Juhn, Holt part of advancing teams

Kellner qualifies as individual in girls’ sectional meet

By: Justin Feil
   JAMESBURG – Without the development of Mina Juhn, the Princeton High School girls’ cross country team might not be as good.
   Without the improvements of Rachel Holt, the Montgomery High School team might not have advanced out of Central Jersey Group IV.
   Juhn finished 10th overall at Thompson Park on Saturday as the Little Tigers finished second to Hopewell Valley, whom they beat for the Mercer County Championship the week earlier, in the CJ III race. West Windsor-Plainsboro North, led by Julia Xu’s 17th place finish, was seventh and will not advance as one of the top five teams from the sectional.
   Holt was the Cougars’ second finisher, 24th overall, as MHS finished fifth in the CJ IV team standings. MHS was led by freshman Jillian Prentice, who was seventh overall. West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Katie Kellner was fourth as the Pirates were seventh in the team standings. Kellner advances to the Group IV state meet as an individual.
   "Katie ran phenomenally," said South coach Melinda Neff. "I think she ran over 30 seconds faster, almost 40 seconds faster, than she did at Old Bridge (also at Thompson Park). She did a great job. She had a really strong finish. She was fifth coming up the hill and she finished fourth. She’s been working on her sprint. She was able to incorporate it today. She did.
   "We knew it was going to be a long shot for us. When you add Colts Neck and Montgomery, all of sudden, there are two of the strongest Group III teams in there. Then there’s Jackson. There are a lot of good teams. It’s incredibly competitive."
   In CJ III, Juhn was the Little Tigers’ second finisher, behind Molly Lynch, who was fourth in the race. Juhn and Lynch are in their second year of being teammates together, but the sophomores weren’t running together last year.
   "I was playing JV soccer with Molly," said Juhn, who was seventh at the MCC. "I did track during winter and spring. Everyone was so positive and I liked the team a lot. I decided to try cross country in the fall. I’m glad I made this choice. It’s been an amazing season and a good experience."
   Juhn has helped make it so. She has come on strong over the last few weeks to be someone the Little Tigers can count on to help push their team to new heights.
   "She ran well today," said PHS head coach Jim Smirk. "She’s been coming along all season. She moved her freshman year and she didn’t know if she was going to do soccer or cross country. She came out for cross country for two weeks and then figured she’d give soccer a try. She came out for track and she suffered from shin splints.
   "We trained her up this summer. When we talked to her at the beginning of the year, we said our No. 1 goal was to keep her healthy. We’ve just recently taken the leash off her and said go run the way you want to. She’s a real aggressive athlete. She puts it out there for you every race."
   Juhn is hoping that the best lies ahead for PHS. After her, Libby Bliss was 13th, Susanne Hansen was 15th and Lena Frey was 16th. Eliana Ritts gave the Little Tigers a sixth girls ahead of Hopewell’s fourth finisher, but it wasn’t quite enough in Saturday’s highly competitive sectional. Hopewell won with 54 points, PHS had 57 and third-place Ocean had 61.
   "It was really amazing," Juhn said. "All of our hard work paid off this season. It’s nice to see it all come together.
   "We just really wanted to work together as a pack. We knew we had some tough teams to look for. We just wanted to go out and do our best."
   The goals will be the same as the Little Tigers head into the Group III meet. They want to keep their pack together and continue to finish strong.
   "We’ve worked well all season," Juhn said. "To see we’ve been performing well at counties as well as sectionals is very satisfying.
   "I think our goal is to do as well as we can. We’ll see what we can do when we get to a higher level of competition. It looks pretty promising."
   Added Smirk: "The question is whether our runners are going to step up like Mina did at counties. Today, (Hopewell’s) runner did. We’ll talk about what we need to do. If we have the results, we’ll see what we can do and make a run at the Meet of Champions."
   It may be a long shot for the Cougars to make the Meet of Champions, but they have handled the move up to Group IV flawlessly. Holt is a big reason for the Cougars’ success.
   "This year we needed her really badly," said MHS coach Jim Goodfriend. "She’s stepped up. She’s been the person who’s baled us out. She had a really good spring track season and decided she wanted to be good. She came in in good shape. And she has a good attitude."
   It was attitude in part that made the difference for Holt. She came into the season with a different approach after regularly finishing third, and even fourth occasionally, last year for the Cougars.
   "I feel it’s my responsibility as an upperclassmen to do better than I have in the past," said Holt, a junior. "I felt in the beginning of the season, I felt I should step it up. As a captain, I felt that responsibility as well."
   Holt and the Cougars had run in the Old Bridge Classic at Thompson Park earlier in the year, and they showed improvement on the course Saturday. Holt finished 40 seconds faster than her Old Bridge time. Nora Heck was 32nd, Amanda Herrmann 43rd and Danielle Baginsky 48th.
   "We expected it to be better this time," Holt said. "It’s still a tough course. No one liked it the first time. No one liked it the second time."
   As for going on, Holt is looking forward to the Group IV meet at Holmdel. It’s the finale for her before she turns her focus to basketball season. Making the Group IV meet was a goal for the Cougars since the beginning of the year.
   "It’s exciting," Holt said. "The best thing is you don’t have to expect anything. It’s the last race of the season for most of us, maybe not Jill."
   Holt’s improvement is something that helped MHS fulfill its goal. And Juhn’s development has brought along the Little Tigers. Both would agree it’s been quite a season already.
   "It is an incredible experience," Juhn said. "It’s definitely rewarding."