By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Both Alex Roth and the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls cross country team found themselves in a different situation than years past heading into the Mercer County championship meet last week at Thompson Park in Jamesburg.
After being right near the front of the race the last two years, Roth, a Princeton High senior, came into the boys meet as the favorite. Meanwhile, the five-time defending champion Pirate girls came into the girls meet as less of a favorite than any of the previous five years.
Roth went to the lead right from the start of the race and led all the way to finish, capturing the individual boys title in 15 minutes, 48 seconds and helping the Little Tigers to the team title in the process. On the girls side, the Pirates put five runners in the top 12 and held off a challenge from Princeton to win their sixth straight team title.
“I thought that winning as a team was probably more exciting because it was such a dominant win for us,” said Roth, who led a 1-2-3 finish for the Little Tigers. “Doing that is good for us in terms of looking at the next meet like sectionals. It was a good confidence booster for us.
“For the most part pretty much everyone ran well. We had a solid team effort. Earlier in the season we were having some issues with out 4-5-6-7 and figuring out what they need to do if we are going to become a championship team. It seems like we were able to figure out what we need to do to become a top state team.”
Princeton swept the top three places to easily win the boys team title. Roth was nine seconds ahead of Will Hare and 30 seconds ahead of Acasio Pinhiero. Nicholas Delaney finished 11th and Alex Ackerman was 12th to round out the top five for the Little Tigers, who finished with 29 points. WW-P South was second with 57 points.
“It was really windy out there so it wasn’t quite as fast as I was hoping,” said Roth, who finished third at the meet last year. “It was a good race to have under my belt going into sectionals next week. Having experience on the course is helpful. I just had to go out and right from the gun asset myself as the favorite. I like to go out pretty hard and leave nothing to question.”
In addition to the strength at the top, the Little Tigers’ depth was a key to their success at the Mercer meet. It should also help them contend for a title at the Central Jersey Group IV meet on Saturday.
“Our goal is to win that and hopefully I can hold off some good runners and win that as well,” Roth said. “There are some great runners in the section. We’re getting ready for that and the county meet was a good stepping stone for that.”
WW-P South put all seven of their runners in the top 19 but could not get close to the Little Tigers. The Pirates were led by Alex Petri, who finished eighth. Joshua Forrest was ninth and Justin Lopez finished 10th. The South top five was rounded out by Tim Magoun in 13th place and Ryan Joseph in 17th.
The WW-P North boys finished third, led by Vedang Lad who was fourth individually. John Mundia finished 21st, Jonathan Logan was 23rd and Shaun Robinson was 24th.
The Hun School was 13th and Princeton Day School finished 15th. The Raiders were led by Alexander Ill, who was 36th, while Kevin Sun led the Panthers with a 65th-place finish.
The WW-P South girls used their depth to earn a sixth straight title. The Pirates finished with 37 points to edge Princeton (53) and Robbinsville (69) for the team title.
Kelsey Kobus led five Pirates in the top 12 with a fourth-place finish. Liz Petrov was sixth, Kavya Tummalapalli finished seventh, Haley Rich was ninth and Ashley Own finished 12th.
“We had raced Princeton at the division meet a week earlier and it was a little too close for comfort,” South coach Josh Siegel said. “We knew Princeton was a good team and it would be a close meet. I couldn’t be prouder of the way the girls ran. They did great.
“A couple of the girls, Haley and Kavya, really stepped up and made sure we succeeded.”
The Pirates didn’t have a runner who was going to compete for an individual title this year, but the overall depth of the team made them tough to beat.
“I feel like this year we have run a lot more as a pack team, which is a different than we have done in the past,” Siegel said. “We’ve always had one or two up front. Because we run together as a pack we’re a tighter team and doing just as well.
“You always see so much great competition in Mercer County. Princeton is a tremendous team and I am so proud of our girls to have pulled off six in row.”
So, while the roster continues to turn over and new runners step forward, the Pirates keep winning championships.
“All the girls buy in and are invested and love the team,” Siegel said. “That is what they want to see happen. That’s why they are putting in all the hard work all the time. It’s amazing how young that top seven is. We have 10-12 girls that could be in the top seven on any given day. We have three seniors in the top 12, so a lot of young girls are in that group.”
Princeton ran well but couldn’t quite catch the Pirates. Anne Walker led the Little Tigers with a third-place finish. Chloe Taylor was fifth, Izzy Trenholm was eighth, Annefleur Hartmanshenn finished 13th and Erica Oake finished 25th to round out the top five for the Little Tigers.
WW-P North finished fifth as a team. The Knights placed two runners in the top 25 as Veda Donthireddy was 16th and Emma Faivre finished 21st.
Stuart Country Day finished 10th and Hun was 13th. Casey Nelson was 19th to lead the Tartans, while the Raiders were led by Amanda Brandgaard in 61st place.
