Westfield 2007 Girls Cross Country Review

For most cross country programs an undefeated dual meet season and conference title would be cause for celebration but the Westfield Girls are no ordinary program and coaches Thom Hornish and Jen Buccino are hoping the 2007 season will be looked back on as the season where the Blue Devils began to regain their dominance in the county and state. By winning their first Watchung Conference title in five years, Westfield broke an uncustomary drought, the longest in the history of the program.

The coaches had a difficult challenge replacing their top three runners, Nicole, DiBenedetto, Kim Legones and Ayn Wisler, who all graduated.

“They were tough to replace. We had a young team this year which aside from Rose Driscoll is still learning the sport,” said Buccino.

Lending optimism is the youth of the varsity leaders as well as considerable talent from the freshmen and junior varsity teams. The Blue Devils swept the conference and county tiles in both the freshmen and junior varsity divisions and placed third in both the JV and the freshmen state championship meet that was implemented this year at Thompson's Park in Jamesburg. The team also dominated the class championships at the Stewart Invitational and qualified for the state championships for the 31^st straight year.

“Overall it was a good season. We won the Class, which to me is a real test of team, similar to a relay in track and the Conference and went undefeated in dual meets,” noted Buccino.

The Blue Devils lose Driscoll, Marissa Mumford, Tessa Schaaf, Caitlin Burke, and Lindsay Tishberg from their line up but have a strong returning group that gained valuable experience this year.

Junior Aileen Grogan, who was second in the Watchung Conference and should be one of the county’s best next year, led the team.

“She is just beginning to realize how good she can be,” said Buccino.

Fellow juniors Bridget Grogan, Alexis Constantine, Allie Lowenstein and Liz McCarthy were also major contributors.

“They will be great leaders next year as they look to end their careers with a special season,” said Buccino.

“At our final meeting of the season I had the girls write down what they were willing to commit to do for next year to make her individual and team season better. If they follow through, we could see a different team. We have to step up if we are going to keep up with the competition and the kids are receptive to doing that,” added Buccino.

First year sophomores, Sharon Faktor, Becky Castaldo, and Megan Pulliam all represented the varsity team throughout the season. The Blue Devils also return some unsung runners who rose through the ranks all season but just missed the varsity cutoff, such as juniors Chelsea Bryk and Casey Reimlinger and sophomore Karaugh Ball.

The Blue Devils also have a spectacular freshman class led by the “A-Team” of Alyssa Hatch, Abbie Kwok and Alex Frankel as well as Evan Hindes and Meghan Suriano The team finished with 85 girls, including 17 seniors, but there were 30 juniors, 17 sophomores and 21 freshmen.

“The numbers are a challenge to work with but I will say that we do have the right spirit within our team. The girls really do aspire to make the top twelve to be a part of the state championship portion of the season. This year, our varsity line up changed constantly. Fifteen different girls earned a spot throughout season, ranging from freshmen and rookies through fourth year seniors in the hunt for the first time in their careers,” said Buccino.

With an ever changing line up it is important that every person on our team accepts the changes and is genuinely supportive of the person who is new to step up and that is definitely the case, year in and year out,” said Buccino.

SPF,Westfield Boys 2007 XC teams make state finals

An invasion of strong teams from the Skyland Conference dominated the Group IV Section II meet last Saturday and nearly ended the season for the Westfield Boys team, which was able to regroup for a fifth place finish and make the state finals for the 14^th straight season.

Hunterdon Central, Bridgewater Raritan, Phillipsburg and Franklin took the first four spots before the Blue Devils edged another Skyland team, North Hunterdon and earned a chance to compete this Saturday at Holmdel.

“This was the deepest section in quite a while. There were many teams with a solid five runners,” added Martin

Joining them will be rival Scotch Plains Fanwood, which qualified fourth behind powerful Millburn, which placed five of its runners in the top eleven to win easily with 25 points.

The Raiders and Blue Devils battled through difficult conditions which included winds that blew up to 40 miles per hour.

