Hans captures fifth in county girls cross country meet
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Julia Hans wasn’t in the lead pack to start the Somerset County Championship girls race Wednesday.
Otherwise, there has been no holding back the Montgomery High School freshman in the start to her scholastic career. Hans debuted by winning the freshman class race at the Thompson Park Class Meet, finished fourth in the Central Jersey Shootout to close September and placed sixth in the Shore Coaches Invitational two weeks ago.
”It’s been really fun,” Hans said. “It’s definitely a whole new experience running against all these people from different schools you never run against in middle school. And it’s a different atmosphere and different distance. It’s been fun.”
Hans adapted quickly. She displayed maturity beyond her years when she elected to sit back at the start of the county race, but she wasn’t sitting back at the finish.
”They packed really quickly at the beginning,” Hans said. “I couldn’t keep up with them at the beginning. I thought it was better to stay behind them and see if any of them would fall off the pack and I could pass them at the end.
”There’s one girl in the front pack that I wanted to stay with,” she added. “Early on into the race, I could tell if I were to start out at that pace, it wouldn’t make for a good third mile. I decided to hold back, keep them in sight so I wouldn’t tire myself out too much.”
Hans moved steadily up toward the front, and by the end of the county championship she finished in fifth place in 19:37 on a humid day at Pleasant Valley Park.
”It went pretty well,” Hans said. “The weather wasn’t exactly favorable conditions, but you have to make the most of it.
”I definitely made up some ground,” she added. “I was a little more conservative in the first and second mile.”
Hans paced the Cougar girls to fourth place overall, just two points behind third-place Bernards. MHS had a tighter split between its scoring runners than Bernards, but its average of 20:56 was six seconds slower per runner than Bernards. Cara Schiksnis earned a top 20 finish in her final county meet. The senior was 20th in 21:02. Fellow senior Emma Huff was 25th, sophomore Gianna Tedeschi was a second behind in 26th and another sophomore, Sarah McGowan, rounded out the Cougars’ scoring in 29th in 21:25. Senior Erica Israel was 37th and freshman Jenny Huang took 40th for Montgomery.
”I thought they ran well,” said MHS girls coach Tom Huelbig. “Our goal was to finish third in the county. Anybody with half a brain knows it’s Hillsborough and Ridge, so we set our sights on third. Our girls are a little disappointed that we missed third. We had girls finish at the same time as girl in front of them, so that’s literally hundredths of seconds.”
The MHS boys team took fifth place in its county race Wednesday. Rahul Ramesh was eighth in 16:51, Taylor Gatt placed 11th in 17:01, Daniel Alttieri was 31st, Ishaan Waghray was 37th and Robert Dembinski was 38th. Patrick Fritzinger took 39th and Ajay Sarathy was 44th.
”We did all right time-wise,” said MHS boys coach Tim Bartholomew. “We didn’t do as well as we had hoped to. We had a couple setbacks that prevented us from doing what we wanted to do. But JV wise and overall varsity, they ran well.”
Bartholomew has been encouraged by the start for his team. There is good competition among the team with Ramesh and Gatt being the most consistent leaders up front.
”This year, it’s probably the strongest and most depth I’ve had in a long time,” Bartholomew said. “I’m really happy with the direction they’ve been taking. They started off the season with a win at Randolph. They ran well at dual meets. We had good showings in all the invitationals we went to. Overall, I’m super happy with the direction the cross country is taking.”
The Cougar boys and girls will race again Thursday when the field expands for the Skyland Conference Championships.
”We want anther solid performance out of them,” Bartholomew said. “Our goal is always to be one of the top few teams. If everyone runs their best race on the same day, who knows what can happen?”
Hans will face even tougher competition up front with the addition of Voorhees and North Hunterdon to the mix for Skylands. She has been able to score a low number for the Cougar girls in every race this season. She has proven that she can run among the most talented runners in the state, quite a change from her modest expectations coming into the year.
”I came into the season, I didn’t know about my capability level,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was capable of doing. At the beginning of the season, I had a goal maybe I could get under 20 minutes. Little did I know I could achieve that pretty early.”
Now Hans is pushed by loftier standards. She has made an immediate impact on a Cougars team that is building.
”We have a perfect mix this year,” Huelbig said. “We have three seniors. In our top eight, we have the three seniors, three freshmen and two sophomores. That’s a perfect mix. We have the leadership and the young blood coming up. We’re thrilled with the way our program is going.
”We do everything together (with the boys team). We’re trying to rebuild the program. We feel it’s a five-year process. We’re on target. We’re excited about some of the younger runners we have coming up.”
The Montgomery Middle School team finished first in the New Jersey Middle School Championships on Saturday. Against a large field, the Cougars of the future finished with 46 points, 47 ahead of the second-place team.
It has helped the MHS varsity newcomers — Emily Dembinski is another MHS freshman in the top eight — to have veterans in the program. They can show their new teammates the ropes.
”It’s great,” Hans said. “We’re all really close. It’s like a really close knit team. On the bus, we always ask them, is this course hard, do you remember this one? And if they know about the competition, they tell us. We also just laugh together and just hang out. It’s just fun.”
Schiksnis, Huff and Israel give the Cougars solid veterans and pave the way for the reemergence of the team. For the first time in five years, MHS feels confident it can get out of sectionals.
”Cara Schiksnis, she’s been solid for four years,” Huelbig said. “Emma Huff, who recently had her coming out party, all of a sudden dropped a minute off her PR and she’s continued to improve. She came in third (Wednesday). Erica Israel, she’s more of a hurdler, but she’s right now No. 7. They provided great leadership for our program and they’ve been involved in our program for three or four years.”
They have eased the transition into high school for Hans and her class. Hans ran through middle school and in eighth grade began edging up her mileage. The progression continued through the summer and preseason and had her ready for the start of high school running. With every week, she progresses as a racer.
”I’ve learned especially in the second mile, push the pace,” Hans said. “That’s when people tend to slow down. The third mile, the adrenaline will push you through. The first mile, you’re trying to get in the right position. You don’t want to lose sight of the people you want to stay with. The second mile is important to push the pace. The third mile, you want to finish strong.”
Julia Hans did so at the Somerset County meet, and she won’t be holding back as she looks for a big finish to her first season of high school running.
”I’m definitely competitive when it comes to times and where I place,” Hans said, “not so much that I get extremely disappointed if I have a bad race — there are always going to be bad races — but I’m competitive to a point of trying to give my best in every race. If I don’t, I know I’ll be disappointed in the end.”