By: Redd E. Patrick
It was a four-day span of highs and lows for the South Brunswick High School cross country program.
On Saturday, the boys team won the Senior Division of the Battle of Monmouth Class Meet, held at Battlefield State Park in Manalapan. The Vikings had won the Freshman, Sophomore and Junior Divisions at this meet the past three seasons. The personnel changed slightly each year, but Matt Randal was the only Viking harrier on all four teams.
Randal finished second in the Senior Division in 17:02.30, finishing behind Raritan’s Greg Howe (16:54). Scott Yeager (10th, 17:50.10), Dan McDonald (17th, 18:16.90), Dan Klag (30th, 19:10.60), Tom Poorten (32nd, 19:15.50), Brian Quigley (20:36.40), Steven Folkes (21:51.90), Jared Milrad (24.24.20) and Michael Gogolin (25:39.90) rounded out the Vikings finishers.
The Vikings finished with 28 team points to out-distance West Windsor-Plainsboro/North (44) and East Brunswick (47).
But the Bears turned the tables on Tuesday.
While South was riding the high off that effort, they had to come down to earth when it suffered a home dual-meet loss to East Brunswick. The boys team lost 28-35, while the girls were nipped 27-30. For the girls, it was the first loss to a team other than Old Bridge in quite some time.
Four of the top five boys for South Brunswick ran personal bests, but the up-and-coming Bears just had a better day.
"We knew from Saturday’s race that East Brunswick was going to be tough,” said Randal. "Their seventh man ran faster than our fourth, so we knew we would have to step it up. We actually ran very well, but East Brunswick was better. Me, Dan McDonald, Dan Klag, Tom Poorten and Ankush Patel all ran our best time and Scott Yeager almost did. East Brunswick just ran faster.”
On Saturday, Randal finished second, running a time of 17:02, which was the one of the fastest times of the day. Gary Howe of Raritan won with a time of 16:54. The Vikings turned in a three-man score of 28 to win the crown. Yeager (17:10) finished 10th, while McDonald was 16th.
"I had personal goals of breaking 17 minutes and winning the race,” said Randal. "Even though I didn’t accomplish those goals, it still wasn’t bad and the most important thing is that we won as a team. We all ran pretty well."
On Tuesday, East Brunswick took places 1-3-5-7-8 to post the victory. Randal took second in a personal home course best of 16:46, McDonald was fourth in a personal best 16:59 and Yeager was sixth in 17:30.
"Right now, we have to keep working,” said Randal. "We have to close up our gap. There’s too much of a gap between our No. 3 and No. 4 runners.”
In the girls action, freshmen Amy Rhein and Lauren White continued their outstanding seasons as the Vikings’ 1-2 runners. Rhein finished eighth in the Freshman Division at Saturday’s class meet. On Tuesday, Rhein (22:04) and White (22:09) finished 2-3 behind East Brunswick’s Erinn Goldenberg (21:19). Sejal Patel finished sixth in 22:45 for South Brunswick, which Engedaye Polk was seventh in 22:53.
"The kids were upset,” said South Brunswick coach Brian Jost. "But that’s good. I wouldn’t want them to take it lightly. So maybe they can take something positive out of it. On our boys team, we have to work on closing some of our gaps and although our girls team is young, we need some of the girls to step up.”
The Vikings will not compete on Saturday, opting for a Holmdel Park workout instead.
FINISH LINES: In other results at the Battle of Monmouth Class Meet, the Viking girls tied with Basking Ridge for fifth in the Senior meet with 64 points. Patel led the way for SBHS in 18th place (23:32.80), followed by Navi Deol (30th, 25:50.20), Natalya Johnson (32nd, 26:00.20), Caitlin Matolka (43rd, 26:26.10) and Megan Conover (50th, 27:02.90).
In the Junior meet, the Viking girls did not compete while the boys finished 22nd with 202 points. Ankush Patel finished 40th to lead SBHS in 19:56.60, followed by Robert Rittenhouse (22:52.40), Dominic Guerriero (23:35.60) and Eric Snyder (23:53.10).
In sophomore results, the Viking girls took eighth with 90 points, led by Sari Kaufman (23rd, 24:13.10), Alison Rossi (33rd, 24:50.10) and Morghan Transue (29:14.60). The boys were 23rd with 195 points as Matt Lenza was the top Viking finisher in 22:31.20, followed by Patrick Lynch (22:57.30), Brett Niebanck (23:26.10) and Mark Branche (23:52.10).
In freshman action, the Viking girls finished ninth with 81 points, led by Rhein (eighth, 13:50), White (12th, 13:56.90), Iny Jhun (17:05.30) and Sarah Grgic (19:26.60). The boys were fifth with 66 points behind the running of Dustin Biri (18th, 11:59.70), Greg Spinner (31st, 12:16.40), Chris Kubick (33rd, 12:17.90), Chris Adams (13:23) and Edward Alan White (18:24.50)

