By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
Most of the cross country coaches were disgusted when they saw the mud and wet grounds at Thompson Park before Saturday’s NJSIAA Group I Central Jersey Sectional championship race. But Robbinsville High boys’ varsity cross country head coach Mike Walker saw the terrible weather conditions as a sure-fire way for his deep and talented squad to pull out a team victory.
Knowing that everyone, fast and slow, would slow down in the muddy section of the course, Walker had most of his runners come out aggressive and the Ravens were able to hold off Metuchen 52-56 to take home the Group I Central Jersey team championship.
Because of the weather, the course had been reconfigured into two large loops and the Ravens studied the new course and used the new layout to their advantage.
“I think the conditions helped us win. Of course it was muddy and that takes speed out of the equation,” said Walker, who had his boys run all out on the flat part of the course because he knew it would be slow going later on in the race.
However, on any course Robbinsville junior Nick Lachman was clearly the class of the field and therefore he was the one Raven who was not asked to push it at the beginning of the race. Even so, Lachman easily captured the individual title with a 16:44 time.
“Nick was more conservative. We asked him to go out with the leaders and then blow them away,” said Walker, who would have had Lachman race hard from the start had he not been the clear favorite going into the race.
While Robbinsville knew Lachman would probably win if he stayed healthy and on his feet, sophomore Brian O’Toole’s fourth place finish and brilliant 17:40 time was a very pleasant surprise.
“That was a great race for him (O’Toole). He’s the difference maker for this team,” added Walker, who expected O’Toole to do very well but never dreamed of him finishing fourth. “O’Toole got so pumped up that he and Nick (Lachman) were first and second for about a mile and a half.”
Ryan Bottin was Robbinsville’s next highest finisher with a 12th place finish and an 18:14 time. Yet it took junior Ryan Lee grabbing a 15th place medal to seal the victory for the Ravens.
“I was telling him before the race that a kid with his speed would be the x-factor,” noted Walker. “If he didn’t do what he did then we would have lost to Metuchen on a tie-breaker. Lee placed 15th. If he placed behind the two Metuchen guys (Metuchen’s Marcus Giglotti and Kyle Palmeter took 16th and 17th) then we lose.”
Robbinsville’s Tim Brazelton also cracked the Top 20 with an 18:36 time. Dan Orlak (19:04 time for 26th place) and Tyler Muir (19:28 time for 28th place) also ran well for Robbinsville.
“At Sectionals last year we were third as a team, but we weren’t that far out of first place,” said Walker, whose team ran in good weather and on a smooth track in last year’s Sectionals. “We thought that this (Sectional title) would happen next year, but the team effort from our top five guys was great (and won it for us).”
The Robbinsville boys team will go into Saturday’s Group I championship race at Holmdel loose and ready to go. Although he’ll have some competition this time around, Lachman is one of the favorites to take home an individual state title. But for now, Walker and his boys will enjoy their Sectional title at least a few more days.
“The conditions were awful, but it was a fun race. Rain and mud, that is what cross country is all about,” said Walker with great joy in his voice.
GIRLS
Barring injuries, the Robbinsville High girls’ varsity cross country team was pretty confident it would win a sectional team title going into this past Saturday’s NJSIAA Group I Central Jersey race at Thompson Park. The only real question which remained entering the race was how much would Ravens win by. As it turned out, the Ravens’ won by a lot, beating the runner up Shore Regional 32-60.
Although she was taking on a great field of runners, Robbinsville’s Megan Flynn was a slight favorite to win the race, which she did with an excellent 19:30 time in the rain and the muck. But more importantly, Robbinsville took total control of the overall race by having seven girls place in the Top 14.
“It’s great that Flynn could beat the best,” said Warriors’ head varsity cross country coach Mike Walker, who, because of the horrible weather conditions, came into this race with a slightly different strategy for his runners than usual.
Usually, Walker will have his runners hold back a little in the early stages of the race and then use their superior conditioning to pass runners later in the race. But knowing how hard it would be to pass people under Saturday’s adverse weather conditions, Walker asked his runners to come out and run aggressively from the start. It was a style which suited Flynn just fine. The Ravens’ junior star took a modest lead and then made her big move once she hit a dirt road.
“At the mile and a half distance she put the hammer down,” said Walker of Flynn. “She opened up a 10 to 12 second lead in just a quarter of a mile. I was a little nervous for her because those runners behind her (Brianna Feerst, Elise Brevery, Olivia Clyde and Robbinsville’s own Meagan Lesniak) were all great runners.”
It was Flynn’s first Sectional title in cross country, but she may have won it last season had she not been injured. Lesniak, a star distance runner as a freshman, had to take it slow at the beginning of the year because she was still recovering from a serious injury. However, Lesniak proved that last year’s trip to the Meet of Champions was not a fluke, with a strong fifth place finish and 20:47 time in Saturday’s race.
“Three out of the four girls who finished ahead of her (Lesniak) were state champions in either cross country or track and field. And the other girl, a freshman from Point Pleasant Beach (Feerst) will be a state champ,” said Walker, who thinks Lesniak is running just as well as she did last year at this point of time. “Freshman Julie Swift is closing the gap on Lesniak and she finished sixth with a 21:18 time.”
Moreover, even if Flynn and Lesniak had not competed, Robbinsville would have, most likely, moved on as a team. That’s how good its depth is.
“The girls did everything right! Last year the girls did it with different people. Last year it was Rachel Balint and Amber Rylak (who are now seniors) who came up with great (surprise) races, This year it was freshmen Julie Swift and Jackie Lazzaro, who placed eighth (with a 21:31 time),” said Walker.
This year Balint ran another strong race placing 12th overall with a time of 21:49. Robbinsville freshman Lisa Leszcynski grabbed 13th place (21:54) while Rylak also ran a 21:54 time to place 14th.
“The girls are much more into doing well as a team. With the girls I genuinely believe they’re genuinely happy when someone else on the team runs a fast time,” said Walker, whose second and seventh finisher were just 67 seconds apart on the time clock. “Our girls did a great job as pack running. It was a great team effort.”
Furthermore the girls on the Ravens’ cross country team who didn’t run in the race, put on face paint and cheered on their teammates.
Last season Robbinsville placed second at Sectionals, seven points behind Metuchen, which finished a distance fifth this season with 107 points.
“This year the second place finisher (Shore Regional) was 28 points behind us,” said Walker, who knows last Saturday’s big win isn’t going to scare anyone come this weekend at Holmdel, where “The Bowl” has swallowed up many great runners over the years.
Although Walker considers his girls’ team to be one of the favorites to capture a State title, he is taking nothing for granted. The Robbinsville girls’ team will be ready to compete for a state title in an NJSIAA Group I State championship race on Saturday at Holmdel Park.

