By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Dexter Benkard and the West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys cross country team were encouraged by their Shore Coaches Invitational showing Saturday at Holmdel Park.
Senior Tim Bason posted the fastest time of the entire day to win the Varsity A2 Division and a crew of mostly new varsity runners like Benkard helped the Pirates place third with 116 points, 17 behind second-place South Brunswick. Hunterdon Central won with 96 points.
“I think Saturday went well,” said Benkard, who ran 17:24 for 33rd place, fourth among the Pirates. “As a team, we all ran well. Individually, I was confident.
“We have better things in the season planned,” he added. “If we’re running this well now, it’s a sign of good things to come.”
The Shore Coaches Invitational brings together most of the state’s teams to get a sneak peak at the Holmdel course that is used for groups and the Meet of Champions. The MOC is a long way off, and the Pirates were being overlooked for a spot in it with so many new varsity contributors.
“I was thrilled with Saturday,” said Pirates head coach Kurt Wayton. “On paper, a lot of people, maybe even some of us, thought we were in trouble. We lost our third runner to transfer and No. 7 runner to JV football and obviously we had losses to graduation. If you go back, we lost Nick Maher as a sophomore last year. A lot of people were counting us out.
“The theme has been the program has found a way to sustain itself. We had a number of runners that were unsung heroes, who emerged as key runners. All of them haven’t been on varsity before and they’ve stepped up to do some phenomenal things. They saw an opportunity to strike when the iron’s hot. I’m happy with how the season is going and hopefully we can build on this and end up where we were last year, maybe even better.”
Bason gives the Pirates a great start. He ran 15:58, the fourth best time ever run at Holmdel.
“Tim is a good guy,” Benkard said. “He’s someone I can pace with and he can push us. He keeps the team morale going. He’s a good pacer and keeps guys working hard and doesn’t let us slack off.”
Sam Williams, who was a key member of the varsity last year, placed 14th in 17:02. Alex Petri, who won the JV race at the Mercer County Championships last year, was 25th in 17:16 with Benkard not far behind. Josh Forrest rounded out the top five scorers in 43rdd in 17:36. Harish Venkatraman and Ryan Joseph finished 57th and 63rd respectively.
“It showed that we are in really good shape and we are a good team,” Benkard said. “We came into this year losing a lot of people and everyone counted us out. It showed we are capable of coming back and running as well as we have. It’s a sign of what we can do in the future.
“We had confidence already. I don’t think we ever count ourselves out. We have guys like Josh Forrest doing well. Someone always steps up. We always thought we’d make the Meet of Champions and win Mercer County. Every season we want to get back to Meet of Champions and win it.”
The Princeton High School boys were third and the West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys were sixth in the Varsity B Division. The Montgomery High boys were eight in the Varsity A1 Division.
The WW-P South girls were second and Montgomery was 13th in the Varsity A race. WW-P North was 15th in the Varsity B Division. The Princeton High girls were fourth in Varsity C.
The development of the pack keeps WW-P South in contention for its goals. Benkard had some opportunity to run varsity last year. He was the team’s seventh man at sectionals and groups.
“Last year was a learning year for me,” he said. “It gave me the chance to see what running in big championship races was like without pressure. I was the 7. This year, I knew how to run and to get out in front so I don’t get cut off.”
Benkard ran 1:15 faster at Shore Coaches than a year ago. He is looking for similar jumps as the season stretches into November.
“I came into the year, and I didn’t expect to be as fast as I am this year,” he said. “When we lost someone, things started to click for me. I started to realize I would be a faster kid. I thought I’d be a 5 guy, and then I realized I could be a 3-4 guy.
“It is pressure (being in the top 5), but I try to stay relaxed. Timmy and Sam, I know I can pace with them and I have confidence in the workouts we’re doing. I know we’ll be successful because we put in the mileage and put in the work. The success has been there for guys who have done the same work in the past years that we have.”
The history of the Pirates program shows an ability to replace their losses with new names and faces each year. Benkard has seen the program take effect. He put in more miles this summer, started running twice per day and has seen the training pay off.
“Alex Petri was right on the edge last year,” Wayton said. “He was our seventh guy a few times last year. He won the JV and he had a good cross country season. He didn’t have the track season he wanted, but he’s coming into his own. Josh Forrest has been a solid runner, but nothing that would be considered a standout. Dexter Benkard has turned into a work horse for us. He does anything we ask. He’s as hard working as you could want. He’s loyal maybe to a fault. He’s a wonderful, wonderful teammate. He’s the kind of kid that you can build a program around. He gets as much out of himself as he can and his work ethic is very contagious.”
Benkard started running in eighth grade as a way to keep in shape for baseball, but he dropped baseball as he became more encouraged by his running. It didn’t happen immediately, but he has seen his dedication pay off.
“I wasn’t ever that good,” Benkard said. “I had some injuries my first couple years of cross country. Spring track I did well. Then last year came along and I ran well and it went up from there.”
Benkard and the Pirates were confident heading into Shore Coaches, and their performance shows the rest of the state what they already were thinking — that they will be in the thick of things at the end of the season.
“We’ll never have to rely on talent if we have guts and character,” Wayton said. “I don’t think anyone would consider this team overly talented, but we’re not short on guts. They come to work every day. It’s going to be a really fun year. It’s a wide open county, a wide open state. For our kids to stick their noses in it, it’s going to be a fantastic story.
“I’m proud of my guys. I’m optimistic for what lies ahead. I’m about as optimistic as I’ve been at this point in the year since I started coaching.”
