Cross CountryWith the Mercer County Championships and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Meet looming in the near future, the Hopewell Valley Central High School girls and boys cross country squads are rounding into prime form.
By: Mike Molaro
The Lady Bulldogs raised their record to 7-0 on Tuesday by defeating Hightstown, 15-46, and Princeton, 19-40, at Washington Crossing Park while the Bulldog boys also went to 7-0 by knocking off Hightstown, 19-42, and Princeton, 17-44.
Senior Natalie Jones took first place in 19:22 while HoVal also claimed spots three through six with junior Kate Willever (20:14), sophomore Carly Schlamowitz (20:19), junior Sara Seiler (20:26) and freshman Annie Carney (21:04).
Junior Natasha Hanssen was 13th (22:28), freshman Molly Ryan was 14th (22:30), senior Emily Forbes was 16th (22:46), freshman Lauren Seiler was 18th (23:11) and junior Sarah Newport was 19th (23:15).
Senior Joe Davidson finished first in 17:04, while junior Kent Long (17:24) and sophomore Derek Jablonski (17:25) were second and third, respectively.
Sophomore Leo Capoferri was eighth (18:08), senior Brian Yarros was ninth (18:09), freshman Mike Batanian was 11th (18:18), freshman Andrew Freeman was 14th (18:28) and freshman Dan Petty was 16th (18:33).
Senior Dave Martin finished 27th (19:32), junior Alex Mayberry was 28th (19:34), sophomore Mike Doyle was 36th (20:15), sophomore Chris Harley was 40th (20:33), freshman Colin Fitzpatrick was 41st (20:57), junior Jamie Treadwell was 42nd (20:58), freshman Tobin Porter-Brown was 48th (21:50), junior Scott Camp was 51st (22:11) and freshman Scott Weingert was 57th (24:09).
"Both the boys and girls were aggressive today," HoVal head coach Aaron Oldfield said. "Brian (Yarros) had an exceptional day. He really stepped it up for us. Kent (Long) and Derek (Jablonski) ran nice races. Carly (Schlamowitz) is in a nice groove right now. She is running real well."
At the Shore Coaches Meet at Holmdel last Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs placed fourth in the team competition with 92 points won by Moorestown while the Bulldogs were ninth (225 points) in the boys competition won by Holmdel (105 points).
Jones placed second in 19:29, the third-fastest girls time of the afternoon, while Willever (20:52), Sara Seiler (20:52) and Schlamowitz (20:53) were 18th, 19th and 20th, respectively. Carney finished 34th (21:22), while Forbes was 60th (22:23), and sophomore Kristen Doran was 73rd (22:46). The Lady Bulldogs also posted the fourth-fastest time among the 183 girls teams.
Jablonski paced the Bulldog boys by placing 34th (17:51), Davidson was 41st (17:57), Long was 47th (18:10), Capoferri was 65th (18:25), Freeman was 68th (18:32), Batanian was 77th (18:36) and Petty was 94th (18:58).
"The best teams in the sate are at this meet," added Oldfield. "The state meet is here in a month and teams want to see where they stack up on this course. The teams ran in a driving rain and a heavy wind, so it wasn’t the best conditions.
"We were pleased with our performances, but not overly pleased. Taking into account the weather and the fact that many of our kids were running the course for the first time, we had a good day. Natalie (Jones) had a great individual race and the girls did well as a team.
"We had a good day, but not a great day. We can always improve."