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WW-P North XC repeats in record run

Knight boys break scoring mark

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
  HOPEWELL — Tyler Corkedale finished his final Mercer County Championship race with a furious kick to give the West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys four of the top five cross country finishers.
   The Knights did not need the mad dash Friday as they repeated as champions and easily eclipsed the team scoring record with just 21 points, but the finish at Washington Crossing Park defined the senior.
   ”Of the seven guys that ran today,” said Knights head coach Brian Gould, “I didn’t see anyone hurting worse at the end than he was. He really left everything out there on the course. That’s something he gives us every time he races.”
   Nagging injuries — even an Achilles that tightened up on him the week before counties — have hampered some of his progress this season, but nothing was slowing him at the end Friday.
   ”I didn’t even think about it,” Corkedale said. “I just saw somebody ahead of me and it was just a reaction. We were going for the record for the least amount of points. I knew that every place was going to make a big difference. I tried not to think about having been injured and tried to run normally.”
   Except the Knights are anything but normal on courses. They distanced the field Friday with their top seven all finishing in the top 15 overall. Joe Rosa led the squad with the first win by a WW-P North runner at the county meet. His 15:12 clocking was a course record.
   ”His whole thing is he wants to win and if you’re going to beat him, you’re really going to have to earn it,” Gould said. “He just ran tough and stayed on the gas the whole way. He’s such a tough kid. I can’t imagine what kind of effort it takes to beat him.”
   Pennington’s Phil Wood was second followed by three more Knights. Jim Rosa was third, Ryan Sleeper fourth and Corkedale fifth. Jon Squeri rounded out the top five in eighth place.
   ”Our pack worked today the best we’ve done together,” Corkedale said. “A bunch of guys were changing up the lead in the pack. That was definitely something encouraging going into the upcoming meets.”
   The Knights along with the rest of the public county field will compete in the sectional meets next weekend. WW-P North goes in off an encouraging win, a special win for seniors like Corkedale.
   ”It’s definitely a great way to go out in that I’m not going to be running any more county races,” he said. “We’ve got some bigger meets ahead of us, so we’re trying to stay focused on them right now. At the end of the season, I’ll look back at this and it’ll be awesome.”
   West Windsor-Plainsboro South was second overall with 67 points. Kevin Foy, a senior, was the Pirates’ top finisher in seventh. Sam Macaluso was ninth.
   ”I’m really motivated by this,” Foy said. “I was having trouble getting up in the morning some time last week to get myself out to run. Now, there’s no way I’m going second-guess myself. I’ll get out every morning and do all the little things.”
   Princeton High School finished fifth overall. Aaron Thomas led the Little Tigers with a 19th-place finish.
   Erik Lefebvre was 14th overall to help Princeton Day School finished 11th in the team standings.