By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Jay Coleman was back to run at Holmdel Park on Saturday, almost a year after he passed on his final chance to run at the famed course.
”I had a good friend who was a senior,” Coleman said. “The spot was between me and him. I decided to do the right thing and let him have it.
”It took a little bit. I really thought about it hard, and he deserved it.”
His unselfish act allowed Chris Mullaly to run for the Hillsborough High School boys cross country team as they placed eighth at the Meet of Champions last November. Coleman hopes to have his chance this year.
”Now we’re really depending on each other,” said the Raiders senior. “We’re really hoping that everyone can put everything they’ve got into it.”
Hillsborough is off to a promising start. They placed second in the Varsity A race at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel on Saturday. Coleman, who was seventh for the Raiders at last year’s Shore Coaches, was their fifth finisher to round out their scoring. Cherry Hill East won the Varsity A division with 59 points; Hillsborough finished second with 116, 18 better than Comack (N.Y.).
”This was their first race of the season, the first time that they’ve been able to run hard,” said Raiders boys coach Eric Rosenthal. “It was good for them. Every other race going in was like a tempo workout. It was a good learning curve.
”It’s pretty much what I expected. We kind of trained right through this meet. They were a little surprised that they ran what they did.”
Nick McFarland led the Raiders in seventh in 16:46, Mike Digricoli was eighth in 16:56 and Matt Sateary was ninth in 17:00. Joseph Spaniol ran 17:47, Coleman closed in 17:58 and Matthew Nunn ran 18:01 while Liam Baron ran 18:33. Ryan Morgan ran a good enough time in the JV race to move himself into the Raiders’ top seven. Hillsborough had hoped to go faster overall, but was coming off a trying week of training, something that they didn’t absorb until Monday.
”I kind of let them stew on it the past few days,” Rosenthal said. “They were kind of upset the past few days. I think it was good for them to feel that. Good teams either react or they crumble. My hope is they react. I think they’re poised to do well this season.
”I wanted to test them a bit,” he said. “I wanted them to run Holmdel tired and see how they reacted. They were a top 10 New Jersey team, so it was a good start. We train to race well in November.”
The training strategy was designed to keep the Raiders hungry for their end-season goals, and they are hoping it will pay off down the road.
”At first, you’re really angry about it,” Coleman said. “Then you focus in and see he wants to make us humble about it. A lot of us got a little cocky. Now we’re focused more in on it.
”When we had our meeting (Monday), he was telling us he wanted to put us down to see who had the most guts. It was difficult.”
The Raiders can feel good when they think about the experience that they have coming back, and how they can use it with what’s been an intense start to training for the year.
”We’re all really trying to focus,” Coleman said. “Every week we try to meet with ourselves and talk about what we really want. For a team to be the best, we have to focus on ourselves. We’re trying to build up our mental strength and unity amongst the team.”
They emerged from a hard week of training with an encouraging finish at Shore Coaches. Coleman was only a little bit off from his course best 17:41 run last year.
”It really felt good to finally see where I was at,” Coleman said. “With training over the summer and looking at colleges, I got a little lost in it. I really wanted to see where training had me at this point.
”It wasn’t the best of times, but it also wasn’t the worst,” he added. “I know the training we’ll do over the next few weeks, I’ll be able to pick up my time a little better and really put myself up in the top group.”
The Raiders want to tighten the gap from their first to seventh finishers. On Saturday, that gap was one minute, 47 seconds.
”That’s too much,” Rosenthal said. “They have to move together. The back part of the pack is moving together to move up.”
Said Coleman: “The next two weeks, we’re changing our training a bit. Right now, we drop off in that third mile. We’re going to focus on being able to hold on better.”
The Raiders’ next big meet will be at Pleasant Valley, a favorite course of Coleman’s, where they will compete for the Somerset County Championship next Wednesday. Hillsborough didn’t taper for the Shore Coaches, and they will continue to train hard through the county meet.
”It’s going to be more like a test for us,” Coleman said. “I’m not sure how training will go the next two weeks. I don’t know if he’s going to try to pull something over on us or get us prepared for it. Pleasant Valley is my best course.”
Training remains difficult. This year, Rosenthal has the team doing some spin cycling to mix in with their running. He has a good group that was prepared when it arrived for preseason.
”They all came back with a really good base,” Rosenthal said. “They had a good summer of training. They’re a really close group. They did a lot of workouts together. They got together with themselves a lot.”
Hillsborough returned with loads of experience. Even the runners new to the top seven are older students. The Raiders ran Saturday’s race with only juniors and seniors. The only concern, then, is senioritis, but workouts haven’t allowed that to be a factor.
”We’re really close knit now,” Coleman said. “We’ve gone through so much through all four years.”
Coleman’s freshman year ended with him needing surgery on his foot. He’s been prone to injury, but is feeling stronger than ever. He is part of a senior class that has seen the program continue to grow, and along with it, the expectations each season. After a promising Shore Coaches Invitational, those expectations remain high along with the confidence to meet them.
”Everyone is starting to finally feel better,” Coleman said. “Now we’re getting back in the groove and feeling a lot better.”
