Watching the Robbinsville High softball team last spring, the first thing that often jumped out to people was how shockingly fast the Ravens’ leadoff hitter got from home to first base. Every grounder, no matter how hard-hit, became exciting due to the blazing speed.
Often times, when Chelsea Manto arrived at first safely, the umpire would say to her, “Wow, do you run track?”
The answer is yes.
Softball is Manto’s first love, and she is outstanding at it. But the sophomore could also be one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s top spring track performers if she chose to, just based on what she does in the winter.
Following in the footsteps of sister Gabby, who is now playing softball and running cross country and winter track at Ursinus, Manto went out for track last winter.
In her third month of organized running, she promptly finished second in the Central Jersey Group II 400 meters (59.98) and third in the 55 (7.54) while anchoring the first-place 4×400 relay team. She then finished eighth in the 400 at the Group II state meet in 60.42, which earned her a wild card berth at the Meet of Champions. She lowered that time to 60.17 and finished 20th.
“I definitely surprised myself,” Manto said. “I wasn’t expecting to be going to the states and Meet of Champions my first year.”
When asked how good Manto could be if she focused on track year-round, Ravens’ winter coach Kristina Fisher chuckled.
“Am I allowed to answer that, I’m not sure,” she said. “Actually, she would be amazing in the 400, 200 and 100. But I know her heart lies with softball. She’s played it ever since she was young. She was on the Little League World Series champion team that year they won.”
When Manto started softball, she was immediately the fastest girl on her team and was used as a pinch-runner. Once she began playing soccer and basketball and started taking softball more seriously, her dad began to realize what an asset her speed was and switched her from the right side of the plate to the left at age 10.
‘Her positive attitude and mindset, that is who she is all the time.’
When Manto reached high school, she had wearied of basketball and decided on winter track. Unlike Gabby, who ran distance, Manto was a sprinter all the way.
“She was the entire opposite of me,” Manto said. “But I wasn’t going anywhere with basketball, and I was looking for another winter sport, so track it was. I figured I was generally good at it, so why not?”
Fisher had no initial plans on what events to run Manto, but it didn’t take long to figure out where to put her.
“We had a scrimmage last year and she came out thinking she wanted to sprint,” Fisher said. “She was just going out to have a good time. I asked her what her best time was, she had no idea. In our first scrimmage, she ran a 62 in the four-by-four we said ‘OK, it’s over. She’s a sprinter.’ We opened with the Ocean Breeze Freedom games, and she got to the 55 finals and ran a 7.48 (still a personal best). I said ‘Oh my God, this girl is legit.”
Aided by talented senior teammate Bonvie Fosam and Fisher, Manto continued to improve over her 9th-grade season. This fall, Manto decided soccer was no longer a sport of choice, so she opted for cross country and became one of Robbinsville’s top seven runners.
“I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would,” she said. “I like the team aspect of it. It was similar to track but a lot different in a lot of ways.”
The biggest difference is that the Colonial Valley Conference does not have a winter dual meet season, which is why Manto enjoyed the team camaraderie so much in cross country.
“I really liked how the team was all together,” she said. “Also, the races. There’s just one race, you all warmed up together, you all raced together and warmed down together. In track, a lot of it is more by yourself.”
It’s also a whole different running style.
“When you’re on blocks, you kind of have a little more help to get you to go faster,” Manto said. “When you’re standing up, you have to accelerate instead of popping up. It was different, but I adjusted well to it.”
Although cross country workouts don’t really jive with what sprinters need to do, Fisher felt that Manto’s experience as a harrier (which she plans to continue next year) helped her this winter.
“It definitely helps her out because she’s got a stronger connection with the team,” the coach said. “A lot of those cross country girls come out for winter track so she likes it even more.”
It took a while for Manto to re-acclimate herself from distance running to sprinting this winter, as she noted, “It’s tough to adjust to that running form from my trot into my sprinting form. It took me a couple of weeks to get it back because I had gotten so used to that 5K pace, but after a couple weeks of practice it was back.”
Fisher added that “running cross country helped her build a base for the 400 meters, now she can work on speed in that in the winter season to get where she wants to be. She already has the strength. In the 55, we had to re-train her body to think more like an explosive runner.”
Manto’s goal this year is to return to the Meet of Champs in the 400 and hopefully in the 55 and the 4×400. Fisher also put her in the 400 leg of the Jan. 22 Distance Medley Relays, in which Robbinsville finished fifth in 13:01.25.
“I think our four by 400 this year could be even better than last year, which is exciting,” Fisher said. “But her open four is hopefully where she can make her mark.”
Manto says she will do whatever is necessary to aid the team, and she will do it with a smile on her face.
“Her positive attitude and mindset, that is who she is all the time,” Fisher said. “She’s always bubbly. Always super positive. That’s what I always call her. She’s like my positive competitor. She is a fiercer athlete but so positive. And it’s great to have that. She talks everybody up. Instead of talking about every other school’s best times, she’s always talking about how we can do it.”
And then she goes out and proves it on her own.
Track is not the first-choice sport for RHS sophomore Chelsea Manto, but Manto has made a name for herself in the sprints. She qualified for the Meet of Champions last year as a freshman. (Staff photo by Rob Anthes.),
