CROSS COUNTRY
By: Tim Falls
The Lawrence High School cross country team wasn’t racing for first.
The Cardinals had a more realistic goal of a sixth-place team finish at the Mercer County Championships at Veterans Park in Hamilton, last Friday.
Lawrence proved just how real its goal was by matching Allentown with 204 points as it vied for the sixth-place position.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Allentown won on the sixth-runner tiebreaker and Lawrence placed seventh.
Lawrence’s David Azer led the Cardinals with a 17th-place finish in 16 minutes, 40 seconds on the 3.1 mile Veterans Park course.
"I pushed myself really hard," said Azer. "The event got me caught up."
While Lawrence fell slightly short of its goal, the Cardinals did avenge an earlier loss to Steinert, which placed eighth in the county championship with 233 points.
"We had a goal set early in the season of finishing sixth," said Lawrence coach Dave O’Neal in an e-mail. "We knew in order to do that, we needed to avenge two close losses from earlier in the year. We lost to Allentown by two points and Steinert by one and needed to beat both to reach our goal."
"Those losses ruined our chances at a .500 season," said Azer, "but 6-8 is a big improvement over last year."
The Cardinals knew Allentown and Steinert would be tough and O’Neal had plenty of warning with the Redbirds. O’Neal said he sits near Allentown coach Doug Hunt at Citzen Bank Park and compared notes over the summer. O’Neal said the coaches felt the teams would be pretty similar this season and the Cardinals proved that to be true by matching the Redbirds in points at the county meet.
Lawrence isn’t quite done with Allentown either.
The two teams will compete again in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Sectional at Holmdel this Saturday. The Cardinals have a goal for this race as well aside from possibly edging out the Redbirds.
"We’re hoping to get sixth or at least in the top 10 at Sectionals," said Azer. "The best Lawrence has been is sixth in Group III. Now we’re back in Group III and we have a team that could get sixth."
O’Neal said a top 10 finish would be the highest for Lawrence since a sixth-place performance in 2000. Lawrence had struggled in the Group IV field, and while Group III isn’t much easier, O’Neal can see his team contending for anywhere from fifth to 11th.
Lawrence’s runners certainly showed why O’Neal has such confidence in the team. Despite an injury to one of the Cardinals’ top five (John Stever), Lawrence posted personal bests to match Allentown and take seventh.
Azer dropped 25 seconds off his previous best to lead the Cardinals.
"David Azer had a solid run," said O’Neal, "showing that he has learned in one season how to challenge himself on a cross country course."
Likewise, Kevin Raymond and Marcin Truszkowski ran for personal records to finish 36th and 38th, respectively. Raymond improved on his previous best of 17:53 by finishing in 17:28, while Truszkowski ran a 17:29 and improved on his previous best of 17:59.
Joe Tissot dropped the most time taking 56th in 18:10 after a previous best of 18:58. Justin Wisniewski helped push Tissot and took 57th in 18:16 after a previous best of 18:36.
"All five of my scoring runners ran their personal best times," said O’Neal. "The biggest improvement was senior Joe Tissot. He had been steadily improving over the last several meets and was one of our healthiest athletes coming into championships, but had yet to run as fast as the other varsity team members. He along with freshman Justin Wisniewski teamed up early and pushed each other through the entire race. Their improvement kept us ahead of Steinert and even with Allentown."
Mike Scott took 69th for Lawrence in 18:34 and Mike Czigler claimed 79th in 19:07.
Adam Hinsen led the Lawrence JV, placing 21st in 18:28 after a previous best of 18:53, while Ben Muzi took 40th in 18:57 after a previous best of 19:47 and Scott Figatner took 54th in 19:28 after a previous best of 20:18.
In the 3,400 meter freshman race, Kyle Bennett took 15th in 12:44, Tommy Visco took 24th in 13:13, Ilan Montilla placed 26th in 13:36, Monnish Chaudhary took 47th n 14:31 and Lee Clark took 63rd in 16:05.
In the JV girls race, Hannah Adamy was the only Lawrence runner and she finished 21st in 23:37 after a previous best of 24:02. In the freshman girls race, natalie Falk took sixth in 15:14 and Adriana Gabriel took ninth in 15:57.

