Other area teams nosed out in sectional cross country meet
By: Bob Nuse
HOLMDEL Cross country coaches preach to their runners all year long how important every place is in a meet, especially the bigger championship meets.
Coaches stress how every place a runner picks up can make a difference. That was certainly true on Saturday at the Central Jersey sectional meet at Holmdel Park, where teams and individuals found out just how important each place can be. While Princeton advanced both its boys’ and girls’ teams to this week’s state meet, the Montgomery girls were the only other Packet-area team to qualify. Meanwhile, the girls from West Windsor-Plainsboro South fell one place short of advancing.
As individuals, WW-P South’s Lisa Miller and WW-P North’s Vanessa Gibens moved on to next week’s state Group II meet, which will also be held at Holmdel Park. The Montgomery girls qualified for the state Group II meet by placing fourth in the CJ II meet.
Montgomery was led by the fifth-place performance of senior Christine Nystrom, the only runner not from Hopewell Valley or Voorhees to finish in the top 11. Nicole Sciotto was 15th, Tara Gorka 28th, Jen Carson 38th and Amanda Brach was 39th for the Cougars.
"It’s definitely better to be going on as a whole team," said Nystrom, who covered the course in 20:34. "Last year we just missed as a team because we were sixth and I just missed as an individual because I was 12th. So this will be great to be able to go on as a team."
The Cougars managed to qualify in a sectional that included two of the top teams in the state in Hopewell and Voorhees. Hopewell, which won the meet with 22 points, placed five runners in the top seven. Voorhees had the race winner, plus four others in the top 11.
"I was hoping to break 20 minutes, which I didn’t do," Nystrom said. "But I did take 30 seconds off my best time. There were two Hopewell girls that I wanted to beat and I didn’t do that. So that will be my goal for next week, to beat two of those girls from Hopewell. I knew I was in the top 10, so I would be going on, but it’s so much better to know that the whole team will be going."
Nystrom is hoping to be able to take the next step at Holmdel this week and qualify for the Meet of Champions.
"It will be tough, but I know that I can beat a bunch of the Voorhees girls," she said. "I’m going to have to be able to beat a couple of the girls from Hopewell."
South’s Miller and North’s Gibens will also be competing on Saturday, only without their teammates. Miller finished fourth in the CJ III race in 19:54, while Gibens was five seconds behind her in sixth place.
"I was hoping to get into the top four or five," said Miller, who like every runner in the race other than the top two moved up one spot when Ewing’s Carolyn Calhoun was disqualified for wearing earrings. "It would have been nice to make it as a team because we came so close. It was a tough day to run because it was so hot. And then there was a fast start. In just wanted to stay with the Princeton girls (Dilshanie Perera and Meaghan Lynch) and then see how I would finish at the end.
"Dilshanie ran great today and I just couldn’t beat her. Hopefully I’ll be able to run a little better next week. I’d like to be able to run well enough to get into the top 10 and make it to the Meet of Champions."
Miller has been building towards that all season. Prior to Saturday, she had lost only to Calhoun among runners from Mercer County.
"I started off strong this year and I’ve been trying to build on that," the sophomore said. "I’ve just been trying to improve each week."
Gibens is another who will run in the Group III meet this weekend. She broke the 20-minute barrier with a 19:59 time over the Holmdel course.
"It was my goal to get into the top 10 and make it to next week," Gibens said. "I tried to run off the other runners that I knew in the race like Lisa and the girls from Princeton. I tried to keep them within eyesight."
Gibens is hopeful she can make enough improvement with a week of practice to move on to the Meet of Champions.
"I have another week to get ready and the whole team is going to practice with me to help me get ready," said Gibens, who was 13th in the CJ III race last year. "They’re all very supportive. Making to the Group meet has been a goal of mine all season. The Meet of Champions is another goal that I have and we’ll see if I can get there.
"Last year I had an ankle injury and I only made it to the sectional meet. So getting past this meet was my main goal for the season."
The South girls found out just how important every point can be, as the Pirates finished tied for fifth in the CJ III race, but wound up sixth on the sixth-runner tie-breaker. The Pirates were that close to a berth in the Group III meet.
Miller led the way with her fourth-place finish, while Allison Warner was 13th, Michelle Barbarasch was 16th, Christina Brocker was 29th and Danielle Jarrett rounded out the top five in 58th place.
"I thought our fourth girl, Christina Brocker, had out-leaned the girl as she came across the line but the judge didn’t see it that way," South coach Todd Smith said. "If we get that one place we’re able to move up one point and we’re in the top five. We were that close.
"But I’m still very happy with the girls. We came here with five sophomores and two freshmen. So we’ll be back again next year and the year after. This was a good experience for our team and we also get Lisa coming back next week. It was an excellent effort and I’m real proud of the kids."
The North girls finished ninth as a team in the CJ III meet, led by the Gibens’ sixth-place finish. Liz Dugan was 35th, Rebecca Pierson 54th, Dianna Cino 66th and Jaja Saquing was 73rd.
The South boys finished in eighth place in CJ III, led by senior Alex Greenfield in 14th place. Freshman Joe Ennis, who had been sick prior to the week of sectionals, finished 29th for the Pirates.
The North boys finished ninth as a team, 28 points behind the Pirates. The Knights put their top five runners within 12 places of each other, led by Mike Page in 45th place.
The Montgomery boys finished 12th in the CJ II meet. The Cougars’ Craig Donnelly was coming back after a bout with the flu and wound up being the team’s sixth finisher on Saturday. Brian Judge was the top finisher for the Cougars in 31st place and Brad Pottorf was 43rd.