By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
JAMESBURG – The Princeton High boys’ cross-country team learned how to win big meets a year ago ––and those lessons have carried over into this season.
The Little Tigers are proven winners off of what they achieved last season.
in 2016, Princeton raced to championships in the Mercer County meet as well as earning titles in the Central Jersey, Group IV and state Group IV meets en route to the program winning the state Meet of Champions.
While some of the names in the lineup have changed, Princeton started on the road to similar results when it finished first in the Mercer County Championship meet last Friday at Thompson Park.
“We talk a lot about success in cross-country being about consistency.,” Princeton coach Jim Smirk said. “Not just consistency in a race, but consistency year after year. We have talked a lot about team culture and what it means and how hard it is to do it over and over again. I think this is a stepping stone. Certainly, it was not our best race. It’s not perfect. But we did what we needed to do to win.”
Led by the overall winner, Will Hare, and the second-place finisher, Acascio Pinheiro, the Little Tigers placed first with 50 points, while Hopewell Valley was the runner-up with 58 points and West Windsor-Plainsboro South finished third with 71 points.
Princeton Day School finished 16th and the Hun School was 18th.
Hare finished first overall in 15:46, which was eight seconds ahead of Pinheiro. Alex Ackerman finished 12th (16:29), while Tucker Zullo was 17th and (16:44) and Jackson Donahue came in 18th (16:47).
“We knew going into this that South and Hopewell were great teams,” Ackerman said. “Our mindset was if we do what we have to do we could win. I thought we executed our plan very well today.
“Last year we had such a deep run. I think we knew going into this year that if we just had the same mindset we had last year and everyone just trusts the training that we could get it done.”
Princeton put five runners in the top 18, while Nicholas Delaney finished 24th and Jackson McCarthy ended 28th to round out the seven runners for the Little Tigers. Having a solid pack behind the top two finisher made the biggest difference for Princeton.
“That is what is so good about our team,” Ackerman said. “I think it is hard to see sometimes on the outside. But we are all such good friends and I think on the course and off that course that really shows. During the race, Tucker Zullo and I were basically running shoulder to shoulder through the first two miles and Nick and Jackson were running with us as well.
“I think with that reliance on each other, we’re all going go put that best effort out there. We all trust each other that we are going to get the job done. We have confidence in each other and we know we can take risks and our teammates will step up.”
Princeton was strong at the top with Hare and Pinheiro, but also showed its depth by putting three more runners in the top 18. It’s the same recipe for success that lifted the Little Tigers to their titles last year.
“I think last year we were more looking at it as Meet of Champs and regionals were where we needed to be competitive,” Ackerman said. “But I think this year we knew we had to go hard here, but we still need to peak at the same time we did last year at Meet of Champs and regionals.
“I think Coach Smirk and the other coaches have done a really good job with making sure we peak later in the season. It was great we were able to win today. But I still feel confident that at Meet of Champs and regionals we can still have success there.”
The biggest surprise this season has been the performance of Zullo, who ran in the JV race at this meet a year ago and finished sixth.
“He was 17:07 here last year in the JV race,” Smirk said. “He was kind of floating around the edges all spring. He wanted to be on the varsity. He put in the work this summer and became a much better athlete by doing exactly what we wanted him to do. He’s been sitting in our No. 5 or No. 6 spot all season and today he was our No. 4 man. And more importantly, he took on a lot of other team’s four men and he was very successful at that.
“Across the board, Jackson McCarthy, we ran him as the seven man today and really asked him to step up into a varsity race and show what he is capable of doing and we were thrilled with him as well.”
Thanks to their experience of a year ago, the Little Tigers know all about winning. And they have carried over the success of last year right into this season.
“I think we learned a lot last year,” Smirk said. “We had never been there before so we learned a lot about that. I think we are trying to learn about the pressures of having every team look at us and say get them. I think today we did a nice job and really put that together.
“It’s a different feel this year. It’s a different team every year. Last year it was, ‘Hey we’re the underdogs and let’s just keep making some noise and see what happens.’ This year I think we are taking on a different responsibility. The seniors are taking on the responsibility of we don’t want the success to end this year either. They want it to go on next year and the year after that as well. They want to leave a legacy.”
Princeton finished second in the girls’ county meet with 91 points, which trailed only West Windsor-Plainsboro South, the champion with 34 points. Senior Chloe Taylor led the Little Tigers with a second-place finish. Taylor crossed in 19:41, while Devon Hoernlein of Allentown placed first in 18:54.
Also for Princeton, junior Siena Moran was sixth overall in 20:18, while senior Lauren Cleary finished 15th in 21:06. Elizabeth Hare finished in 31st place, while Chloe Ayers was 39th.
“We certainly ran tough,” Smirk said. “I am happy with what we accomplished today. Not that we ever had a lacking of toughness in our program. We’re gritty when it counts. We had some young folk in there that maybe didn’t know what that was like. We wanted to get them that opportunity.”
Taylor had the top effort of the day with her strong second-place effort.
“She has been a great captain for us,” Smirk said. “She has had great role models over the years. She has really taken those lessons and said this is our team. This is who we are. This is how we do these things. We had to sit some people today. It could have been very easy for her to put the brakes on and not really go for it today. But she has something to prove to herself and I think she does that every time she laces it up. We love having here on the team.”
For the PDS boys, sophomore Kevin Dougherty was the top finisher in 65th place in 18:16. Freshman Gunner Clingman finished 82nd (19:09), senior Thomas Betterman was 94th (19:43), senior Nicholas McLean was 101st (19:52), and sophomore Justin Mortman finished in 105th place (19:59).
“Our team’s performance for the whole year has been tremendous,” PDS coach John Woodside said. “I am really proud of these kids. We did not have our best day today, but that is not the point right now. (The Prep B meet) is our whole season.”
Dougherty continues to make nice progress on the course during his sophomore season.
“We have seen him go from a fledging freshman last year to a No. 1 runner and it has really solidified the front of our pack,” Woodside said. “We’re really proud of him. Gunner came over from Hopewell. Having him has helped our team a lot. We have taken a big step up in the last two years. We have been building and I know it is going to continue because we have a lot of good, young talent.”
Junior Martin Adams was the top finisher for Hun, covering the course in 17:29 to finish 34th. Sophomore Liam Kelso was 95th (19:44), while sophomore Andy Deng was 117th, junior Paul Argiriou was 119th and junior Charles Zhang was 124th.
“I thought (Adams) showed pretty well against a very competitive field,” Hun coach Kate Butler said. “He hasn’t had a lot of big races like this because he missed all last season (with a hip injury). I thought he did just fine. He is such a competitive kid. He has had a real great season so far. I know he was hoping for a better day today but I am glad we still have states and MAPLs for him to look forward to.
“Liam Kelso had a great time for him. He was second for us again. In our third spot, one of our sophomores, Andy Deng, had a great race. He has come a long way from his freshman year. He is getting a lot of great results this year.”
Hun ran several runners in the JV and freshman races, each of whom had their best effort of the season.
“We have had a pretty good day, our freshmen squad especially,” Butler said. “Every single one of them got a personal record today, so I am very proud of them. They were all in the freshmen race and they all got a personal record. It was a great day for my freshmen.”
On the girls’ side, Cindy Qin was the top finishers for the Raiders, finishing 84th. Shirley Mu came in 86th and Tarah Sipos was 93rd.
“Our girls team has had a lot of injuries this year so we have had a hard time getting a varsity squad together,” Butler said. “But our girls went out and ran hard and each one of them had a pretty good day.”
