SOUTH BRUNSWICK: Cross country team heads to tournament

By Kent Weingartner, Special Writer
   South Brunswick High’s cross country teams head into Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Championships with their eyes on titles.
   The girls are no strangers to GMC Championship success, having won four consecutive crowns.
   This year, though, the Vikings are not the favorite heading into the meet. The girls were 4-1 in dual meets this year with the loss coming by a point to J.P. Stevens, marking the first time they lost a dual in three years.
   ”We had some injuries, and I think they understood we were sort of shorthanded to a degree,” Vikings coach Wilfredo Rivera said about the setback. “The last couple years, we’ve gone into the county meet as the favorite, and that’s not the case this year. It’s definitely a different type of situation. I’m hoping they can run without the pressure and pull it out.”
   South Brunswick junior Cayla DelPiano is the favorite to win the individual title on the girls’ side. DelPiano was third in the GMC Championships as a freshman, but missed last year’s event because of injury. She is coming off a course-record 18:44 performance at South Brunswick in the Vikings’ loss to Stevens.
   ”She’s always been a tough runner; she deals with adversity extremely well,” Rivera said. “I think the key for her this year is really trying to race a bit more tactical, being a bit more patient early in the race so she can reap the benefits of her strength and speed at the end.
   ”That’s kind of an ongoing process. She’s getting better at pacing and learning what she needs to do. She can go out fast, she can slow, she can finish strong; she has a lot going for her in the sense of skill set.
   ”For the sake of her season, the better she gets at understanding pace and racing strategy, the better she’s going to be, particularly in the state meets.”
   Other top performers for the girls team have been Jenna Boyle, Nicolette Mateescu, Carly Trill, Emily Lane and Melanie Huen.
   Tyler Blackburn has led the boys squad, which finished the regular season 5-1 and grabbed a share of the GMC Red Division title with East Brunswick. It was the Vikings’ first division crown since 1992.
   Hiten Doshi and Matt Eder have occupied the No. 2 and No. 3 spots for South Brunswick, which also has seen contributions from Mike Weber, Alex Weinrich, Stephen Ragany and Dan Boley.
   ”Tyler was one of our better guys last year so the expectation was he was going to pick up where he left off,” Rivera said. “We knew (Doshi) was talented, but he never did cross country before this season. So that’s pretty exciting.
   ”I think we have a team that can win (the GMC Championship). Whether that’s going to happen, we’ll have to see. I think the guys are pretty jazzed up and excited about the opportunity to compete for the title. I think we have the personnel to do it; it’s just a matter of everyone doing what they need to do on the same day.”