Freshman takes sixth
By John Beisser, Sports Writer
From the moment she joined the South Brunswick High School cross country team this fall, it was evident that Cayla DelPiano was not a normal freshmen runner.
No one, however, could have predicted at that time just how special an athlete the Vikings had in their midst. On a team laden with experienced and proven performers, DelPiano outshone them all with a sixth place finish in the Central Jersey Group IV State Sectionals at Jamesburg’s Thompson Park last Saturday.
DelPiano’s performance helped catapult the Vikings to a first-place finish in the sectionals, ahead of Hillsborough and West Windsor-Plainsboro. South Brunswick’s seven runners now move onto Saturday’s State Group Meet in Holmdel where the top three finishing teams advance to the Nov. 22 Meet of Champions.
On the boys side, Viking senior Matt Boley turned in a clutch seventh-place finish in last Saturday’s sectionals to become the lone South Brunswick boys runner to advance to he State Group IV Meet,
On a rainy day, which turned the Thompson Park course into a slippery, muddy track, Jennifer Smilgis delivered an 11th-place finish, followed by Sophia Ginez and Ashley Edwards, who placed 13th and 14th, respectively. Lyndsey Sample came in 17th place while Amanda Smilgis and Kimbeley McGrath also recorded top-40 times, with Smilgis finishing in 38th place and McGrath in 39th.
DelPiano played her share of soccer growing up before focusing on running exclusively the past few years. She had plenty of confidence in her abilities entering the ninth grade in September, but admits she has exceeded her own expectations while melding into a veteran lineup.
”The season has gone beyond my goals,” says DelPiano who won’t turn 15 until August. “When I ran an 18:56 at a meet early in the season, that’s the time when I began to realize that I could really run with the juniors and seniors.”
DelPiano is appreciative of how well her older teammates have accepted her and indoctrinated her to varsity running.
”My teammates have been super. They all treat me very well,” she said. “I consider them all mentors. It was weird at first adjusting to a team where I was the youngest girl. Now, it’s not as weird.”
Head coach Wilfredo Rivera has been coaching for some time and always takes a measured approach in assessing his team and its individuals. But he admits he is impressed with his freshman runner – very impressed.
”She’s physically strong which is a big key to her success,” he said. “I knew she’d be good but in middle school you’re running 1.5 mile courses and now it’s 3.2 miles. You just don’t know how a freshman is going to adjust to the high school workload. But, it’s translating. And it’s great that she has a couple years here to get better and better.”
Rivera was praiseworthy of all of his runners on the girls side and is excited and proud of Boley’s accomplishment on the boys side.
Boley entered he race knowing he needed a top-10 individual performance in order to advance to the states. When the dust, or more accurately, the mud settled, Boley hit the finish line in eighth place.
”Due to the rain and the tough running conditions, this wasn’t Matt’s personal best time,” he said. “But when you consider what was at stake and the conditions, I think it was his best race.
”To qualify for the Group Meet as an individual you need to place in the top 10. He beat a bunch of guys who finished ahead of him at the GMC’s. He finished seventh at the GMC’s and eighth in the sectionals and beat three boys from Old Bridge who had beaten him at the GMC’s.
”We came up with a plan for the race and Matt executed it perfectly,” he added. “And I couldn’t be happier for him.”
As for the remaining Viking boys, Dan Boyle was 61st, (10:05), followed by Sean Monaghan (69th, 18:16), Nick Denuzzo (81st, 18:32), and Dan Medell (84th, 18:36). The Vikes finished 11th as a team.