2007 Cranford Girls XC Proeview

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.”

Doliber leads deep talented 2007 SPF Harriers

When the 2006-7 cross country and track season commenced, Patrick Doliber of Scotch Plains Fanwood was not one of the leading names in Union County and among a group of underclassmen vying for second place behind senior Adam Biner, the team’s unquestioned leader. Now, fast-forward a year later. Biner has graduated and Doliber enters this season as one of the favorites to win what should be a wide-open Union County championship race this year. His emergence once again shows how unpredictable high school track can be from one year to the next.

Biner had a memorable senior year. He won the Watchung Conference meet in a personal best time of 17:09 after being hospitalized and missing three days of practice. “Adam really showed what he was made of out there,” said Koegel.

“We have had many champions since I have been here but this one was pretty special.”

Fifth in the conference race, Doliber kept improving and really hit his stride when he won the Union County indoor 3200 meter title and cracked the coveted 10 minute barrier for 3200 meters when he won the Watchung Conference outdoor 3200 meter title in 9:53.8. Doliber later dropped his time to 9:52.08 when he finished sixth at the sections, qualifying for the state championships.

“I knew if I kept working hard and listening to my coach, my times would eventually start to improve. Breaking 10 was important because I knew it was within my reach,” said Doliber, who had run 10:17 indoors.

Doliber leads one of the deepest and most talented Scotch Plains Fanwood Boy’s teams since the 2001 squad that featured Brian Kopnicki, Mike Dixon, Zack McGuire and Bob Wallden. Senior Dan Sapienza and junior Martin Sweeney, who both missed much of last season with injuries, pushed Doliber last spring in the 3200 and had times of 10:12 and 10:16 respectively. Senior Mike Ragan excelled in the 800 (2:02) and 1600 (4:37) and is also in the front pack

Two other experienced seniors, Adam Horowitz and Greg Bencivengo have each won three letters and will give Koegel the depth and flexibility he has rarely enjoyed in his nine years at the school. Horowitz missed much of last season with injuries. Bencivengo had a breakthrough season in outdoor track, smashing his personal best in the mile with a 4:52.93 at the section meet.

They are facing spirited competition from two talented sophomores, Brian Walsh and Bobby Evans, who both had impressive freshman years and vastly improved sophomore Brandon Wheeler. A pleasant surprise has been, senior Marc L’Heureux, who broke 20 minutes for the first time in the opening meet Providing additional depth are three newcomers senior Mike Bover, junior Erick Walker and freshman Mike Pesin.

The newfound depth gives Koegel insurance against injuries and will also enable him to have a fully stocked junior varsity team. The Raiders looked impressive in sweeping their opening two races against Kearny and Elizabeth.

Koegel has always considered Westfield to be a major bellweather for his team and this year should be no exception. In addition to the natural local rivalry, the Blue Devils defeated the Raiders in a close dual meet last year and also took their measure in the Watchung Conference and Union County meets.

The two teams had the first of three meetings this past Tuesday. Westfiled won 23-36

Cranford Boys 2007 XC Preview

When Joe McKenney graduated last spring it removed the final link to the Cranford High School cross country dynasty that won eight straight Union County titles. between 1997-2004 and were group II champions in 2004. Losing McKenney, who finished first, second and third in the county from 2004-6 and now runs for New York University (NYU), presents challenges for third year coach Tim Styler, a key member of Cougar championship teams in 1997-9.

“Joe was our leader for practically four years,” said Styler who ran for and replaced legendary Cranford coach Ray White, who coached from 1969 through 2004.

“It will be a new era now that Joe is off at NYU. We certainly wish him much success and we will go see some of his races when we can.”

The Cougars also lost, Eddie Baker, an unheralded but consistent runner, and Kevin Boyle, a solid performer the past two years.

“Eddie was a spark for this team last year; he ran some gutsy races and really showed that if you work hard it will pay off. Eddie will be around this season for some runs with the team. Kevin will also be a missed senior as he was a quiet leader of the team, ran hard and improved over his four years,” said Styler.

The Cougars will count on sophomore Will Smith, who showed flashes of brilliance in his first season, while battling through numerous injuries.

