By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
JAMESBURG — The Mercer County Championship meet seems to bring out the best in the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls cross country team.
The Pirates ran away with what was expected to be a close meet to capture their fourth straight Mercer County title last Friday at Thompson Park in Jamesburg. WW-P South put five runners in the top 18 and easily outdistanced second-place Princeton for the championship.
“I was nervous, as always, coming into this meet,” South coach Joshua Siegel said. “They ran together as a team. A couple of the girls didn’t have their best race and a couple of the others stepped up. I could not be prouder of the girls.”
Senior Christina Rancan led the Pirates with a second-place overall finish. Freshman Julia Mao turned in perhaps her best race of the season and finished sixth. Sophomore Kelsey Kolbus finished ninth, Liz Petrov was 13th and Alex Hesterberg was 18th to round out the top five for the Pirates, who finished with 48 team points to top Princeton, which finished with 101 points.
The veterans in the South lineup have grown used to winning at the Mercer meet. For a newcomer like Mao, it was a new experience.
“The past races I wasn’t really in shape as much,” said Mao, who finished in 19:50. “With the coaches help I was able to become a lot better and improve and I think the team really helped a lot too because we all help each other and push each other to be better when we train.”
Mao has enjoyed the high school experience and is happy to be part of the continued success of the Pirates.
“When I first came into high school I didn’t really know a lot and they helped me to become better as a whole,” Mao said. “I have been able to become good friends with them and they really help me. It is a lot more work in high school but it really helps develop you as a person.”
“It’s the best experience I have had in my life. I always look forward to spending time with the team after school and practicing with them. They have all helped me a lot. They are all friendly and talk to you even when you come in as a freshman.”
Mao was able to run well under her goal in terms of place and time.
“I was just aiming for top 10 or to get under 21 minutes,” she said. “I didn’t expect I would finish where I did with all of these other team and so many people here in the race.”
Princeton had hoped to compete with the Pirates for the team championship but didn’t have its best performance. But even on a day where they were not at their best the Little Tigers still finished second.
“We definitely did not have our best day,” Princeton coach Jim Smirk said. “But that being said we ran a little bit stronger as a team because of it. We have gotten used to Lou (Mailhe) being out front and she didn’t race as well as I think she hoped she would. But then you saw Chloe Taylor say if she’s not going to have it then it is her responsibility to take the mantel of being our No. 1 for the day and she did a phenomenal job with that.”
Taylor was the Little Tigers’ top finisher, fifth overall in 19:41, while Mailhe was seventh in 19:53. Annefluer Hartmanshenn was 15th, Izzy Trenholm was 32nd and Evie Bentch was 43rd to round out the top five for Princeton. Smirk was impressed with the way Taylor, a sophomore, battled in the race.
“She survived some really big attacks and put herself in a great position,” Smirk said. “The same can be said for Annefleur Hartmanshenn. She has been running as our four or five all season and she put together a really masterful race. She has worked her way through the ranks. She is a kid who freshman year worked hard and was in the pack. Her sophomore year she was getting better and she has really worked her way into varsity and become a real rock for us.”
Smirk was encouraged enough by the effort in the county meet to feel good about the Little Tigers’ chances at the upcoming Central Jersey Group 4 meet.
“Going up to Group 4 we are going to have to solve some stuff,” Smirk said. “Group 4 is about consistency and maybe we weren’t as consistent as we needed to be today and we’ll have to work on that. But one thing that has been consistent with us for a long time in our program is we fight and we’re tough and we saw that today.
“For a lot of teams when it doesn’t go well it goes bad. If you are going to target something that it consistent for us it is that we’re willing to get into the trenches and fight for it and see if we can make it happen. We did that today and we’ll take that and have it help us later in the season.”
WW-P North’s young team put together a solid day and finished seventh. Veda Donthireddi was the top finisher for the Knights, 20th overall in 20:30. Julia Grande was 22nd, Sahana Natarajan was 46th, Sarah Liu was 47th, and Masai Davis was 50th for the Knights.
“We have a small team so they have been working with each other on how to not just race individually but how we bring it together as a team,” North coach Monica Biro said. “Today they showed that. We packed together through the first mile with all five girls together. To be successful as a team we have to run together a pack and it was nice to see they can handle that pressure.”
“Veda and Julia have been a good one-two team pushing each other every day in practice. They are very competitive with each other but they are very good friends, too. One of our seniors (Davis) has been off and on hurt for the last two weeks and she came back and ran 22 today which is right by her PR. Coming out and running like that in her first race back shows how much they care about each other.”
Princeton Day School finished 12th as a team with Morgan Mills leading the way with a 41st-place finish. Bridget Kane finished 59th and Emma Sharer was 69th for the Panthers. The Hun School finished 14th led by Mia Cura in 80th place and Cindy Qin in 90th.
