Ginez finishes ninth to advance as individual in girls’ meet
By: Redd E. Patrick
South Brunswick High School boys cross country coach Wilfredo Rivera knew it was going to take a near flawless race to finish among the top five schools at the NSJIAA Central Jersey Group IV Championships on Saturday with a chance to extend the season on the line.
He got just that.
With his top five runners performing up their capabilities, and beyond in some cases at Thompson Park, the Vikings finished in exactly fifth place. South Brunswick scored 136 points, which was 20 points comfortably ahead of Manalapan, yet just 10 away from third-place Colts Neck. Jackson was the winner with 53 points, runner-up Old Bridge had 84, while fourth-place Hillsborough scored 129.
"We ran a great race as a team," Rivera said. "All the kids ran great. This was the same course we ran as the GMCs and the performances were better across the board. The conditions, of course, were much better with the weather, but we just ran a lot better. I knew we had a good shot to get out of the sectionals."
With the top 10 individuals and top five teams advancing to the State Group Championships, which will be held Saturday at Holmdel Park, the Vikings will be running at least one more week. The South Brunswick girls, however, finished sixth, which means the season is over for the young Vikings, but freshman sensation Sophia Ginez finished ninth to advance to next week’s competition as an individual.
Senior Steve Sample, who didn’t have one of his better races at the GMCs, improved his time by more than half a minute in leading the Vikings with a ninth-place effort in 16:31.
"Steve bounced back," Rivera said. "He’s been running great all year, he just didn’t have a good county meet. I knew he had this in him."
In a field of 124 runners, six Vikings cracked the top 50 (only 5 runners count toward the team score) as senior Dave Christofalo (16:59) was 23rd, senior Cole Crosby (17:13) 28th, senior Rishi Mathur (17:20) 34th, sophomore Matt Boley (17:34) 44th and sophomore Daniel Boyle (17:39) was 49th. Sophomore Jon Bellizio ran 17:55 and was 58th. Craig Forys of Colts Neck, the favorite to win this year’s Meet of Champions, won the race in 15:38.
"Cole and Dave ran very well and so did Rishi," Rivera said. "Rishi was our MVP last year and he’s been hurt all season. This was only his third race back and he improved his time from the GMCs by almost a minute, so he’s almost back to where he was. Even our sophomores ran well, Matt Boley, Danny Boyle and John Bellizio. I was proud of all of the kids, no complaints."
As for this Saturday, Rivera offered: "I told the kids they have nothing to lose. Just keep trying to improve."
At the State Group meet, the top 10 individuals and top three teams advance to the Meet of Champions.
At the GMC meet, Ginez ran 20:18 and placed second to Heather Miara of Sayreville. At the sectionals, Ginez ran 19:01 to improve by 1:17. And, she beat Miara, who finished 10th in 19:04. Colts Neck sophomore Brianna Jackucewicz won the race in a time of 18:11.
"Sophia was very happy with her race, I thought she ran awesome," Rivera said. "She went by Miara with about 200 meters to go. And next week at the groups, they’ll get to do it again."
The Vikings placed fifth as a team, but it wasn’t really that close as they scored 235 points to fifth-place Montgomery, which scored 154. Colts Neck won with 47.
"We have six of our top seven back and we have other young kids up and coming as well," Rivera said. "So this was a good experience. I thought all the kids ran well."
Finishing behind Ginez were: junior Megan Behrend (46th, 20:56), junior Stephanie Rodriguez (54th, 21:08), freshman Lyndsey Sample (59th, 21:12), senior Jessica Bellizio (67th, 21:27) and freshman Jennifer Smilgis (73rd, 21:36).

