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 14th 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 13th in 17:19.55(5:18 per mile). Seniors Evan Friedman followed in 23rd in 17:44.93 and Gus Gibbons 30th in 17:56.92. According to Martin the heroes were the two sophomores, Ryan Scrudato and Tyler Cusick who were 33rd and 34th.
Also competing were junior Julian Applebaum, in 44th (18:13.29) and senior Brendan Berkowitz in 49th (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 13th 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 33rd in 18:13.32, followed by sophomores Brandon Wheeler 40th in 18:27.08, Brian Walsh 42nd in 18:36.61 and Bobby Evans 46th in 18:45.46. The Raiders averaged 17:41.27
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