Cougars finish three points behind Ridge
By: Justin Feil
How good is the Montgomery High girls’ cross country team?
Even in their greatest Somerset County Tournament finish, the Cougars weren’t satisfied.
Led by freshman Amanda Herrmann, Montgomery finished second to Ridge on Wednesday. The Red Devils finished with 61 points to MHS’ 64. Pingry was third with 65.
"It’s the highest I’ve ever been," said MHS head coach Jim Goodfriend. "We lost by three points.
"That’s the highest I ever finished, so is it bad? No. But was winning possible? Definitely. When you lose by three, it’s three people going up one more spot. But of my Top 7, five of them ran (personal records) on the course, so you can’t complain about that."
Herrmann lowered her own personal best on the 3.1-mile Pleasant Valley Park course to 19:21, five seconds behind winner Amanda Smith of Pingry. Eleonora Spinazzi, the top MHS finisher all season, battled through tendonitis to finish fifth overall in 19:55.
"I told Amanda to go win," Goodfriend said. "She said, ‘I don’t know.’ She gave me a funny look. I told Eleonora to go win too. I told Amanda not to worry about Eleonora (Spinazzi). I wasn’t sure how she’d be after some time off.
"Amanda said that the girl beat her at the Shore (Coaches Invitational). But I told her that she’s a better runner than at the Shore. She ran with her step for step and then the girl outsprinted her the last 200 meters. She ran great."
Spinazzi also ran well to help MHS stay ahead of Pingry. In all likelihood, she’ll be fighting her injury for the remainder of the fall.
"She had a history of being hurt," Goodfriend said. "She’s very upset because she’s hurt. It wasn’t bad enough that she couldn’t run for a couple days coming into this, but in order for her to get better she’s going to need some time off. She doesn’t want that, so she’s going to have to gut it out.
"She ran through the pain (Wednesday). She was tough. She wanted to win."
Behind Spinazzi was Rachel Holt in 14th, Tara Gorka in 20th and Nikki Sciotto in 23rd.
"Every kid ran PRs just about," Goodfriend noted. "Sciotto ran a PR. Holt ran a PR. Gorka ran a PR. Spinazzi ran a PR. Herrmann ran a big PR. So they ran well. For us to be that close and not win, it stinks."
The Montgomery boys also ran well, but just didn’t have the firepower Wednesday to be a Top 5 team. The Cougars were seventh as Hillsborough and Bridgewater-Raritan tied with 59 points before the Raiders won on a sixth-man tiebreaker.
"Our boys are 7-2 so they’re having a good year too," Goodfriend said. "Hillsborough and Bridgewater tied, and those are who the boys’ losses are to."
Montgomery hosts Rutgers Prep on Saturday, and then competes in the North Jersey Section 2, Group III sectional the following Saturday. They’ll have another shot at four-time SCT champion Ridge, and a chance to build on their best county finish under Goodfriend.
"We’ve had a great year," he said. "And there’s more to come."