PREVIEWS
Montgomery
Head Coach: Jim Goodfriend, seventh year
Last year: 7-2
Key returning players: Elizabeth Berrue (Sr.), Amanda Brach (Sr.), Tara Gorka (Sr.), Nikki Sciotto (Sr.), Ali Barton (So.), Paige Godfrey (So.), Brittany Interrossa (So.).
Top newcomer: Liana Matson (Sr.), Eleanora Spinazzi (Jr.), Naina Kiashal (So.), Cara Zahorsky (So.), Amanda Herrmann (Fr.), Rachel Holt (Fr.), Andrea Pitio (Fr.).
Coach’s Thoughts: They look pretty good. We haven’t run any races yet so I can’t truthfully say we’re super, but we look pretty good. Herrmann looks good and getting Spinazzi really helps. She’s such a hard worker. And she’s fast. We have four girls who should go under 20. I’m really excited about it. I hope this team will qualify for states. We have to stay healthy. If we can stay healthy, we should do OK.
Princeton
Head Coach: John Woodside, first year
Last year: 11-0, CVC Valley Division and CJ III champions
Key returning players: Sara Hastings (Sr.), Caroline Sholl (Sr.), Hannah Smith (Sr.), Susanne Hansen (So.), Eliana Ritts (So.), Mary Anne Thomas (So.).
Top newcomers: Sheena Pradhan (So.).
Coach’s Thoughts: Losing Eleanora (Spinazzi) will hurt us, but we’re still a very fine team. We don’t need to fear anyone but West Windsor South. Other than that, can take on anybody with expectations we can win. Susanne Hansen and Caroline Sholl are our lead runners. They might just run together like they did last year. Sara is going to be a very solid third runner. After that we have several girls who are stepping up nicely. We have some new girls who are yet to be proven. We have some freshmen and sophomores who look like they’re working hard and even if they don’t contribute this year, they will down the road. We’ll look at being very competitive. Certainly our goal is to be no worse than third in the counties and to qualify for the states.
WW-P North
Head Coach: Bill Mealy, second year
Last year: 8-3
Key returning players: Caroline Kirkup (Sr.), Rebecca Pierson (Sr.), Kim Dong (Jr.), Kaitlyn McNulty (Jr.), Lara Shearer (Jr.), Swiki Shankar (So.).
Top newcomers: Jessica Galvano (Sr.), Kylea Meredith (Sr.), Katy Walsh (Sr.), Laura Sigle (Jr.), Amanda Thomas (Jr.), Lily Fu (So.), Julia Xu (So.), Deena Mitlak (Fr.).
Coach’s Thoughts: The challenge is to try to match last year’s record. We were 8-3. I think we have a shot at that. I’m hoping we can place better in the invitationals that we go to and place better in counties and states. Individually, we have tried to emphasize that every girl tries to improve on every course. As they do better, we do better. Rebecca is obviously our leader. Jessica Galvano is showing a lot of promise and we should have a nice pack running behind them with Kylea Meredith, Kaitlyn and Laura Sigle. The others are a little farther back but should give us some depth when they come around.
WW-P South
Head Coach: Todd Smith, third year
Last year: 11-1, Mercer County champions
Key returning players: Michelle Barbarasch (Sr.), Christine Brocker (Sr.), Lisa Miller (Sr.), Tori Musumeci (Sr.), Shira Sheldon (Sr.), Hannah Lee (Jr.), Laura Wang (Jr.).
Top newcomers: Emily Piuggi (Sr.), Ashley Erikson (Fr.), Kelsey O’Connor (Fr.), Audrey Varner (So.).
Coach’s Thoughts: The challenge is going to be for the girls to pick up the slack for the injured girls and the girls working to get back into shape in the beginning. The depth is good enough that we can race without our top girls and do OK. We’ll try to improve on everything we did last year. We definitely want to win the Mercer County Championship and we definitely want to make it to the Meet of Champions again.
Hun School
Head Coach: Geoff Evans, first year
Last year: 0-7
Key returning players: Meg Johnson (Sr.), Marleen St. Marie (Sr.), Morgan Barth (Jr.), Melissa Hedberg (Jr.), Sheri St. Marie (So.).
Top newcomers: Veronica Camiolo (PG), Anna Walter (Sr.), Lisa Walter (So.).
Coach’s Thoughts: I think we’re going to be strong. We’re going to get some good middle finishes and some points there. Our runners are a lot closer together and faster than we have been in the past. Veronica is pretty quick and Morgan has gotten a lot faster. They’ll probably be our two leaders. We’ll look for them to get us those second through fifth points for the girls.
Princeton Day
Head Coach: Eamon Downey, 33rd year
Last year: 3-3
Key returning players: Cecily Moyer (Sr.), Jessica Rich (Jr.), Lexi Schechtel (Jr.), Julia Karl (So.).
Top newcomers: Sunny Anuzsis (Sr.), Becky Stanko (Jr.), Julia Salem (Fr.).
Coach’s Thoughts: While we don’t have great numbers, we arguably have the best balanced team we’ve had in years. The top runners will be higher quality runners than we’ve had in years. And the supporting runners are pretty good. We should have a more solid pack, a more balanced team than we’ve had in years.
Stuart Country Day
Head Coach: Tom Harrington, seventh year
Last year: 5-2, Patriot Conference and Prep B champions
Key returning players: Caroline Cancelosi (Sr.), Catherine Currie (Sr.), Emily Driscoll (Sr.), Saskia Van Nieuwenhuyse (Sr.), Laura Brienza (Jr.), Mary Kate Dahlberg (Jr.), Sasha Levitt (Jr.), Nathalie Verhaegen (Jr.), Elizabeth Cancelosi (So.), Caitlin Spratt (So.).
Top newcomers: Victoria Churchwell (Fr.), Nicole Huber (Fr.), Leila Van Nieuwenhuyse (Fr.), Kristen Velit (Fr.).
Coach’s Thoughts: Our goal is the same as usual, to defend any title we won last year. We won prep conference for the fifth year in a row. We want to defend that. We want to defend our state championship we won. We won the last two. We added several high profile meets, so we’re getting more than enough meets this year. My front five are doing well. Emily and Laura go back and forth. Emily showed up in really good shape. Laura and all my juniors, I told them that this is the main year colleges will look at them. That’s why we’re going to some of the bigger meets. We want to advertise the team. We’re going to some big meets that will do just that. The challenge is my insatiable fear of injuries. If we remain healthy, this could potentially be one of the best teams I’ve had. My job is to keep us healthy. One of our primary goals is to try to narrow the gap between my No. 3 and my 7. If we can close that gap between 3 and 7, we should be fine.