The South Hunterdon Regional High School cross country is looking ahead, working hard toward Nov. 8 and the Central Jersey Group I meet at Thompson Park in Monroe.
Before that, however, there is much training to do, a annual trip to Florida to take, then a whole week without meets.
That week likely will be filled with rigorous training runs designed by head coach John Zidzik.
Zidzik promised it Monday night as he considered the team’s busy schedule this week: a quad meet with Manville and Belvidere at Delaware Valley Wednesday, followed by a trip to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla.
The Eagles will race Friday in the small school division along with 35 to 40 other schools.
”They’ve invited us back,” said Zidzik, adding the Eagles have been taking the trip for eight years. “It really gets the kids pumped.”
The start of the race will be a good test for the runners as they prepare for starts with large fields, something they’ll face at the sectional meet in November.
”We’ve had kids buried because of the starts and the crowd,” Zidzik said, “Running at a venue like this will help.”
The Eagles beat Warren Tech 17-47 Friday as senior Dan Marley won in 18:30 followed by senior Mel Peters (19:06) and junior Jay Hertz (19:49) who swept the first three places.
Senior Wyatt Riggs was fifth in 20:07, junior Gabe Stephens was sixth in 20:16, and sophomore Kiyle Osgood was seventh in 20:31.
Wednesday, the team beat North Plainfield 26-31, but lost to Hackettstown 19-39. Marley was fourth in 18:32, and Mel Peters was seventh at 19:20.
The significant finish came from 12th through 15th as Osgood, Hertz, Riggs and Stephens were clocked from 20:03 to 20:54. The pack eventually will tell just how good a season the Eagles will have.
”They are happy running in pack; they’re trying to stick together,” Zidzik said.
North Plainfield’s Mohammed Sameer-Uddin won the race in 17:51, and Hackettstown’s Erik Mitchell and Steve Manole finished second and third at 18:14 and 18:15.
”I thought we’d do better with Hackettstown,” Zidzik said. “They had two kids last year who were really good that graduated, but the bigger schools can replace more kids.”
The team has beaten Warren Tech, North Plainfield and Bound Brook, losing to Hackettstown, Pennington, North warren, Bernards and Somerville.
The meet with Belvidere is expected to be a tight one. The Eagles nipped the County Seaters by a point last year, and Belvidere won a close dual meet the year before.
”We’re really in there with the smaller schools,” Zidzik said.
Sophomore Shannon Brush was 10th, freshman Brielle Cameron was 16th, and Jenny Zidzik was 20th in the team’s meet with Mount St. Mary, Hackettstown and North Plainfield. The Eagles girls don’t have a complete team so they don’t count in the team results.

