PHS junior helps girls’ cross country team to fast start
By: Justin Feil
Lucy Cohen has a pretty good idea about what she should do in her first season of cross country.
Follow Dilshanie Perera.
Cohen has done so every meet this season for the Princeton High girls’ squad, and it has helped the Little Tigers get off to a 4-2 start heading into today’s meet against Lawrence and Hopewell Valley at Washington Crossing. It only makes sense that Cohen follow Perera, the Little Tigers’ No. 1 runner.
The two are good friends, and even share the same birthday. It was Perera that helped convince her fellow junior to go out for the team.
"She definitely influenced me," Cohen said. "She encouraged me to come out and coach ‘Dre (Bridgett) called me on the phone. I decided to try it."
Cohen was 47th overall while Perera, who ran 20:16 at Holmdel Saturday, was fifth to help PHS finish 10th in the Shore Coaches’ Cross Country Varsity C meet. Cohen was eighth overall last Tuesday as PHS split, beating Nottingham and losing to West Windsor-Plainsboro High South, while Perera finished ahead in second-place overall. Cohen even tries to stick with her friend and teammate during workouts.
"It’s tough to keep up with her," Cohen said. "It’s definitely good to try to keep up though. It helps me."
Bridgett has his own theory, pointing to the friendship between the two runners.
"They’re really good friends," the PHS girls’ head coach said, "and in order to have a conversation, it forces Lucy to keep up with Dilshanie."
Cohen doesn’t have all the experience of her friend who is running for Bridgett for the third year, but she has improved rapidly. She came out for the winter track team last year, didn’t run in the spring, but then has joined the cross country team this fall, where she’s surprised even herself with her success.
"I didn’t expect this at all," she said. "I’ve only been running for a year and a half, and I did all right in track. I didn’t really have any goals. I started running with my dad in the summer and we did mostly long distance. I was just trying it out.
"The team is really great. I love being on it. We get to run on nice courses, and I’ve liked it."
And Bridgett has appreciated Cohen’s full participation in the fall sport. She’s among a number of newcomers that have helped make the PHS cross country team a formidable challenger in the Colonial Valley Conference.
"They’re all young and it’s probably the most talented team I’ve had," Bridgett said. "And they work hard. They’re coming along nicely. Hopefully they’ll continue to come along. I think Lucy can get under 20 minutes, even though it scares her when I tell her that, hopefully when we get back to the fast course at Veterans’ Park."
PHS faces its biggest challenge to date today in defending CVC and Mercer County champion Hopewell Valley. The Little Tigers have already proven to be among the top teams. Though one of their losses came in the first meet of the season against Notre Dame, PHS would have defeated the Fighting Irish if they had scored against them last Tuesday.
"I was hoping we’d be a little further along," Bridgett said. "I was hoping we’d be 6-0, but I’m not disappointed. They’ve been working hard. They’re racing more as a team, but there’s still a big gap between Dilshanie and Lucy and the rest of our team. We’re working on that.
"They may get pulled along (by Hopewell), or they could get blown away. But I expect them to be competitive with everyone. Anyone can win. I’d like to see them give their best effort. As long as they continue to gain experience and when we see (Hopewell) in the Group III meet we’re closer, that’s all I can ask."
It’s something that Cohen and her teammates appear to be taking to heart. Though they are young and inexperienced, the Little Tigers are making strides in the CVC.
"Running is a really personal sport," Cohen said. "We know that Hopewell is fast. We’re going to try to stay with them. Hopefully they can pull us along."
If not, Lucy Cohen knows exactly how to make herself run faster. Just keep her eyes ahead and follow her teammate and friend and she’ll get to the finish line quickly enough.

