Running for best in county

Zhou confident Pirate girls ready

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Ting Ting Zhou didn’t join the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls’ cross country team until her junior year, but she had a feeling that she’d like it.
   Her success in spring track was a big hint.
   ”Coach started putting me in a lot of two miles,” Zhou said. “I was the only one on the team other than Katie (Kellner) that liked doing them.”
   Zhou adapted quickly in her first year of cross country. She was South’s third finisher, 19th overall, at the Mercer County Championships in her inaugural season last year as the Pirates finished second to Hopewell Valley in a steady downpour.
   ”I was pretty happy with that,” Zhou said. “I think I could have caught a few more girls at the end. It was definitely a good race.”
   Zhou and the Pirates are looking for more today when they try to unseat Hopewell and stay ahead of the rest of the county at Washington Crossing Park. The varsity championship races are scheduled for 3 and 3:30 p.m.
   ”We’re going in undefeated which is crazy,” Zhou said. “We were so surprised when we beat Hopewell (in the regular season). Ever since then, we haven’t seen them again. We think we have the fitness. We’ve been training and training. We’ve been focusing on our workouts. I think we do have a good shot.”
   Kellner is again a contender for the individual title, having won it as a sophomore and finishing second last year as a junior. Hopewell will present the toughest challenge to the Pirates team, though West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Princeton have the ability to threaten the top.
   ”We’re excited, a little bit nervous,” said Pirate girls’ coach Josh Siegel. “We’ve been training all the way through. Hopewell has really been gunning. That’s what we’ve been looking at.
   ”It’s all about getting out good. If they get a good start, once we’re out, they can relax. We have to make sure our heads are in the race. We have to be ready right from the get-go.”
   Zhou considers herself much better prepared this season. Though she spent part of the summer in Boston getting ahead academically, the Pirates senior came into the season ready for a big year.
   ”Our training was very tough during the summer,” Zhou said. “We logged a lot of miles. All of us as a whole feel our training has been so much better and a lot harder. We feel more prepared.”
   The Pirates have used their top strength with Kellner and her freshman sister, Caroline, and a strong next three that includes Zhou. She, Becky Barclay and Shelby Miller have helped bring each other along race after race and they could finish in any order today for the Pirates. They will be pulling each other along.
   ”It’s actually weird,” Zhou said. “Last year, I was second and third with Tiffany Hsieh. We would help each other a lot. It is helpful to have them.”
   WW-P South is happy to have Zhou for a second year as well. She is more experienced and more confident in her senior year, and has the chance to make an even bigger impact in the county.
   ”Ting Ting is very deceiving,” Siegel said. “She’s such a strong runner. At first glance, you wouldn’t expect that. She really has some speed when she gets out there. She’s got some good tricks up her sleeve. She had a good summer of training, but a lot of it was up in Boston. It was good once we got her back. We’ve seen improvement. Hopefully it carries a little longer.”
   Zhou is happy with the change from the long-used Veterans Park site to Washington Crossing, which is considered a slower course.
   ”We went there this past Saturday,” Zhou said. “That was my favorite course. There’s not as much gravel and pavement as Veterans. I thought that was good.”
   It will be her final county championship in cross country. She got a late start to the sport, but a championship could bring quite a finish to her brief career.
   ”I actually like cross country a lot more than track,” said Zhou, who could compete at the Division III level next year. “I like that it’s the team aspect and it’s the top seven and the entire team, and we’re all doing the same thing. There’s no split between sprinters and distance runners. We’re not running in circles. It’s a lot more fun.”