“Will will certainly be called upon to lead this team on the course. He showed great promise as a freshman and brings that talent to the line this season,” said Styler.

At the 2006 Union county Championships, Smith, in just his second varsity race opened many eyes with a 12th place finish in 17:26, a time comparable to McKenney’s ninth place finish as a freshman. Another sophomore, Roy Colicchio, hopes to build off a strong spring track season to push Smith.

“Roy finished the track season well and built on that to have a good summer. We are expecting big things from him,” added Styler.

Colicchio combined with Smith and the three seniors to lead the Cougars to a fifth place finish at the county meet with 129 points, three behind fourth place Scotch Plains Fanwood. a marked improvement from their third place finishes at the Mountain Valley Conference championship in early October.

“We did some of our best running later in the year,” said Styler.

The coach looks to experienced seniors Steve Phillips and Billy Albert to provide leadership on and off the track. Styler expects sophomore John Powasnik and

freshmen Michael Cassidy and Kevin Swan to fill out the first seven but depth could be a problem.

“We certainly are young this year. We have a few seniors but the nucleus of

our team is sophomores and freshman.”

Styler is hoping the team can contend for the Mountain Valley Conference (MVC)

Title and be competitive in the county and state meets but also hopes that the youth and talent can be the springboard for the next Cougar dynasty.

2246 pizza runners

Despite large turnouts the past few years, the question always in the mind of Westfield Downtown 5K and Pizza Extravaganza Race Director Sherry Cronin was what would the turnout be if we ever got excellent weather? The answer was stunning.

Even the normally ebullient Cronin could not have predicted that when the final post entrant signed up at 6:58, two minutes before the scheduled start time,
the entries were an incredible 2226.Nearly perfect weather for the last Wednesday in July helped the runners and volunteers but the huge turnout presented its own challenges. With such a large crowd in a constricted area, safety became a major consideration.

“We want to ensure that all of the runners are safe on the course and a
larger crowd means more volunteers and staff to monitor the race. We have
also communicated with the residents along the race route as we do every
year to ensure that they know when the race will occur in front of their
home. We will also be notifying the parkers on the street along the route
so that they make alternative arrangements tomorrow and move their cars
before the race,” said Cronin.

While there were no major curveballs thrown by Mother Nature, such as excessive heat and thunderstorms, safety was only one of many concerns for the primary organizers.

“The logistical issues are enormous for a race of that size, Everything is harder including setting up water stops, getting all runners to the start and making sure the registration lines move quickly “ noted Mark Zenobia of On Your Mark Productions, who was the chief race organizer for the sixth straight years and has seen the race grow from its initial size of 950.

“It was great night for Westfield and a fantastic chance for us to show off our beautiful town,” said Mayor Andy Skibitsky, who also hosted the telecast for Cable Channel 36.

“I am really proud of the all the Westfield people who helped to pull off such a fantastic event.”

Having managed races in all types of weather over the past decade, Zenobia
was thankful for the best race weather since 2002, the race’s first year.

“Good weather will substantially increase the numbers. It wasn’t only the weather on race day, but it has been nice all winter and spring which got more runners on the road. Most race registrations have increased this year,” added Zenobia, who manages many of the state’s biggest races.

Cronin also realized that the race’s size has an upper limit, although she would not name the breaking point.

“The numbers are wonderful, but it does present some challenges logistically with the space we have on Elm and Quimby Streets for the pre and post run activities. We may also need to order more water and pizza as the event comes together, and possibly pull shirts from previous years for overflow registrations,” aid Cronin.

“We always conduct a feedback session after the event to find out how to improve it for the following year. We may need to make a decision to limit it to 1,800 just because of space constraints but we will not know that until after the race. “

Almost forgotten in the hoopla was the race, won by a familiar face, Gene Mitchell, owner of the Running Company chain of stores won his fourth straight title with a time of 15:21, nine seconds ahead of Chris Heibell of Hillsborough.