“The wind made things difficult but it affected everyone. Warinanco Park is very tough when it is windy. It takes mental toughness to overcome it,” noted Martin.

Leading Westfield was senior Alex Tarlow, who was 13^th in 17:19.55(5:18 per mile). Seniors Evan Friedman followed in 23^rd in 17:44.93 and Gus Gibbons 30^th in 17:56.92. According to Martin the heroes were the two sophomores, Ryan Scrudato and Tyler Cusick who were 33^rd and 34^th.

Also competing were junior Julian Applebaum, in 44^th (18:13.29) and senior Brendan Berkowitz in 49^th (18:23.39). The team averaged 17:47.

“Obviously we were a little disappointed. If we had run a little better we would have been third. Gibbons, Scrudato, and Cusick were solid,” said Martin.

After dominating the Watchung Conference meet on October 18 and squeaking through in the Union County meet the following week, the Blue Devils were not at the top of their game Saturday, a development that has their coach concerned but happy that they have another chance.

“The goal of Sectionals is to make it to the next level. We will see what happens next Saturday.”

The Raiders continued a familiar formula from recent meets with Union county champion Patrick Doliber leading the way in seventh place against the strongest field he has faced all year. Doliber ran 17:07.53, averaging 5:15 per mile. Junior Martin Sweeney, who has been the Raiders’ number two runner all year, was ninth in 17:12.51. Following close behind in 13^th place in 17:25.89 was the comeback story of the year, senior Dan Sapienza, who missed most of last year and the early 2007 season with injuries.

Senior Mike Ragan was 33^rd in 18:13.32, followed by sophomores Brandon Wheeler 40^th in 18:27.08, Brian Walsh 42^nd in 18:36.61 and Bobby Evans 46^th in 18:45.46. The Raiders averaged 17:41.27

Westfield,SPF Girls 2007 XC teams make state finals

Tremendous depth, which has been the hallmark of the Westfield Girls Cross country team all season, enabled Coach Thom Hornish’s team to survive the tough Group IV Section II meat and live to compete another week. Tied with Skyland conference power Phillipsburg after five runners for the coveted final qualifying place, the Blue Devils sixth runner Bridgett Grogan finished 18 places ahead of the sixth Phillipsburg runner enabling Westfield to qualify for Saturday’s state finals at Holmdel Park.

Once again junior Aileen Grogan paced the team with a 14^th place in 21:12.90 (6:30.2), followed by dependable senior Rose Driscoll, 2oth in 21:24.07. Quickly improving sophomore, Sharon Faktor, who ran with the junior varsity earlier in the season, came up with a huge effort, finishing 32^nd in a personal best 22:06. Juniors Alexis Constantine and Allie Lowenstein finished in 33^rd and 38^th respectively in times of 22:12.48 and 22:22.52, leaving the Blue Devils tied until Bridget Grogan, normally the team’s number three runner clinched the meet with a 45^th in 22:43.30. Sophomore Rebecca Castaldo also finished ahead of Phillipsburg’s sixth runner with a 23:05 for 57^th.

“Bridget is battling some hip pain and had a cramp during the race, but pushed through and made the difference in our making the trip next weekend,” said assistant coach Jen Buccino.

Buccino was also pleased with her newer runners.

“Sharon Faktor is new to the team this year, and dropped her Stewart Memorial time from 24:41 to 22:06 today, so that was huge for her. Alexis Constantine dropped her time from 22:41 to 22:12, Driscoll tied her PR and Aileen Grogan dropped her PR a few seconds. Castaldo had a stomach virus this week and has not had time to completely recover yet. Competition was fierce, and we knew that going into this race,” said Buccino.

“We needed all seven to go well beyond her personal best, to place higher than we did today. We are happy and honored to move on and have a shot at improving our times at Holmdel next weekend.”

Buccino is certain that the young team will thrive from their participation.

