HHS boys set record in Skyland repeat

Dennis, Irizzary, Nelson place in top five

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   READINGTON — The Hillsborough High boys knew they needed to run a little faster if they expected to repeat as Skyland Conference cross country champions. After Friday’s course record-setting performance at Deer Path Park, it’s safe to say the Raiders earned the title.
   Hillsborough set a new Deer Path record for five-man average with an impressive time of 16:18. That average included two runners under 16 minutes and all five guys finishing in the top 20 of a very competitive race.
   The team title chase was much more up for grabs than in the previous week’s Somerset County Championships, where the Raiders basically jogged to the crown. The HHS boys had to pick it up a notch to defeat Phillipsburg by a 56-63 margin in a great battle of two schools ranked in the state’s top 10.
   Hillsborough answered the challenge in a big way.
   "I didn’t think it was going to take this much," Raider head coach Rich Refi said. "We’re not done yet. Now we have to do this at Holmdel."
   The Raiders will be the favorites in Saturday’s Central Jersey Group 4 Championships at Holmdel Park, which they hope will be the first of three more team races. HHS will be gunning for a State Group 4 team title Nov. 12 and wants a shot at the Meet of Champions crown Nov. 19.
   If Friday’s performance at Deer Path Park is any indication, the Raiders are ready to make a big November surge.
   HHS senior Brian Dennis led the champs with a third-place finish in a school-record time of 15:49. Surging classmate Fredy Irizzary wasn’t far behind in fifth place in 15:51.
   "We all did excellent today," Dennis said. "We all ran huge p-rs (personal records). We’re all excited for our next race."
   Dennis also was feeling better about his individual performance after setting another school record on a big-time course. He ran a smarter race and felt much better at the end than at the county meet.
   "I felt a lot better in the third mile than last race," he said. "I wasn’t as worried about the place. I’m definitely happy with the time."
   The Raiders were confident that running their best times would be enough to prevail over Phillipsburg. They’re still getting faster each week on their way to Holmdel.
   "They’re ranked eighth in the state so we knew it was going to be a race," Irizzary said. "We’re expecting to get better with each race. That’s our plan. I’m really excited about the team. Everyone’s really starting to pick it up."
   Paul Bernardo finished 12th in 16:17, Joe Bernardo was 16th in 16:38, Tom Visicaro placed 20th in 16:54 and Eric Rind was 23rd in 16:56.
   "We all knew we could do it," Paul Bernardo said. "We were all talking about beating P’burg and we ran confidently as a team."
   "I’m just happy with our average," Refi said. "We had five guys under 17 and it was by far a record for our team."
   The HHS girls also set a team record for team average with a time of 20:11. Another outstanding performance by senior Kelda Nelson set the pace. Nelson finished fourth in a time of 18:43, her best time at the course. She just missed Kristen Meyer’s school record at Deer Path by two seconds.
   "I went out a lot smarter," Nelson said. "I just figured I’d stick with the Montgomery girls and push them instead of letting them push me. I was so close to the record. I’m still happy."
   Nelson is also within two seconds of the school record at Holmdel, which is held by Ashley Uniszkiewicz. She’ll have a chance to break that in the CJ 4 meet this weekend. Things didn’t go well for Nelson in Holmdel last year but she has different plans for her senior season.
   "That was my last race last year but I’m going in with a lot more expectations this year," she said. "I’m feeling a lot better and more confident."
   The rest of the HHS girls’ team ran well but faced a very tough field of competition. Despite the school record average, the Raiders finished sixth. Voorhees outdueled Somerset County champion Ridge for the Skyland title.
   Senior Allison Marcsisin earned a medal for placing in the top 20, finishing 14th in a time of 19:43. Other HHS girls in the race included Cassandra Steel (22nd, 20:14), Melanie Gingras (46th, 21:18), Nicole Filipowicz (34th, 21:00), Ashley MacKinney (58th, 21:37) and Megan Davin (64th, 22:12).
   "The girls ran very well today," Refi said. "You can’t control what the other teams do."
   Hillsborough outstanding performance extended to the sub-varsity races. The jayvee boys demolished everyone else in the field with 25 points.
   "That’s a dual meet score," Refi said.
   Kyle Figard (17:23) and Mike Bitten (17:38) went 2-3 to lead the dominance, which included five runners in the top nine. Brian Keohane (5th, 17:39), Justin Risso (6th, 17:44) and Nick Haby (9th, 17:59) rounded out the jayvee scoring.
   Jordan Magath rolled to victory in the freshman race, running 17:18 to defeat the second-place runner by 48 seconds. Teammates Joe Higgins (8th, 19:17) and Anthony Tricarico (9th, 19:24) also finished in the top 10. Nicole Rocha led the jayvee girls with a fourth-place finish in 21:34.