Knights’ pack outruns Don Bosco
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
HOLMDEL — The West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys’ cross country team completed its four-year climb to the top Saturday.
The Knights became the first Mercer County team to win the Meet of Champions when they scored just 41 points and topped it off with a new team average record of 16 minutes, 14.4 seconds.
”These guys are just so hungry,” said Knights coach Brian Gould. “We’ve had guys working for four years to get here and the mentality and the culture of the team is to take big risks and give up the good and go for the great and not to leave with any regrets. That made all the difference to have that hunger.”
West Windsor-Plainsboro South finished seventh as a wild-card entry for the second straight year. Brian Schoepfer was 44th to lead the Pirates, who battled through illnesses all season just to get to the MOC.
”I feel like this year was a year of enough ‘couldas’ so we can get next year into the ‘will,’” said Pirates coach Kurt Wayton. “Today and this year we had a lot of possibilities.
”I think the kids are strong enough that they realize it’s right in front of us,” he added. “It’s a matter of next year doing the same thing we did in the summer, but getting a little luckier with staying healthy.”
Coming back hungry shouldn’t be a problem. For the Knights, the hunger has grown yearly as they had gotten closer to the top.
”They knew they wanted it,” Gould said. “When you put preparation and desire together, you get something special.”
In 2005, the Knights were ninth at sectionals.
In 2006, they climbed to fourth in the Group III state meet.
Last year, the Knights won the group crown and finished fifth at the Meet of Champions.
Now they are champions thanks to a mix of sophomore brothers Joe and Jim Rosa up top and a pack of seniors Ryan Sleeper, Tyler Corkedale, Anthony Lee and Stephen Ellwood and junior Jon Squeri following close behind. It was enough to dethrone defending champion Don Bosco Prep.
”It’s awesome,” said Joe Rosa, who jumped from 16th at last year’s MOC to second Saturday. “I couldn’t be happier. We all gave it our best effort. That’s what matters and we came away with our goal for the entire season. It’s incredible.”
Jim Rosa jumped even more at the MOC, from 90th last year to sixth. That enabled the Knights to put two finishers before Don Bosco’s first.
”We were really confident,” Joe Rosa said. “We knew if our pack ran the race it could then we would have a real good shot. Jim and I figured we could get in front of their first guy.”
The Knights pack used a fast start to escape a tangle early among the runners and then stuck close to each other. By the finish, there was less than a 16-second gap between North’s next three finishers with Sleeper (19th), Corkedale (26th) and Lee (36th).
”Your third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh guys make a difference in every race,” Gould said. “Our pack ran great. We had a lot of seniors in there, a lot of guys who were not going to be denied running their best race. They stepped up and got the job done.”
Lee sealed the victory that was a long time in the making by topping Bosco’s fifth finisher by six seconds. Lee was the seventh finisher for the Knights in the 2005 sectionals, but never stopped believing.
”I knew we could do it from a long time ago,” Lee said. “We had a great class coming in and then the Rosa twins just helped us along even more. This year, that was our big goal at the end of the season to win this.
”We knew it would probably come down to the three, four, five guys,” he added. “We thought if we ran well as a team, then we could definitely win.”
Lee had run well at Holmdel the week before to pick up Sleeper in an off day as the Knights repeated as Group III champions. He was 17 seconds faster than that Saturday as Squeri slipped to sixth and Ellwood was seventh for the Knights.
”Anthony’s worked so hard the last four years,” Gould said. “He’s just a great example of what hard work does for you. He just looked ready.”
Explained Lee: “I was just really excited about today. I was looking forward to this all season. Ever since we started running, we felt like we could do something big our senior year.”
The big got bigger with the team average record on a cold day in which many runners weren’t their fastest.
”It was a big surprise,” Gould said. “It’s nice to break the record. It’s special. You get to see your name on the top of the list, for a little while at least. It won’t stand forever.”
The new banner that the WW-P North boys’ cross country team earned, it will. It will stand as a testament to the Knights’ steady climb to the Meet of Champions win Saturday.
”I started to think this was a possibility when Anthony, Steve and Ryan were sophomores,” Gould said. “Jim and Joe were in seventh grade and a buzz started about them. We went up to Manhattan and won the sophomore race there and we knew we had a special group there. We knew we’d have a couple of special kids to come in a little bit. This has been a work in progress. It’s incredible.”

