Leung, Kellner finish in top six
By: Justin Feil
HOLMDEL Four area individuals will move on to the Meet of Champions that will be held Saturday at Holmdel Park.
Two teams narrowly missed joining them.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South will have representation in both the boys’ and girls’ championship races. Katie Kellner was sixth in the Group IV girls race Saturday.
"I’m pretty happy," said Kellner, who covered the 5-kilometer Holmdel course in 18 minutes, 57 seconds. "The course was kind of hard today because it was a little muddy so the times were a little slow. I’m pretty happy with my time and I’m pretty happy with my place. I wanted to be up there so I’m happy. I was definitely hoping in the top seven, and then top five if I was lucky."
Brian Leung gave the Pirates program symmetry with a sixth-place finish in the Group IV boys’ race Saturday. The junior finished in 16:25.
"I was pretty confident," said Leung, who like Kellner will be making a second straight MOC appearance. "Next week is my race. I haven’t backed off. I’ve been doing good workouts. I’m feeling strong. My time was a little off, but today was hot.
"Racing-wise," he added, "I thought I raced well today. It sets me up well for next week."
West Windsor-Plainsboro North will be represented at the MOC for the first time by Sean McNulty. The senior placed 10th in the Group III boys’ meet in 16:54. He would have liked to have been joined by his Knights team, but WW-P North was the second team left out by the MOC wild cards. They were fourth overall in the Group III race. The top three teams move on and the next two fastest teams by time are granted wild cards.
"We missed the automatic by 15 points," said Knights head coach Brian Gould. "We missed the wild card by four seconds. Sean ran well. He got 10 so he got the last automatic spot. It was a little warm out. It was a little slow. You couldn’t gauge performance by the times.
"A.J. Reichert, a sophomore, was 40th overall. Jon Squeri was the second freshmen in the race and was our fifth man. Everybody ran well. The best we ever finished was 14th at this race. To finish fourth was a real great improvement."
It was a theme that also rang true for the Princeton girls. They finished fourth as well in the Group III girls’ meet to just miss the automatic qualifier.
"We were fourth overall, off of 15th last year," said PHS girls’ coach Jim Smirk. "We ran well. It was kind of a slow day. I don’t think we ran particularly slower than anyone else or faster. I was impressed with our pack. Lena (Frey) ran a great race. She was really aggressive the whole race. She had a finishing kick that was something to watch. She was a standout.
"Molly (Lynch) did what she was supposed to do being up front. She had a pretty good day. She was 21st. She hasn’t mastered it yet. It’s her first year. She’ll have faster days ahead."
The final area MOC qualifier was Montgomery’s Jillian Prentice. The freshman finished 13th in 19:48 in the Group IV race as the Cougars finished 16th in the team standings. Prentice received wild card entry to the MOC as one of the 10 fastest individuals to not place in the top 10 in their race Saturday.
"It’s incredible," said MHS head coach Jim Goodfriend. "It’s great for a freshman. She ran a great race today."
While it was just a start for Prentice, Saturday was the end of the season for a number of runners. At MHS, it was the last race for Brittany Erickson, the only senior who will not have a chance to return to the Group IV meet next year. She was happy to be a part of the first Cougar team to reach that level this year.
"It’s my first year ever on cross country," Erickson said. "I was a huge soccer player and then this year I decided to try to run. I love track. It was amazing. We did awesome.
"This is my second time running at Holmdel," she added. "I knew the course now and I knew the Bowl, where it came and what to expect. I ran faster than I did first time because of that, and also it being states I had a little more adrenaline rush."
While she won’t be back for the Cougars, she is looking forward to MHS’ future. It begins with Prentice’s first MOC.
"Each and every girl on this team is amazing in my eyes," Erickson said. "One is better than the others, but we don’t treat it like that. We go out there as a team and end as a team. Jillian, she’s going on to the Meet of Champs, and we’re all going to go and we’re all going to support her as a team. Our season doesn’t end here."
It also won’t end for the three other individuals racing Saturday in the state’s most prestigious high school meet. For McNulty, it will be his first MOC as well.
"When next week comes around, everyone is fast," Gould said. "We have to come in on Monday and put in another week of work and physically and emotionally be prepared for the race. We’ll see how he feels that day. I’m sure he’ll finish his senior year by giving his best."
McNulty already helped bring along a Knights team to new heights. It showed how far they’ve come that they were disappointed with a fourth-place finish in the Group III state meet.
"This is a new team and new expectations," Gould said. "We were between 30 and 40 in the entire group last year so we showed tremendous improvement in one year. A lot of it is on the attitude of the team.
"One of our former runners, Mike Page, used to say, if you lose a race, don’t lose the lesson. As long as everyone takes a lesson and understands we’re improving, we can use it. It hurts to come close and lose, but it’s a lesson. We take it and use it as fuel."
So too can the PHS girls and boys, who finished 20th in the Group III boys’ meet. The Little Tiger girls finished well ahead of Hopewell Valley, which had defeated them in the sectionals the week before.
"We definitely ended on a high note," Smirk said. "Hopewell came in 10th today. I think back to sectionals, they had a great day. I think, did we not get it done in sectionals? I still think we had a pretty good day. And we made a legitimate run at getting to the Meet of Champions today. It’s a big step for our program, trying to do something like this and take it on. I don’t have any regrets. They moved up 11 spots. I’m real happy with how we ran.
"A lot of seniors are going on to run in college," he added. "This gives them one more skill set. Our underclassmen ran well today and it gives us a glimpse of what we have next year. You’re doing two things here: holding on to this season and trying to eek out every moment for your seniors; and in same breath preparing for next year. Our seniors had a great day and our underclassmen ran well. I’m real proud to have had the opportunity to coach these girls."
Leung and Kellner are making the Pirates proud as well. The two ran as individuals Saturday and will do so again this week. They’ll be looking for big finishes.
"We worked hard this week," said Pirate boys’ coach Kurt Wayton. "All season we’ve been looking toward next week. He raced well. He got the (Alex) Yersak kid from Cherokee. He beat the kid from Franklin. I told him to get him and he caught him and did well.
"You want to get them when it counts. We’ve had some good work all week. It’s been a year of tremendous downs. We’ve had to pull ourselves up. He’s dealt with hundreds of problems already so it’s nice to be here."
Kellner also has been targeting the MOC this year. She is also looking to improve on last year’s finish.
"I think she has more confidence in herself on the course," said Pirate girls’ coach Melinda Neff. "She knows who her competition is. There are no surprises. She knows exactly what she has to do. She also has a whole year of training behind her.
"She looked strong. She’s at the point in the season where it’s really tough. She’s practicing on her own with a few altruistic volunteers who are coming out. The girls are coming out to keep her company. It’s much harder training by herself."
Kellner hasn’t felt alone in her training, just as she didn’t feel alone when she represented the Pirates Saturday.
"It’s a little different," Kellner said. "I like it better coming with the whole team. It’s still a ton of fun. A lot of them came to support me and they were standing all over the course cheering for me. They’re some of the best teammates ever."