Junior leads SBHS to ninth place finish in first-ever Meet of Champions appearance
By John Beisser, Sports Writer
Just when South Brunswick High junior cross country sensation Sophia Ginez was hitting her stride, literally and figuratively, the season came to an end.
After sitting out a month with a knee injury, Ginez has logged her share of miles over the past few weeks and her improved strength and endurance were on display last Saturday when she placed first among the Vikings’ talented seven-person team in helping South Brunswick to a ninth-place finish in the prestigious Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park.
The first team in school history — boys or girls — to reach the Meet of Champions, on this bitter cold day, South Brunswick found itself among the elite of the elite. The Vikings were one of two wildcard teams competing in the 20-team meet and to finish in the top half of the field is quite an accomplishment.
”For everyone else, this is the end of the season but for me it was like my fifth race of the season so I feel like I’m just kind of starting out,” said Ginez. “To reach the Meet of Champions was just an awesome experience for myself and the rest of the team. You could feel the excitement in the air at the starting line.”
Ginez’ time of 19:59 placed her in 39th place out of the 179 runners who competed. Freshman sensation Cayla Del Piano was the second finisher among the Vikings with a time of 19:59 which placed her in 53rd place, nine spots ahead of Jennifer Smilgis whose 20:08 time gave her a 64th-place finish. The other Vikings who own a piece of this history-making season were Lyndsey Sample (82nd – 20:28), Ashley Edwards (97th-20:48), Amanda Smilgis (133-21:43), and Kim McGrath (138-21:50).
Asked if the Meet of Champions held a different pre-race atmosphere, Ginez responded, “We were just very focused. You could feel the intensity and the fact that this was definitely a bigger race. But once the race starts, you’re running with your pack and it feels pretty normal.”
Voorhees of South Jersey was the overall team champion with a score of 138, followed by a pair of Somerset County powers in Ridge (139) and Hillsborough (158). Also finishing ahead of South Brunswick’s score of 182 were Pope John XXIII (165), Immaculate Heart (165), Toms River North (169), Red Bank Catholic (176), and Randolph (179).
Lanie Thompson of Voorhees was the individual champion with a time of 17:47.
Although the race ended the season, it could be just the beginning for the Vikings. South Brunswick appears to be a team to be reckoned with on the state scene in the future as only two of its top seven runners were seniors.
While McGrath and Edwards will graduate this spring, head coach Wil Rivera will welcome back Ginez, Jennifer and Amanda Smilgis and Sample, all of whom will be battle-tested and hardened seniors in 2009. And Del Piano, whose potential appears limitless, has three seasons of eligibility remaining as she will be just a sophomore next season.