Employing the same strategy as last year, Mitchell was content to run behind the leader, Heibel through a 4:56 first mile. Mitchell made a strong move on an uphill just after the mile mark and pulled away from Heibel, hitting 2 miles in 9:52 and he enhanced his lead in the final mile with another 4:56. Mitchell, now 39, has learned to run more controlled races, aiming for an even pace.

“I can’t take it out fast and challenge the younger guys. I just have to try and stay back and grind it out,” said Mitchell.

“There are parts of the course where I know are important to push, especially the final hill just past two miles. I tried to break away from him but he held on really tough. I’m very happy to win four in a row,” added Mitchell who enters a new age group in August.

Brian Harris, who manages the Running Company’s Westfield store, repeated his fourth place finish of a year ago, running one second slower than 2006 in 15:47.

“The legs weren’t there tonight,” said Harris, who won the Cranford Firecracker Four Mile earlier in July.

Amy Van Alstine,19 of Midland Park, won her third straight women’s title in 18:02.

The first town finisher came down to a battle between former Westfield teammates Kris Kagan and Evan Friedman. Kagan, a 2006 graduate edged Friedman, a rising senior, running 16:53 to Friedman’s 16:56.

“This is a shorter distance than I am used to running,” said Kagan, who finished his freshman season at The American University in Washington DC.
“The weather was much nicer than I have been used to in Washington,” added Kagan.

“It was a good race. Kris had a little more at the finish,” said Friedman, who is pleased at his fitness level. Friedman’s teammate, fellow rising senior Alex Tarlow was third Westfield finisher in 17:23.

Former Blue Devil star Jeffrey Perrella, the top Westfield finisher in 2005 and 2006 was not able to attempt the three peat because of injuries suffered during the outdoor season at William and Mary.

“My spring season was going alright until i got a femoral stress fracture and
pretty much this whole summer i wont be able to run. i got it in early
April but ran through it until IC4As in May, the last meet of the year for me,” said Perrella had personal bests of 3:57 for 1500 meters and 14:35 for 5k.

“Since then I have been biking, but my leg isn’t doing that great. so now, i
still have probably another month until i can run unless something
miraculous happens.”

Jim Colvin, 58 of Westfield finished in an impressive 18:48 to win the age graded first place

Sheila Courter edged Debby Hall 20:12 to 20:29 for first Westfield female finisher. Hall also finished second in the master’s division.

A race so large could not succeed without dedicated sponsors and volunteers.

“Our race sponsors enable the event to take place since registrations alone
do not cover the cost for running the event,” noted Cronin.

Pacing a wide and varied sponsorship list was Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield that returned to be a Gold Sponsor. Cronin was also pleased that over 75% of the sponsors are located Westfield’s Special Improvement District (the district which is managed by the Downtown Westfield Corporation). Bronze sponsors included Lucky Brand Jeans,Verizon Fios, Lord and Taylor, Citibank, and Westfield Pediatric Dental Group and Rockn' Joes Coffeehouse and Bistro .

Lance Marvin, the owner of Rockn' Joes Coffeehouse and Bistro, was pleased with the exposure his new restaurant received. Marvin and his wife Lisa kept busy handing out over 300 cups of their ice coffee in their post just past the finish line.

“We will be back next year. This is a fantastic event ,” said Marvin, whose restaurant opened last October.

Contributing sponsors include: Rita's of Westfield, Needle Point Homes,
Qdoba Mexican Grill, The Town Bank, North Fork Bank, and Center for
Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Perla, and Stop and Shop. Supporting
sponsors include: Amper, Politniner and Mattia, Redco Engineering and
Construction, and J. Mark Albertson, DMD.

At any race the unsung heroes are the volunteers who work tirelessly at numerous tasks to assure a good race experience. The Westfield Jaycees handed out the pizza and cookies. Girl Scouts handled the water stops. The Westfield Y brought a crew of volunteers to assist with many jobs. The Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce helped with course marshals. Many volunteers who already serve on the Downtown Westfield Corporation Board of Directors and Committees also assisted. Manny of Westfield Coastal brought his 1957 three-wheeled BMW and Vespa motorcycle for the race beginning and dressed as the Cosimo's chef.David Martone, DWC Chairman and proprietor of Classic Thyme, dressed as the
Ferraro's chef.

