Stuart still has winner at Patriot meet

Passano heads to front for Tartans

By: Justin Feil
   The Stuart Country Day cross country team may have had its Patriot Conference winning streak stopped, but it didn’t entirely stop winning.
   Alex Passano carried the torch for the Tartans, who finished fourth as a team. Passano, a freshman, won the race in 21:49 Wednesday, and took it in stride. She has already won her share of dual meets.
   "I’m only a freshman so I don’t know anything about it," said the Skillman resident. "I don’t feel any different. I don’t know what it’s about. My coach is telling me."
   It was a day for youth from the Packet area, as both of the inexperienced Princeton Day School teams learned from their races. Led by the fourth-place finish of Erik Lefebvre, the PDS boys finished second, behind winner Gill St. Bernards and just ahead of third-place Rutgers Prep. Led by Julia Salem’s ninth-place finish, the PDS girls were fifth on the Gill 5-kilometer course.
   "We have a pretty young team," said PDS head coach Eamon Downey. "We’re sophomore heavy. We don’t have enough kids running under 20 minutes. Gill had two other upperclassmen plus this transfer who’s one of the best runners in the state. We were a little outgunned.
   "We are improving in terms of times. I think we’re probably looking to next year to really bring things together. A lot of our kids are still very young. They’re racing and improving when they’re racing. We just don’t have a team that has some experienced varsity competitors yet. A lot are new to it. It’s a work in progress. I think next year we have some good kids coming up from middle school. I think we’ll have a solid team."
   Stuart, led by the promise of such freshman as Passano, may also be a year away. The Tartans, who saw their seven-year Patriot title streak end Wednesday, do not have a senior on their team, and their most experienced and talented junior, Nicole Huber, is lost to injury this season. Huber was expected to be the top runner for Stuart, but Passano has stepped right in for her.
   "Whenever we run dual meets, she’s been dynamite," said Stuart head coach Robert Abdullah. "She’s really raw. She didn’t run any real distance. She ran in middle school but it’s a big step up from there to high school.
   "Every time she steps on the course, she gets faster. She ran 24:56 in her first race. Now, she’s up to 21:49 today. It’s a challenging course. There are a couple good hills. She took the lead from the beginning and just kept it going."
   Passano didn’t try to be fancy about the race. Nothing she does as a runner really is. She is still working on her form and technique, of which she says, "I don’t have any." She simply races and it’s worked well for her. It did again Wednesday.
   "I tried to stay at the head of the pack," Passano said. "A few weeks ago I raced against the girl from Rutgers Prep. We were at the head of the pack in the beginning. I didn’t want anyone to pass me.
   "She wasn’t with me the whole time in the beginning. In the second lap, she came up with me. But towards the very end, I broke away."
   There was never a doubt in Abdullah’s mind that Passano would win. That wasn’t the question.
   "My biggest concern was she would get lost," Abdullah said. "I didn’t worry about if she would win or not. If someone was close to her, she has a kick. She’s a tough runner. I think she’ll be the best Stuart has had."
   The Tartans have had some fine runners to lead them. Most recently, Emily Driscoll, who won the Patriot race in 2004, has gone on to compete for Northeastern University. Laura Brienza was the last Stuart freshman to win the Patriot Conference meet in 2002. Brienza went on to be a part of four different team titles. Abdullah hopes to see similar strides made by the young Tartans as they build on Passano’s race Wednesday.
   "I was happy with our performance," Abdullah said. "Even though we finished fourth, they ran their best times this year. We just don’t have a lot of horses. They ran their best so I’m proud of them. Next year, we’re going to come back. We’ll get Nicole back and the other girls will be back."
   Passano, too, is looking forward to the future. She has had more success than even she expected in her first varsity year. She made the jump from middle school to high school without a problem.
   "I was worried," Passano said. "You go from two miles to 3.1. I was really worried about the distance and the training. Mr. Abdullah is a great coach. It’s been hard, but not as hard as I expected it to be."
   In the immediate future, Passano will have a chance at the state championship title. Many of the same teams will be competing there and it should help that she has proven a couple of times that she can hold off their best.
   "It will help boost my confidence going into the race knowing I’ve won before," Passano said. "I still get really nervous."
   The nervousness is one of the signs that Passano is still just a freshman, not a veteran runner hardened by previous experiences. But as Wednesday’s championship win shows, she is gaining the winning edge quickly enough. It’s part of an area youth movement in the prep ranks. As she did through Wednesday’s entire race, Stuart’s Alex Passano is leading the way.