Despite missing a slew of its regulars this weekend, the Metuchen High School boys cross country team raced to an eighth-place finish at this year’s Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park.
“We lost all of our seniors to the SAT on Saturday,” Metuchen head coach Tom Yakowenko said. “We’re a senior-heavy team this season, and it hurt us a bit, but we were still able to run well.”
With its top three runners in Mark Vorensky, Sam Kovach-Orr and Kyle Palmeter all out of Saturday’s race, Metuchen got noteworthy performances from its junior runners. Junior Chris Lasko was the first Bulldog to cross the finish line in 18:05, which was good enough for a 30th-place finish. Not bad, considering the field was well over 100 strong.
“Chris was sick the previous week with a cold, so it was nice to see him running healthy again,” Yakowenko said. “This was the same meet where he really broke out last season. This year he set a big PR [personal record] by 30 seconds.”
The team’s second finisher was junior Jake Nevius in the 18:20s. Nevius is a first-year runner with the Bulldogs.
“With our seniors out, I really wanted to get some of these other guys experience at Holmdel,” Yakowenko said. “This was a big meet for Jake. He turned in his best 5K time, and this was a nice step for him.”
Just behind Nevius was classmate Derrick Hargwood. Like Lasko last week, Hargwood was battling through a chest cold.
“He was under the weather, but he still ran a new PR for the course by 20 seconds,” Yakowenko said. “He’s probably the best of our top three finishers, but he was pretty sick and had some difficulty breathing.”
Junior Kevin Blanchard turned in the fourth-best time for Metuchen and appears to be rounding a corner of late. The team’s No. 7 runner all of last season, Blanchard has been battling various injuries to start this season.
“Kevin’s been playing catch-up after some injuries,” Yakowenko said. “He really stepped up nicely on Saturday.”
Tommy Thompson and Henry Clements rounded out the top six at Holmdel Park for the Bulldogs.
“Tommy is coming off a great summer, and once he’s fully recovered from his own illness, he’ll be pretty good,” Yakowenko said. “He ran nearly a minute and a half faster than his time from last year.”
Clements is in his first season running with the team, and his first look at Holmdel’s daunting course was a success.
“The first time at Holmdel can be difficult,” Yakowenko said. “He had some trouble on the hills, but he broke 19:00 and did well.”