Young HHS runners perform at county meet

Smolinka, Magath, Walton place in top 10

By: Rudy Brandl
   BERNARDS — Two sophomores and a freshman took center stage for the Hillsborough High cross country program in last week’s Somerset County Championships at Pleasant Valley Park.
   The HHS girls and boys didn’t win any individual titles, but three young runners claimed trophies for finishing in the top 10 against some quality competition. Freshman Ashley Smolinka finished fourth in the girls’ race in a time of 19:46, while sophomores Jordan Magath (17:15) and Jason Walton (17:17) went 9-10 to lead the HHS boys to second place in the team standings.
   Two-time defending champion Hillsborough wasn’t the favorite in the boys’ event, but head coach Rich Refi wasn’t counting out his crew. Ridge simply ran a better team race and prevailed by an impressive 34-point margin.
   "They ran well and they deserved it," Refi said. "When you go 3-4-6 in front of our first guy, that’s pretty hard to beat."
   The Raiders weren’t disappointed. In fact, both teams were feeling upbeat after their races. While the HHS boys finished second, the girls’ team placed fourth, a bit higher than expected.
   "The girls ran very well," Refi said. "We were shooting for fifth place, but the girls took fourth and beat Pingry. They did a great job."
   Smolinka, the highest-finisher of any Raider runner, led the way again. The freshman phenom executed her plan to stay near the leaders and keep a consistent pace. She was third for a while but settled back into a comfortable mode to finish fourth.
   "It’s great," Smolinka said while clutching her trophy for placing in the top 10. "It doesn’t happen to a lot of freshmen. I just wanted to run my best time and I wound up with the exact same thing."
   The HHS boys figured that senior Joe Bernardo would be setting their pace, but the normal pack leader was sore and wound up 16th in 17:44. The two sophomores picked up the slack and led the way.
   Hillsborough tried to take the race out hard and stay ahead of Ridge. The plan worked for a while but the Red Devils eventually made up the ground and placed five scoring runners in the top 17.
   "Our coach definitely told us to take the first part of the race really fast to get ahead of the Ridge kids and get our spot for the race," Magath said. "Me and Jason were ahead of them for most of the first mile. We took the first two miles out very fast. (Alex) Brenner was ahead of us the whole time, but then two other guys passed us coming out of the woods. We went out real fast and slowed down at the end."
   The muddy, slippery conditions didn’t help any of the athletes.
   "It went out hard because it’s not as muddy back there," said Walton, pointing to the start line. "The grass hill was horrible and it slowed us down. It was hard to climb that hill."
   The HHS boys placed five scoring runners in the top 22 and all seven finished in the top 27. Justin Risso (19th, 17:45), Brian Keohane (22nd, 17:58), Alex Brown (25th, 18:02) and Michael Rath (27th, 18:07) rounded out the team performance.
   "It wasn’t a bad race," Walton said. "We had a good showing. We would’ve liked to get first, but we trained through it. We’re trying to peak for the conference and sectionals."
   "We were definitely pumped for today," Magath added. "We knew we had a shot, but we did what we expected and we’re proud of that."
   The HHS girls performed even better than expected. Following Smolinka in the varsity race were Robyn Paterno (26th, 21:45), Alison Buerkle (30th, 22:04), Nicole Rocha (31st, 22:04), Meredith Mayes (32nd, 22:10), Alyssa Ciccotelli (33rd, 22:24) and Rebecca Deteresa (38th, 22:46).
   "We ran well," Refi said. "The times are going to be slower than Holmdel because it was muddy and real hot."
   The Raiders will return to Pleasant Valley Park against many of the same foes for Thursday’s Skyland Conference Championships.