NBC boys’ cross country advances to Group III finals

By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
    Everyone in the lineup helped the Northern Burlington County Regional High boys’ varsity cross country squad have a historic day at the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Championships at Thompson Park this past Saturday.
    “Our boys placed fifth as a team, which was great considering we were without Ryan Ramirez (NBC’s second best runner),” said NBC coach Steve Alustiza. “I’ve had individuals move on to states on the boys’ and girls’ side, but this is the first time the boys’ team has moved on to states in the 25 years I’ve coached here. And we were really happy to place fifth with great teams like West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Holmdel, Hopewell Valley and Hightstown there.”
    While NBC placed behind those teams, it did beat Princeton by 10 points (146 to 156) to grab the last qualifying team spot. Led by the Rosa Brothers, West Windsor-Plainsboro North ran away with the team title with 18 points and six out of the top eight runners. Yet in spite of the amazing field of runners, Greyhounds super senior Mike Bowden managed to place sixth overall with a brilliant time of 16:41.
    “For the fourth year in a row, Mike will move on as an individual,” said Alustiza, who felt that Bowden ran a strong race as usual.
    A very responsible and considerate young man, Ramirez informed Alustiza over the summer that he would be going on a long-
planned family vacation the week of Sectionals. That gave the Greyhounds plenty of time to rearrange their lineup to score the optimum amount of team points at Sectionals. Nevertheless, if NBC had had Ramirez, Hopewell Valley (136 points) and Hightstown (139) may have been within reach.
    “We could have probably finished higher because we kind of figured Ryan (Ramirez) would have probably finished 12th or 13th, given the other runners’ times (and the conditions),” noted Alustiza, who was nevertheless overjoyed by how well his boys ran. “I’ll take where we finished because we were sweating it out to place fifth.”
    Everyone knew Bowden would be great, but the way NBC advanced was with some great pack running and the other runners stepping up to the challenge.
    Greyhounds’ junior Dylan Kurowsky placed 29th with an excellent 18:01 time. NBC sophomore Andre Dupuis took home 34th place with a fine 18:14 time. Jordan Andrade, a junior, finished in 36th with a time of 18:15. Jon Grossman, a senior, posted an excellent 18:18 time for 41st place.
    “Our top five guys all had decent days. Jon Grossman really stepped up for us when Todd Hoisington went down,” remarked Alustiza.
    Senior Huntley Nolan (19:43 for 83rd place) and junior Jerry Pham (20:08 for 88th place) rounded out the Greyhounds’ runners in the Sectionals.
    “We should be at full strength this week,” said Alustiza, who is hoping for another strong performance out of his club at the NJSIAA Group III State Championships at Holmdel Park this coming Saturday.
    BRHS BOYS
    Zach Smith, a senior, was the top runner for Bordentown High in this past Saturday’s NJSIAA Group 1 Central Jersey Sectional Championship at Thompson Park.
    Smith placed 70th with a time of 21:41. Bordentown’s Anthony Covington (82nd place with a 22:54 time), Stephen Lubbers (91st place with a 24:38 time) and Mark Ezzo (97th place with a 29:55 time) also competed in the race. Bordentown, however, did enter enough runners to score as a team.
    NBC GIRLS
    For a team as young as it is, the Northern Burlington County Regional High girls’ varsity cross country squad had a very good season which culminated with a solid performance at the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Sectional Championships at Thompson Park this past Saturday.
    “The girls were glad to be there,” said NBC coach Steve Alustiza, who coached a squad with just one senior, Megan Lynch, to a 7-5 record this season.
    On Saturday, the Greyhounds’ junior standout Tanya Doschyk was NBC’s top performer on the girls’ side with a 21:52 time, which placed her 34th overall. Her average mile time was 7:04 minutes, which is very good considering how poor the footing was once the skies opened up and the pouring rain started.
    “It started to come down very hard,” added Alustiza, whose girls continued to run their race in spite of the conditions. “They ran steady. Their times were consistent with the way they’ve been running all season long. It’s a good group of girls.”
    NBC freshman Lydia Nolan also did very well with a 22:41 time for 43th place. NBC junior Emma Rosenwinkel also made it into the top 50 (49th) with a time of 23:04. Junior Sara Morris placed 57th with a time of 23:54, freshman Selena Senachai was 60th (24:25), senior Megan Lynch 67th (24:53) and freshman Brittany Michaels 69th (25:36) also competed in the race.
    Those placements do not count distance runners who ran as individuals, but only those who competed for a scoring team. As a team Northern Burlington placed 10th overall with 243 points.
    “We have a nice nucleus of girls coming out for next year’s team,” said Alustiza. Rosenwninkel is already a three-year veteran runner and Doschyk is a budding star. Moreover Morris and the NBC freshmen are all solid runners.
    BRHS GIRLS
    While Bordentown Regional High did not have enough girls to compete as a cross country team, Bordentown did enter a few girls in Saturday’s NJSIAA Group I Central Jersey Sectional Championships at Thompson Park.
    Bordentown freshman Alysha Schenker placed 38th in the overall standings with a time of 25:09. Another Bordentown freshman Sara LaMachia ran a 27:44 time to place 52nd. And Bordentown junior Rachel Alm took 58th place with a 29:07 mark.
    This year Bordentown made huge strides in rebuilding the cross country program and it even had enough athletes to compete in some regular season batch races.