Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

Vladimir Manasse is another member of the Rutgers-Newark men’s track team that is a product of Roselle Catholic High School. It’s become a pipeline of talent for R-N head coach Juan Edney, having secured the services of five former Roselle Catholic athletes on the current roster.

But Manasse took the longest route from the Union County Parochial school to Newark, choosing to attend junior college for a while and join the work force out of high school.

“I took a lot of time off after high school,” Manasse said. “I was working at a gym full-time and going to Union County College whenever I could.”

After four years, Manasse decided he wanted to run track competitively again and wanted to go to a four-year college.

“I was thinking about either Ramapo or Rutgers-Newark,” Manasse said. “I even paid my deposit to go to Ramapo.”

But Edney wanted no part of that.

“I told him, ‘You’re coming here,’” Edney said. “And he said, `OK, I’m coming.’ I told him that he had potential and had some talent. Sure, he sat out four years and it was going to take a while for him to develop, but I didn’t want to hear he was going somewhere else.”

“He pretty much persuaded me otherwise,” Manasse said. “I basically didn’t have a choice.”

Manasse underwent some growing pains as he tried to work back into becoming a competitive college athlete.

“He was just struggling at first,” Edney said. “We spent the whole year trying to get him in shape. He really worked his butt off. Sometimes, I think he was thinking too much and not just running. We weren’t getting what we wanted from him and I let him know that. I let him know that I still believed in him, but that he wasn’t giving us what we thought he could.”

Edney’s words hit home.

“It was a little tough coming out again after high school,” Manasse said. “I had some injuries here and there, stuff that I was able to overcome in high school. But Coach Edney helped me to change my mentality. He taught me how to run. He got my mind right to run a few races and eventually, I figured it out.”

It also helped that Manasse had so many others on the team that came from the same school and background, like javelin thrower Josh Stinson.

“When I was deciding about school, I didn’t even know Josh was here,” Manasse said. “He’s part of the reason I’m here. It’s good to have friends here, familiar faces. It makes things easier. It’s a little crazy that there are so many of us here.”

Manasse ran cross country in the fall to begin his senior year and final year of eligibility.

But something really clicked during the indoor season, when Manasse was competing in events more to his liking, like the 800-meter run.

“We got him to the point where he started to believe in himself,” Edney said.

Manasse posted a 1:55 in the 800-meter during the indoor season. It gave Edney some hope that Manasse had turned the corner and was living up to the potential.

“Consistency is the problem,” Edney said. “He’s had a couple of flashes of greatness. He has to do that on a more consistent basis. He also has stopped listening to others and believing in himself. That’s a key. We always knew he had the talent. It was whether or not he was mentally tough enough to be successful.”

Manasse has shown that mental toughness during the current outdoor season. He qualified for the ECAC Outdoor championships at RPI in Rochester with a chance to possibly qualify for the NCAA Division III championships in a few weeks.

“I just wish he had another year,” Edney said. “Because then, he would really get a chance to shine and show the true runner he’s become. He’s down to the last few meets with us. It’s gratifying to see how far he’s come.”

Manasse knows that his short tenure at R-N is drawing to a close.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Manasse said. “But I’ll still be running in the future. I learned so much here and I’ll carry that with me.”

Manasse is a biology major and hopes to go to graduate school to study physical therapy in the future.

He has a good reason for pursuing that field.

“When I was 18, I was in a bad car accident,” Manasse said. “I hurt my back, my neck, my shoulder, everything. It’s the reason why I stopped running. But I started to go to physical therapy and it really helped me. Being a patient made me interested and helped me to realize what I wanted to do.”

While Manasse also wishes he had more time as a Scarlet Raider, he’s grateful for the chance to run for Edney and his program.

“Who knows what I could have been?” Manasse said. “But things have turned out better than I expected.”