Zenobia was assisted by Beth Brenner, DWC Executive Assistant and
Naomi McElynn Executive Director of the Westfield Chamber of Commerce.
Cosimo's Restaurant & Pizzeria and Ferraro's made 550 pizzas for the night. Shop-Rite of Garwood, Xocolatz, and Stop & Shop provided the cookies. The Flower Zone provided the flowers for the female winners. TSS Maintenance provided the clean-up crew during the event. Michael Craig Band and Night Moves DJ provided entertainment. Trader Joe's provided water for the water stops. Brooks Crandall, Tiger Paw Images, and DWC Design Committee Chairperson Karrie Hanson took photographs. The Town of Westfield
provided the stage, garbage removal, chairs and barricades. The Westfield
Police Dept. handled traffic control and road closures during the event.
The Westfield Fire Dept. provided hose-down areas for the runners on the
course. Many Westfield businesses provided goodies for runners in
promotional products and offers.

By 8:15 traffic was flowing smoothly again on Elm Street as the town returned to normal on what was an incredible night.

Summertime Pizza Part 6

It has taken the Westfield Downtown 5K and Pizza Extravaganza only five years to go from an interesting fund raising idea that promoted health to the state’s top attended non-corporate road race, a fact that even surprises the normally ebullient Sherry Cronin, Executive Director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation (DWC).

“Six years running and the pizza's still hot. The event just keeps getting
better,” said Cronin.

After four years of steady growth the race exploded in its fifth rendition to include a record 1525 finishers, a nearly 20% increase over 2005.

The race has established a reputation and turnout that is the envy of many older and more established races. The event, which starts at 7 pm Wednesday at the corner of East Broad and Elm Streets, has shown phenomenal growth in its first five years.

“This event is successful because it is a healthy event on a fast and relatively flat course which allows runners at all experience levels to achieve their best race results. It also involves many people in the community: businesses, volunteers, organizations, and Town of Westfield departments,” said Cronin.

The event is organized by the Downtown Westfield Corporation(DWC) and was the brainchild of Alan DeRose, an avid runner and former Chairman of the DWC and Meg Mehorter, a former Executive Assistant.

“They are both runners and wanted to create a health related event that would
promote our vibrant downtown as well as our beautiful residential areas,”
said Sherry Cronin, Executive Director.

Needless to say, the race has been a tremendous boon to both Westfield and the DWC.
“The race is designed to profile Westfield, not only the downtown but also the
beautiful residential areas. It has also yielded a great benefit to the DWC
in building goodwill and awareness with our residents,” said Cronin

The event enjoys a wide and varied sponsorship list that is paced by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield that has returned once again to be a Gold Sponsor. Cronin is also pleased that over 75% of the sponsors are located Westfield’s Special Improvement District (the district which is managed by the Downtown Westfield Corporation). Bronze sponsors include: Lucky Brand Jeans,Verizon Fios, Lord and Taylor, Citibank, and Westfield Pediatric Dental Group and Rockn' Joes Coffeehouse and Bistro .

Contributing sponsors include: Rita's of Westfield, Needle Point Homes,
Qdoba Mexican Grill, The Town Bank, North Fork Bank, and Center for
Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Perla, and Stop and Shop. Supporting
sponsors include: Amper, Politniner and Mattia, Redco Engineering and

Construction, and J. Mark Albertson, DMD. Cronin also expects many local businesses to provide many giveaways and promotional items at the event.

In order to encourage more participation from local businesses in the
district, the DWC offered 15% discount on all sponsorship levels. The race is also going back to cotton shirts this year.

After a packed start on the main streets, the course winds its way through Mindowaskin Park before heading down Tuttle Parkway past Roosevelt School The course heads down Edgewood Avenue and the two Mile mark is on Effingham Place. The last mile is an uphill straightaway down Elm Street

However, the end of the race only signals the beginning of an entertaining and pallet satisfying evening. There will be a DJ and live music by the Michael Craig Band and lots and lots of pizza.

