Jim Rosa jumps to 18th in standings
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Joe Rosa won the Meet of Champions this year after coming up just short last year.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North junior now has some motivation for the end of next year after coming only a couple of feet from winning the Nike Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Portland Meadows Raceway.
Rosa led during the final mile only to see Texan Craig Lutz and Californian Elias Gedyon overtake him steps before the finish line. Lutz won in 15:09.2, Gedyon ran 15:09.5 and Rosa was clocked in 15:09.8. All three broke the course record of 15:13.6.
”When you’re used to winning, that’s the hardest way to lose,” said WW-P North head coach Brian Gould. “He was a blink of eye from being the national champion, so he’s disappointed but I couldn’t be prouder of him. He had the greatest cross country season I’ve ever seen.
”When you’re a competitor, you’re disappointed when you lose. That’s what makes him so good — he doesn’t settle for second or third. He’ll move forward and continue to have success.”
Jim Rosa made a huge jump from 45th at last year’s national final to 18th on Saturday. He also improved 24 seconds over last year’s time.
”He was in the lead group for the majority of the race,” Gould said. “He went through two miles with them. The last 1000 meters, they got away and a couple guys that sat back caught him. He wasn’t happy, but I was proud of him. He was in it to win it. At times, he looked better than Joe.”
Joe Rosa wore a gold singlet as the top returning finisher from last year’s nationals race. He was fourth last year to lead the Knights team to fifth nationally. He was presented the uniform the night before the race by world champion middle distance runner Bernard Lagat. It was Lutz, however, who owned the fastest 5k time this fall, a 14:34 run the week before at the Foot Locker South Regional.
”The biggest difference was they were competing as individuals this year,” Gould said. “You have to wonder when you have that team competition, how things could have played out differently. You always push yourself harder for your team than yourself. All that other stuff got out of hand with the interviews and stories.
”There was a lot of pressure on Joe and a whole lot of pressure on Jim for a guy that finished 45th last year,” he said. “There was too much attention given to them and not enough to those other guys.”
Rosa had the lead and appeared to be pulling away entering the final stretch when Lutz and Gedyon began to gain ground in foggy, wet conditions.
”He took a couple shots at trying to get away,” Gould said. “They both ran their best races of the season. His last big move came late in the race, and when you’re competing against guys that good, they can dig deep and find something for the last 200. He took his best shot at it.
”That kid Lutz, I don’t think anybody realized he had that kind of kick. The other kid is a 1:48 half-miler so he’s really good at the end.”
The top five finishers are all juniors. Rosa is hoping to become just the second national cross country champion from New Jersey. He was close Saturday.
”The hard thing about being that close is you start to think about all the little things that could have gone differently,” Gould said. “He did his best and he took a lesson from it. It’s motivation for next year.”