“Every competitive experience you can offer is valuable. The girls have learned so much this season about their racing, their competition, and about the importance of summer conditioning. We did a lot of tweaking in our lineup this season, which gave a lot of different kids the opportunity to step up and represent. Considering all the changes in the lineup, all the pressure to earn and to keep a spot, and all the intense competition they faced, they did a great job this season and have much to look forward to in the future,” added Buccino.

With Skyland powers, Voorhees, the state’s number one team, and Ridge in the field, the Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls Cross country team knew they would be battling for one of the final three spots. As expected, Voorhees dominated, taking the first three spots and six of the first eight to win with twenty points, while Ridge put all seven of its runners in the top 23 to finish second with 62 points. The Raiders finished a comfortable fourth with 127 points, easily ahead of fifth place West Morris-Mendham.

Senior Cathy Harley once again led Coach Rob Rafferty’s team with a 14^th place in 20:18.92 Junior Brittney Veeck, continuing to battle illness, finished 20^th in 20:49.84, followed by senior Cassy Valdes 22^nd in 20:52.35. Junior Emily Carow, the teams most improved runner had another fine race, finishing 29^th in 21:55.05. It was a busy weekend for the Carow family, with Emily’s father Mark, running a 3:38 in the New York Marathon on Sunday. Senior newcomer Kate Johnson blasted another personal best in 23:03.48 to clinch the Raiders’ second straight trip to the finals. They hope to do better than last year when they only finished four runners. Freshman Chana Biner added a personal best 23:29.06 for 52^nd place.

Cranford XC teams make 2007 state finals

Cranford Cross Country Coach Tim Styler’s young teams both earned an extra week of competition by placing in the top five in their respective races at the Group II Section 2 races held at Warinanco Park Saturday November 3. The girl’s team, with four freshmen in their top six, finished third with 86 points, trailing only winner Chatham and Bernards. The Cougars actually had a faster team average time than Bernards running 21:34.41, which comes out to under seven minutes per mile for their top five. With sophomore Will Smith smashing his personal best for the second straight week, the boys squeezed into the fifth and final qualifier, defeating Rutherford by 19 points. Each team will compete in the state championships to be held Saturday at Holmdel Park.

“We are very happy to have qualified both of our teams to run in the state finals,” said Styler, who ran in the championships each of his years with the Cranford varsity.

“It is a tremendous experience to be able to mix it up with the state’s best runners and experience the Holmdel course. It will help everyone over the next few years,” said Styler.

The heavy favorites in the Group II girl’s race is expected to be Haddonfield, one of the state’s top teams that took the first four places in its South race.

“We will not be one of the top contenders there. We are not expecting miracles but we will be there competing and hoping for as many personal bests as possible,” added Styler.

Junior Joy Hanke led the girls with a fifth place finish, running a personal best of 20:21.97 (6:14 per mile) on the championship course. Finishing just behind her in sixth was spectacular freshman Alisa Commerato, who was sixth in 20:27.70. Senior Erin Hannen had another solid performance finishing ninth in 21:10.58.

The freshman Miller twins completed the scoring for the Cougars. Bridget Miller ran a personal best 21:59.74 for 19^th and Veronica Miller was 48^th in 23:52.02. Freshman Julia Langone was 58^th in 24:09.66 and junior Meagan Monahan was 60^th in 24:14.

Smith was in a pack with eventual winner Thomas Lavelle of Chatham and Mountain Valley conference (MVC) champion Christopher Johnson of Governor Livingston, who finished second.

“We are still working on Will’s strength. That will come with more experience and more mileage over the next season,” said Styler.

“Will certainly has the leg speed and turnover to stay with most top runners,” added Styler.

Fellow sophomore Roy Colicchio continued his solid season with a 25^th with a 18:13.20 and senior Stephen Phillips was 34^th in 18:36.84 Freshman Michael Cassidy was 38^th in 18:47.70 and junior Miguel Caulfield was right behind in 18:50.76 for 41^st.

Also competing were Senior William Albert was 52nd in 19:13.81 and junior Tyler Schott, 54th in 19:25.91) as the boys averaged 18:18.