Westfield Girls win 2007 Watchung XC title

Depth continues to provide the winning formula for the Westfield Girls cross country team. After carving out a 9-0 dual meet record, the Blue Devils needed every one of their balanced top seven runners to edge defending champion Scotch Plains Fanwood 42-45 at the Watchung Conference championship meet held Thursday at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth. Westfield withstood a gutsy victory by SPF’s outstanding junior Brittney Veeck to annex its first team title in five years, the longest drought in school history. Westfield had last won in 2002, when it earned its seventh straight title.

Veeck fought off the effects of bronchitis, and then had to withstand the allergic reactions to the medication which induced hives, dizziness and nausea. An hour before the race Veeck was staggering due to dizzy spells. Despite her physical issues and a week of light workouts, Veeck was able to run 20:30.8, defeating Westfield sophomore Aileen Grogan by eight seconds. After finishing second to Plainfield’s Jahlisa Smith a year ago, Veeck became the first Raider girl to win an individual conference title in cross country title, adding to her outdoor track 1,600-meters title won last spring. Her victory was reminiscent of 2006, when Raider Adam Biner won the boy’s race after being hospitalized earlier in the week. Biner’s sister, freshman Chana Biner, competed for the Raiders in the girl’s race.

Veeck’s victory and a third place finish by senior Cassy Valdes gave the Raiders a big advantage but Westfield coach Thom Hornish and assistant Jen Buccino have built a team of remarkable balance and depth where the first and 20^th runners are only separated by one minute. Often that type of squad is not always able to win championship meets against teams that have several outstanding runners. The Raiders took first, third, eighth and 12^th, which is usually enough to win a big meet but Westfield countered with Rose Driscoll (fifth, 21:04.1), junior Bridget Grogan (10th, 21:44.0), sophomore Rebecca Castaldo (13th, 22:04.2) and senior Tessa Schaaf (14th, 22:26.0). finishing right behind in 15^th and 16^th were Allie Lowenstein (22:39) and Alexis Constantine (22:40).

“Yes the score was closer than I was hoping for. The girls gave it their best though. I am sure they were feeling tremendous pressure after being named the favorite in the paper, after a five year gap since our last title, and after an undefeated season. They wanted this very badly and I hope that this will give them the confidence to step things up for next week (Union County championships),” said Buccino, who was proud of Grogan’s strong finish.

“Aileen did a great job, and dropped her time from 21:45 to 20:39. At two miles SPF had two runners ahead of our first. And while we had seven ahead of their 5th at two miles, there was not enough cushion to count on coming out on top because SPF had countered with 4 ahead of our 5th. Aileen caught Union's Hyppollite and SPF's Valdes with about 300 meters to go. Additionally, with 300 meters to go, Bridget Grogan kicked and caught SPF's Carow before the finish for 10th which gave the additional help” said Buccino.