Historic day for Allentown
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
A pair of local cross country coaches came away thrilled with their teams after they advanced beyond the state sectionals.
Allentown High School advanced its girls team for the first time in program history when it finished fourth in Central Jersey Group III on Saturday at Delsea High School. The top five teams in each sectional advance automatically.
”They were awesome,” said Redbirds coach Ray Britton. “They blew me away as far as my expectations. We were really hoping we’d just sneak in and just place, but the first three girls ran really strong and my No. 4 and 5, they came in right behind each other. I can’t even tell you how many people they picked off. They just put their hearts out there. I’ve never seen them run that well in all the years I’ve been coaching them.”
Alexandra Tendler was 12th in 20:14, Amelia Crawford took 13th in 20:29 and Heather Murphy was 15th in 20:33. Michelle Foley was 35th and Caroline Tkachuk took 36th to round out their top five. Samantha Tendler was 46th and Julie Scesney finished 52nd.
The Redbirds were fourth with an average time of 20:49. Their 111 points was just eight behind third-place Princeton High.
”Just about everybody ran their best time ever,” Britton said. “It was a really good day. It was kind of nice because they moved it to a course we never ran before. It wasn’t like anyone had an advantage from running the course over and over.”
Mike Walker could tell before the Central Jersey Group II cross country meet that his Robbinsville High School girls were going to run well at Delsea. The Ravens didn’t look nearly as nervous as they had at the Mercer County Championships two weeks earlier.
”They were hard on themselves,” said Walker, the Ravens head coach. “I could tell they were pushing and trying to get the race in and trying to stay in their little packs, but they didn’t look right. Normally they look loose.
”Before sectionals, there was a dance party almost in our tent. That made me feel better. They were loose and relaxed. At counties, I was worried.”
Disappointed that they weren’t able to win the county, the Robbinsville girls returned to form with a third-place showing in a competitive sectional Saturday. They advance automatically to this Saturday’s Group II state meet at Holmdel Park.
Julia Borowski was sixth in 19:44, Annalise Celano was 10th in 19:51. Erin Holzbaur was 15th, Alexis Stringfellow was 20th and Makenzie Bayless was 25th to round out their scoring. Caitlyn Krueger was 44th and Jamie Lazzaro was 45th. Robbinsville scored 72 points and had an average time of 20:27.
”At sectionals, they ran a terrific race,” Walker said. “They weren’t too worried about it until it was time to get ready. Hopefully they carry it over into groups and hopefully everything will take care of itself in the end.”
Walker also saw his boys run better than they had at counties to advance out of their sectional. The Robbinsville boys were also third with an average of 17:26 in response to their coach’s challenge.
”The guys, I really didn’t know how they’d do,” Walker said. “I wasn’t happy with their efforts toward the second half of the race at counties. I was a little concerned. I wanted to see how they would respond to pressure. I told them, every year we’ve had a varsity team, we’ve qualified for the group meet. They knew that.
”I know after the storm they called each other, texted each other and went out and did what they could. It was a mystery how they’d perform and it was the best race of the season. It was phenomenal. They stepped up.”
Michael Michon was sixth in 16:47, sophomore Ryan Fisher was 17th in 17:23, freshman Rich Kasper was 21st, senior Sean Lynch took 25th and sophomore Mike Fischer closed the scoring in 28th. Nick Brennan, a senior, was 32nd and James Lynch, a junior, ran to 40th.
”It was the effort,” Walker said. “Even if we finished sixth, I would have been happy because I could see the effort. Finishing third, I was surprised. I thought it would be sixth and sneaking in. I didn’t know we’d be that solid of a team. It was a cool thing to see them race and really be into it.”
Michon led the way. The senior has been a team leader all year, and the Ravens followed him into the state group meet.
”He’s been on the varsity team since his sophomore year,” Walker said. “He’s been around and been in these big races before. That was his best race for us. When he was a sophomore, he didn’t have to worry about being anything more than a role player with (Brian) O’Toole and Roberto (Guiducci). Now they’re keying off him. I don’t know if he was worried too much, but at sectionals, he ended up sixth against a field we were gong against, and there are some pretty good runners. I’m happy for him. It’s good to see he can come through when the team needed him most. The team does key off him.”
Lynch, another senior, has also come on strong. He’s a good example for the younger Ravens runners of what offseason work can do for them. He has dropped well over a minute since last year.
”There’s no magic, it’s putting in the work and doing the mileage,” Walker said. “He really wanted to be a good runner. He ended up as our fourth runner, but he definitely wasn’t conservative. The captains took leadership of the team and the younger guy followed along. It’s good experience going into groups and I think we’ll have a good race.”
He’s hoping for the same out of his girls, who showed just how competitive they can be when they’re relaxed and focused. The Ravens had two runners medal with Borowski and Celano this year. Last year, only Borowski medaled.
”We weren’t as nervous about the girls making it,” Walker said. “We knew it would take a lot for them not to make it into the group meet, but the question was could we bounce back from counties and have a good race. The girls race, we were really happy with. We finished third last year to the eventual MOC winner and Holmdel is a great team.”
Walker will keep the pressure off his girls again this week, and just let them run their hardest in hopes of advancing to the Meet of Champions, which will be held next Wednesday at Holmdel.
The Allentown girls are a long shot to make the MOC after finishing fourth in their sectional. Only the top three out of each group qualify automatically for the MOC, plus the next three best wild card teams. The Redbirds already achieved their big goal of making the group meet.
”No Allentown team has ever made it to groups,” Britton said. “We were hoping to sneak in in fifth. Milesplit had us ranked ninth. I was really worried about Colts Neck and Ocean. On paper, they’d beaten us really good. The first three were so close to each other, that’s the closest they ever closed the gap. And 1-5, that’s the closest we had. And Sammy Tendler had a nice race in sixth.”
The result was a raucous celebration when the Redbirds heard the announcement that they had finished fourth.
”It was a goal they had set to be the first team to be in there,” Britton said. “It shows the program is starting to get some validity.
”The next goal is tough. If you’re fourth in your group, you’re not going to take first and not going to qualify for MOC. But they like Holmdel, and they like the challenge.”