters and holds the school record in the 1600. He traveled all over the country, having been invited to run in some of the top indoor events in the USA. Schoedler, who was also the OCHS Cross Country Runner of the Decade and the Outdoor Track Athlete of the Decade, adds a third accomplishment as Boys Indoor Track Athlete of the Decade.

Bridget Flynn not only holds the school record for both the 800 and 1600 meters, she is also part of the top 4×400 meter relay team of the decade. Like Schoedler, she was selected the Athlete of the Decade in Outdoor Track. That type of success also earns her the title of Girls Indoor Track Athlete of the Decade.

Not that there weren’t many other very successful athletes on the all-decade teams.

For the boys, Josh Rolls was the choice in the 55 and 200 meters (he holds the school record in the 200); Matt Zelinski gets the nod in the 400; Erik Johnson, who won the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, joins Schoedler in the 1600; school record holder Kevin Scott is the choice in the 3200; another record holder Kevin King in the 55 hurdles; and the team of Zelinski, Louis Conte, Sean Zellers and Tyler Greene in the 4×400 relay, where they hold the school record.

Off the track, there is state champion and record holder Jim O’Connor in the high jump; record holder Ryan Givens in the long jump; record holder Liam Bergman in the triple jump; Mike Oberg in the pole vault; and Jim Rice in the shot put.

On the girls side, Sophie Gresham was remarkable, earning four spots on the all-decade team, including the 55 and 200 meters. Rachel Stremme is the choice in the 400 meters; Meet of Champions winner Devon Grisbaum in the 3200; Devon Terwilliger in the 55 hurdles; and the quartet of Stremme, Flynn, Cierra Granger and Shannon Tarves in the 4×400.

In the non-running events, Gresham is the choice in the long jump and triple jump; Rachel Wright in the high jump; school record holder Maryann Oberg in the pole vault; and school record holder Maddie Bradway in the shot put.

More about OCHS indoor track is available here.

Up next – the OCHS Swim Teams of the 2nd Decade.