Juniors Rancan, Mialhe lead teams
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
In the biggest race of the season, only a couple of spots separated the Princeton High School and West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls cross country teams.
Led by Christina Rancan’s 12th-place finish in 18:53, WW-P South placed ninth with 205 points and an average of 20:05 per finisher. They were just one spot out of a finish on the podium.
”This season, we’ve definitely had our highs and lows,” said Rancan, a junior. “It hasn’t gone as good as we expected or how we thought it would end for this season, but we have another race next week and hopefully we’ll be able to improve on our team aspect.”
The Pirates are looking forward to the Nike Northeast Regionals on Saturday when they will compete for the chance to advance to nationals. Only the top two teams advance along with the 10 top individual finishers.
”I think it’s just a matter of everyone running to their ability on the same day,” Rancan said. “I don’t think we’ve reached our peak yet. The next week will definitely show whether or not we’re at our peak or are yet to make it.”
Following Rancan was Alex Hesterberg in 20:01 for 65th. Deirdre Casey was 69th in 20:06. Haley Rich ran 20:30 for 91st and Edlyn Gulama closed the Pirates’ scoring in 108th in 20:56. Amy Tsai was 154th and Alli Bacher was 159th.
”We entered the season really confident and really sure of our ability in the state race,” Rancan said. “They didn’t pan out the way we expected it to. The race next week, it’s really going to prove that we have been working hard all year and we are an amazing team and if we can do well there, it’s definitely going to improve our overall season.”
Princeton placed 10th with 207 points, only two points behind WW-P South. The Little Tigers averaged a new school record 20:11 per runner. Lou Mialhe ran 19:39 to place 43rd. Paige Metzheiser was 50th in 19:51 and Mary Sutton was 57th in 19:53. Emma Eikelberner took 87th in 20:24. Sophia Zahn ran 21:09 for 119th to round out their top five. Julie Bond was 125th and Anne Fleur Hartmanshenn was 127th.
”In general, it was a very good race for the season,” Mialhe said. “Four of our seven PR’d. I guess we were hoping for a better team place, but we couldn’t control what other teams did. I think we gave it our all and I think that it was definitely good closure for the season.”
The Little Tigers have kept their momentum throughout the season. They were happy to put together another good race.
”I’m blown away,” said PHS head coach Jim Smirk. “It’s so hard to get the end of season right and have your kids move forward together. Both Mary and Paige breaking 20 and doing it convincingly, and what Lou did, now three weeks in a row, every week getting stronger, it’s been incredible.
”Even the girls who didn’t have the perfect race found the extra effort to put their best out there. I couldn’t be any happier with our girls. It’s been a pretty special season.”
The Little Tigers’ only regret was that they couldn’t quite overtake the Pirates. WW-P South held them off by a two spots.
”We beat them at Shore Coaches and that was kind of a shocker,” Mialhe said. “Then they beat us at counties and so we decided we’d get them at Meet of Champs. We weren’t able to do that, so it was a little frustrating.”
West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Yuzki Oey placed 47th in 19:45. The senior was the lone representative from the Knights team.
Rancan and Mialhe are two of the top juniors in Mercer County, and they have been the leaders for their respective teams. Rancan has been up front all year, and she has built on a promising sophomore campaign. Her 18:53 clocking at Holmdel was an all-time best and shows her steady improvement.
”I was really glad I was able to drop some time,” Rancan said. “I wasn’t really happy with last week (at the group meet).
”Last week, I was a little less mentally strong as I was this week. Going into the race, I was telling myself to stay strong and stick with it. I think that really helped because I was having a lot of difficulty with the mental aspect. It’s one of the deciding factors between a good and a bad race.”
The race gives Rancan some encouragement going ahead. She has run consistently through this year, something that she says has been aided by a new workout routine that now includes squats regularly.
”I think that’s really helped us a lot,” Rancan said. “It’s helped with our overall fitness and strength.”
Rancan is looking for it to pay off in the home stretch as the Pirates head to regionals. It’s a chance to finish the way they have been expecting all year and do even better than their MOC performance.
”The overall team feeling wasn’t what we thought we were capable of,” Rancan said, “but we’re running in another race next week and it’s another chance to put ourselves on a different course and really show what we’re made of and how we’ve been training all year.
”We know what we want to accomplish. We’re still going to look forward and push ourselves next week to measure up to our ability.”
Mialhe has been a work in progress through the season, and she has come on strong from a slow start to her year.
”I’m definitely happy with the progress,” she said. “I feel like I’m peaking a little bit late this season. Of course, I’d like to see if I could have a couple more races at Holmdel to see if I can bring that time down.
”I’m definitely happy because I was having a little bit of trouble in the beginning of the season because I didn’t really train all summer so it took me a while to get into shape. My times have been coming down and the past three weeks is really when I’ve been PR’ing.”
Mialhe was traveling so much over the summer that her training was sporadic at best. She didn’t start training in earnest until their team camp in August.
”That was a very tough week,” Mialhe recalled. Her early weeks of the season were spent building up to speed so she could help as a leader down the stretch.
”We were strong enough and deep enough that she didn’t have to be our No. 1 at the beginning of the season,” Smirk said. “We didn’t have to put a lot of pressure on her. If you watched what she was doing in practice every day, there was a deliberate attempt in everything she did. She knew when she had to be ready to go and what she wanted to accomplish.”
Mialhe had big enough plans to be nervous over the last couple of weeks, but she has lifted her performances each week. She learned from groups and went out faster at the MOC through the first two miles to clock a new personal best. Her MOC time was the third fastest by a PHS runner in the last 25 years.
”Physically when she came in as a freshman, we knew she was a talented athlete,” Smirk said. “She had some growth to do from the competitive aspect with having confidence in her training and what she was doing on the course. This year was all about her solving all those small pieces. She has some specific goals in her mind for what she wants to accomplish this year. She’s started well.
”One of the testaments to the girls as a whole is they’ve gotten better every year,” he added. “Even if they’re good as a freshman, they get better every year. That’s true for Lou. We’re planning for her to be even further ahead next year.”
Mialhe is looking for one more step this Saturday at regionals. She would like to add to her encouraging finish at MOC.
”I couldn’t be happier with the season that we’ve had, and that was definitely a very good closure meet,” Mialhe said. “And we have regionals still, and we’re all psyched for that.”