Andy Mosney (’69)
Andy Mosney was an outstanding middle distance runner for Glen Rock High School’s cross country and track & field teams; his Personal Best Time in the 800 meters is still one of the best times in Bergen County history.
Andy Mosney began his Glen Rock High School athletic career as a sophomore member of the Hall of Fame inducted Fall 1966 Cross Country Team. Hall of Fame Inductee Head Coach Mickey Smith had launched the school’s cross country program in the fall of 1963. Three years later, led by Hall of Fame Inductee Everett Schenk, the 1966 team won the NBIL, Eastern Division Championship and then finished third in the Section 2 (Groups 3 & 4 Public and Group A Non-Public), Bergen County Championship, behind two parochial schools and significantly ahead of rival Ridgewood.
The team then won the Group 3, Sectional Championship with a dominating score of only 25 points, a figure that stood as the lowest total in Group 3, Section 1 history until 2015. It then competed in the Group 3, State Championship and finished second to Brick Township (that was in the midst of a string of four Group 3, State Championships).
The 1966 Cross Country Team was the only Glen Rock High School boys or girls cross country team to win a Sectional Championship until each of the 2001 boys and girls teams won Group 1, Sectional Championships. It still stands as the most dominant cross country team in the school’s history.
In addition to Everett and Andy, the 1966 Cross Country Team was led by seniors Bob Jonic and Tim Morck and junior John Kruse.
In the following spring, the 1967 Track & Field Team had the most successful season in school history until the 1990s. With Everett leading the way, Andy and his other teammates delivered the additional points that won the NBIL, Eastern Division Championship and then finished second at the Group 3, Bergen County Championship.
During that season, Andy was also a member of several extremely successful relay teams with his cross country teammates (Bob Jonic, Tim Morck and Everett Schenk). The foursome broke the prior record for the Groups 3 & 4, 4xmile relay at the Metro Regional St. Joseph Relay Carnival (with a time of 18:38) and then broke the prior record for that race at the All Group, Northern New Jersey Relays (with a time of 18:34.7). Later, at the Twin-Boro Relays, Andy, Tim and Everett plus junior Joe Sredl won the Class A, Distance Medley Relay with another meet record breaking time of 10:39.6. These relay teams still hold school records.
At the end of that season, Andy received Honorable Mention, All-Suburban (by The Ridgewood News).
In Andy’s junior year, despite Everett and Bob having graduated, the 1967 Cross Country Team came close to repeating as NBIL, Eastern Division Champions, having the second-best record over the regular season dual meets and finishing second in the season ending league championship meet. John Kruse and Andy led a deeply talented team. In addition to finishing second in the league, it finished sixth in the Groups 3 & 4 and Parochial A, Bergen County Championship and fifth in the Group 3, State Sectional Championship. As ideal evidence of the team’s closeness, in its final regular season dual meet, a win at Pascack Valley, senior John, junior Andy and sophomore Geoff Willett – the team’s best runners in each of those three grades – deliberately crossed the finish line together, tied for first.
That spring, as a junior, Andy had one of the most successful track seasons in school history and led the 1968 Track & Field Team to a 7-3 dual meet record. During the season’s dual meets, Andy was undefeated in both the 880-yard race and the one-mile race. He was also often a member of the undefeated 4×440 relay team.
After the dual meet season, Andy focused on the 880 and being a member of the relay team. At the Group 3, Bergen County Championship meet, he ran a sub-50 second leg as part of Glen Rock’s second-place finish in the 4×440 relay. (He did not compete in an individual meet.) At the first ever Group 3, Sectional Championship, Andy won the 880 with a time of 1:57.2, making him the first Glen Rock track & field athlete to win a Sectional Championship. Until the 1990s, only two other male Glen Rock track & field athletes won a Sectional Championship and Andy was the only one of those three athletes to win it in a Group 3 competition.
At the subsequent Group 3, State Championship, Andy finished third with a time of 1:56.
Andy was then invited to and raced in the Northeast Meet of Champions, where he finished third and ran his season-best time of 1:55.3.
He then ran in the Eastern States Interscholastic Track & Field Championship at Downing Stadium, where he won his heat but finished fifth with a repeat performance of his season best time of 1:55.3.
Andy’s season best time of 1:55.3 in the 880 and his season best time of 4:28.4 in the mile broke Everett Schenk’s school records in each of those events (that were 1:55.8 and 4:37.8 respectively) and established new school records. His time in the 880 was also the fastest time in Bergen County that year and was the then third fastest time in Bergen County history. While there have been significant improvements in track surfaces, equipment, etc. since 1968, Andy’s Personal Best in the 880 remained the school record until Hall of Fame Inductee Ryan McCann broke it in 2004. Adjusted to 1:54.6 to approximately reflect his time in the shorter 800 meters, it still ranks at #50 in Bergen County history.His record in the mile remained the school record until 1971 (when it was broken by Gary Henneberry (GRHS 1971) with a time of 4:26.0). Finally, during this season, Andy led his relay teams to times that are still school records.
In The Record’s wrap-up of the 1968 Track & Field season, that paper projected that in the following year Andy would break the All-Time Bergen County record for his race. (“Andy Mosney, whose 1:55.3 tied him for third in the half-mile, should move into first next season. (That record) is only .4 off this season’s best.”)
In the fall of his senior year, Andy led the 1968 Cross Country Team to an 8-3 dual meet record, a then-school record for most dual meet wins in a season. In the team’s season ending victory over Waldwick, Andy broke Everett’s record for Glen Rock High School’s cross country course with a then-record time of 12:04..
Unfortunately, that winter, Andy suffered a crippling quadriceps injury in gym class and was forced to miss his entire senior year of track.
After graduating from Glen Rock High School, Andy received his undergraduate degree from William & Mary, where he was a four year track & field standout.