For the past four years Laura Gallo was a model of consistency for the Cranford Girls Cross Country team, leading them to two Union County titles, two Watchung Conference titles and a Mountain Valley title. Gallo was a three time county champion and second team all state selection last year and was the leader of an outstanding senior class that also included solid contributors like Joy Hanke, Hannah Van Why and Caitlin Curtis.
But all good things come to an end and third year coach Tim Styler is fortunate to have two key members of the team, senior Erin Hannon and junior Joy Hanke, back to lead a young but talented Cougar team.
“It's not every year when you have a front runner like Laura. She was a
consistent number one over the past few years and when you can count on
finishing with a lead runner in the single digits it helps that ever
important team score. Erin Hannen and Joy Hanke are now going to have
to lead this team while the freshman will be challenging for top honors each meet,” said Styler, who is an expert at getting the team to peak for championship meets.
.Last year at the county meet, despite having their entire team returning from the 2005 championship group, the Cougars were considered underdogs to Summit but led by Gallo, who broke away from the pack in the second mile and breezed in a personal best 19:07, the Cougars defended their title with a 44-65 victory. Always the consummate team player, Gallo, now a freshman at Georgetown, seemed more pleased than the performances of her team mates than her own.
Hanke was fourteenth in 20:42 and has been a scoring member of both Union County championship teams. Hannen ran a personal best (21:16) and enters the season ready to take a leadership role.
“Erin and Joy are our two leaders. They are ready to be in the front of the
conference races and county and then lead us into the state meets,” said Styler.
Styler has a young team with freshmen Alisa Commerato, Julia Langone,
Bridget and Veronica Miller and junior Polly Powasnik.
The Cougars opened their invitational season on September 8 at the Cherokee Challenge.
"This will be the first test for the kids as it is a challenging 2 milecourse. We will get to evaluate where everyone is at early in the season as well as getting to see the South Jersey competition. A lot of the top teams in the state this year are hailing from the south. This gives our kids a chance to run against the best and against their own class,” said Styler.
Styler is confident that the Cougars are well on their way to building a new powerhouse.
“So far we are looking fairly fit. Obviously most of our summer is spent
getting a base. We started some threshold work recently and incorporated other lactate workouts into the training such as tempo runs of four miles,” said Styler.
“You can’t expect every season to be like the last two but we are going to be a much improved team by the end of the year.”
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