WW-P South sets goals for future
By: Justin Feil
HAMILTON – Years from now, Chris Bond said, the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys’ cross country runners will look back on their careers and think about how much they accomplished.
Bond, who is in his second year as the sole coach for the Pirates, already is impressed with his young team’s dedication.
"They’re putting the pieces together," he said after WW-P South split its dual meet Tuesday, topping Trenton while losing to Ewing. "I’m hoping they fall in love with it and I hope it energizes them to do great things. I want every kid to say, ‘I did great things when I ran at West Windsor, that I did great things I didn’t think I could do when I started.’"
A year ago, WW-P ran the table on the Colonial Valley Conference, going 12-0 and making it into the Group IV state meet. But that group, which included nine members who graduated and another two that went to WW-P North when the schools split this year, hadn’t been at the top in their three previous seasons. They were much closer in ability and experience to this year’s WW-P South team that moved to 3-9 after Tuesday’s meet at Veteran’s Park concluded the dual meet season.
"They were doing this as freshmen," Bond said of the Class of 1999. "This year’s group has one less year. That’s the way I look at it. There are a lot of sophomores and they just have one less year."
Even some of the older runners have closer to freshman experience. Tuesday’s top Pirate finisher was junior Kevin Delaney, who was third overall in 18 minutes, 17 seconds, his best time of the season. Delaney is only in his second season on the team.
The reason Delaney came out? His brother, Colin, who was one of the top runners in Mercer County last year. While living up to his brother’s standards is a tall order, Kevin still has a year of development and he knows in the bigger picture that the Pirates have unmistakable team potential, the kind Colin’s class had.
"We’re looking forward to a good season next year," said Delaney, who along with his teammates have just Mercer County and Central Jersey Group IV meets left this year. "We have a lot of people who are going to train all three seasons, and that should help."
WW-P South’s next two finishers, Alex Greenfield and Danny Zeilberger, respectively, are just sophomores in their first year out for cross country.
"We were both doing spring track, long distance," said Greenfield, who finished in 18:53 Tuesday, also a season-best. "My reason for coming out was I feel like I’m good at running. I know I’m going to be doing cross country through my senior year. How well we do depends on we’re getting. I think Danny and I will be running well though."
This season has been useful as well for the team camaraderie. It has improved as newcomers like Greenfield and Zeilberger have gotten to know the other members of the team and they expect that growth will continue as they run in the winter track season and the outdoor track season this year. And as they run more and train harder, their progress is reinforced by lower times. While wins have been tough to come by, improvement has been easy to see.
"I just look at my times really," said Zeilberger, who ran the 800 meters and the mile last outdoor track season.
The Mercer County meet will give the Pirate runners a final time to compare and keep in their minds as they train through the winter, spring and summer to prepare for next year. Bond believes that, though WW-P South will be a big underdog at Counties, few of his runners personal bests will be left standing after that day with the effort his runners will put forth.
"They’ve been working really hard," he said. "We haven’t even begun to pull the reins back. Sometimes I think I’m working them too hard, but they just keep improving. They’ll be ready. They should have a real good race at Counties. We go out there to race and to win. If we don’t (win) we look at certain parts of it and see where we could get better."
Bond’s attitude – race to win and analyze how to get better if you don’t – has rubbed off on his team. They’ve maintained a positive outlook and a competitive spirit befitting the motto on the back of their team shirts, "I race."
There’s no giving up with the Pirates, no matter how the cards are stacked against them.
"I’m getting better as the season progresses," said Greenfield. "We’re going to get better. I just try my hardest."
Down the road, it’s going to pay off. It came together for last season’s senior class. It could come together for these West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys as well. And that would be quite an accomplishment on which to look back.
"Last year’s team set goals," Bond said. "And they got to them. Now we’re totally rebuilding, but normally with rebuilding you have some stuff left. We don’t have much, but we’re coming along. I’ve been so impressed already with these guys."