By: Redd E. Patrick
South Brunswick boys cross country coach Wilfredo Rivera had mixed feelings when his team took on GMC powers Old Bridge and East Brunswick on Tuesday in the big season-opener for all three schools at Thompson Park.
With the GMC Red Division on the line so early in the season, Old Bridge edged South Brunswick 25-32, while the Vikings got the best of East Brunswick 20-35. East Brunswick is the defending GMC champ, while Old Bridge had won it the previous six years.
Rivera felt a sense of pride on one hand and a sense of "what if’ on the other.
"Going in, I thought we had a chance to win both races," said Rivera, a GMC champion himself for Old Bridge in 1995. "Certain things had to fall into place that didn’t, but our kids ran awesome. They were running times now that they were running last October, so that’s great to see so early in the season."
Matt Ciambriello, the reigning GMC champion from Old Bridge, won the race in 16:29. He won last year’s GMC meet on this course in 15:56. The Vikings were led by seniors Steve Sample (16:37), Cole Crosby (16:59), Dave Christafalo (17:19) and Rishi Mathur (17:26). Those four, who were the Vikes’ top four a year ago, finished 2-6-7-8.
"Against Old Bridge, we had 5-6-7, but they won because they were able to finish 8-9," Rivera said. "But that’s okay. In years past, Old Bridge would come in here with a B team and whoop us. So we were competitive and it was only our first race. And beating East Brunswick was a confidence booster because they’re the defending champs and we hadn’t beaten them in a few years."
Rivera was encouraged because his younger kids ran exceptionally well.
Sophomore Jonathan Bellizio was the Vikings’ sixth man and he ran 18:36.
"John will get much better and he’ll help us," Rivera said. "He went out a little too fast because he was excited, so he’ll learn."
Junior John Liptak ran 17:59, sophomores Matt Boley and Sean Monaghan each ran 18:37 and freshman Brian Dixon turned in a time of 18:47.
"We have some work to do and we knew that coming in, win or lose," Rivera said. "We have to close our gaps because we have too much time between 2-3-4. But this is something to build on because we ran pretty darn well. We’re going to face Old Bridge again and if we work hard enough, the outcome could be different next time."
The Vikings will train this weekend before taking part in the Bernie Magee Invitational Class Meet at Warinanco Park the following Saturday.

