South, PHS girls reach state XC

Both finish fifth in sectional meet

By: Justin Feil
   For the Princeton High and West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls’ cross country teams, one year has made a huge difference. An influx of freshman runners has made both stronger teams this season, teams that will be moving on to their respective state group meets.
   The Little Tigers finished fifth in the Central Jersey Group III sectional state cross country meet Saturday at Holmdel. Three of their first six runners were freshmen.
   "We were fortunate to get to move on because we didn’t run our best times," said PHS head coach Andre Bridgett. "Hopefully at the state group meet, we can run better. I’m hoping we had our one bad meet. For them not to run their best and still make it, it says a lot about the nature of this team. They’ve worked hard all year and they did enough to move on."
   The Pirates were also fifth in the Group IV sectional state meet, and their first three finishers were all freshmen.
   "Everyone did extremely well," said WW-PS head coach Wendy Gottshall. "They had never been (to Holmdel) before for a meet, just practice. It was their first time. Maybe it was beginner’s luck. But they practiced hard all season so it wasn’t exactly luck. They did excellently."
   The numbers only prove it. A year ago, WW-PS finished 16th out of 19 teams with a combined time of 2:08.53 for its top five runners. This year the team combined to run 1:52.01, more than a minute and a half faster per runner, to finish fifth.
   PHS, which had finished seventh last year but well behind the fifth-place finisher with a combined 2:03.49, improved to 1:55.47 to push itself into fifth. The Little Tigers were led by Dilshanie Perera, who was seventh for the second consecutive year, but lowered her time almost a minute from 21:21 to 20:26 this year.
   "Dilshanie ran really well again," Bridgett said. "She was about five seconds off her time at the Shore Coaches’ meet, but I expected times to be a little slower with the weather.
   "I’m excited that we could qualify. This is the first time I had a girls’ team that qualified."
   The Little Tigers can improved to 11-3 this season if they sweep Trenton and Hamilton in today’s dual meet. The Pirates can move to 10-2 with wins over Trenton and Ewing today, but they’re looking forward more to extending their season two weeks more.
   "I unintentionally made them more focused for the state meet than the counties," Gottshall said. "They were really more psyched for this one than counties. They seem to like the season and wanted it to go on.
   "These girls were so excited to continue. That’s one of the reasons they ran so fast. They’ve improved so much. Our goal now is just for everyone to get their best times when we go back."
   WW-PS was led by Lisa Miller, who was 23rd in 21:51. Michelle Barbarasch was right behind in 25th place. Christina Brocker was third.
   Both PHS and WW-PS will run again Nov. 10 at Holmdel. Only the top three teams from each group plus the two top at-large teams will move on to the Meet of Champions. Individuals can advance by finishing in the top 10.
   Montgomery High’s Christine Nystrom just missed moving on to the Group II state meet. The junior finished 12th Saturday in 20:56 for the Cougars, who finished sixth and just missed advancing as a team. West Windsor-Plainsboro High North’s Vanessa Gibens was also a near qualifier. She was 13th in 20:56 as well for the Knights, which did not have five runners finish.