It will be a team effort of the downtown pizzerias and restaurants.
Westfield’s top running store, The Westfield Running Company has made its mark in many aspects of the race. The owner Gene Mitchell of Franklin Lakes in Bergen County has won three the last three men’s titles and is the course record holder. Mitchell had also finished second in 2002 and 2003.

Fourth last year was another Running Company member, Brian Harris of Clinton, who manages the Westfield store and should be among the leaders again this year.

“We recognize the importance of this race,” said Harris.
“Westfield is a very good running town and this is one of the most successful races around.”
Harris recently won the Cranford Firecracker Four Mile on July 4 for the second straight year and would not think of missing this race.

“This is a pretty easy race for me to enter. There is no other race closer to where I work,” said Harris.

“Our store is strategically located neat the beginning and end of the course, so it gives us the opportunity to meet with and help runners before and after the race,” added Harris of the store, located at 17 Elm Street.

For the sixth straight year the race production will be handled by Mark Zenobia, of On Your Mark Productions,” He does a terrific job ,” said Cronin.

The first 600 registered runners will receive embroidered caps and the first 1800 get T-shirts The pre-registration fee is $20 and is $25 the day of the race. In addition, runners will have plenty of pizza to eat-no matter how long the race takes them

Harris repeats at "cool" Firecracker

For Independence Day 2007, the weather gods served up conditions more conducive to running than swimming which was the perfect recipe for Firecracker 4 Mile Race Director Mike Rokicki and defending champion Brian Harris. Temperatures in the high 60’s produced a large amount of post registration race day entrants that swelled the overall finishers 20 percent over 2006 totals for the race, which celebrated its 28th anniversary at Nomahegan Park in Cranford. The cool conditions also pleased Harris, who easily defended his title running 20:36, 34 seconds faster than his 2006 time

“Although we haven’t counted everything yet, it appears that the race was a huge success in every way possible,” said Rokicki.

“It was very helpful that the rain held off and with the cool records many people decided to run at the last minute.”

In a pre-race interview Harris was hopeful that the temperature would not exceed 70 degrees, an unlikely occurrence for a race usually conducted in hot and sultry conditions. But on cloudy breezy morning, Harris broke away from field just past the one mile mark and was never seriously threatened

Harris was able to put together consistent mile splits of 5:05,5:06 and 5:08 before finishing in 5:17 on the final mile which contains a multitude of turns and also includes a footbridge.

“The key to winning this race is getting a lead at three miles because it is very hard for the trailing runners to see the leader because of all the turns ” said Harris, who had not raced seriously since running 2:32.49 at this year's Boston Marathon.

“I was very pleasantly surprised to run as well as I did. The strength I built up training for Boston has helped me maintain my fitness over the last few months. Obviously this was great weather for me to run in. I was not in the shape I was in a year ago but I ran faster,” said Harris, who did not take advantage of several water stops during the race.

Holding on for second place was four-time winner Budd Coates of Rodale Press, who has made a tradition of traveling over 70 miles from Emmaus, PA to run the race.

“I originally came here in the early 90’s because they offered prize money but now I just come here because it’s a fantastic race and a great way to start the holiday,” said Coates, who won the master’s championship and has run as fast as 18:27 on the course.

Coates, who turned 50 in April, also won the parent-daughter competition, teaming with his 14-year-old daughter Kelsey, who ran 27:42.

“It is nice that the race has all these different categories that give you a chance to combine with your children,” added Coates.

Kevin Brown, a star distance runner at Cranford, who graduated in 2006,was the first town finisher, winding up eighth in 21:51. Brown, who just completed his freshman season at Yale, has fought through injuries and now feels like he his rounding into shape for this fall.

“I have been running this race since I was small and enjoy the chance to run a race through my hometown,” said Brown.

Kevin Mahoney, a 2005 graduate, was second Cranford finisher, 16th overall.
The women’s winner was Sarah Muhlbradt 29 of Piermont, NY who ran 23:37. The first Cranford woman to finish was Lauren Krause Garbac, 36 who ran 27:19.

Jim Colvin, 58 was the first Westfield finisher in 24:30 and Mark Carow, 48 (25:19) was first Scotch Plains finisher. Jim Lambert, 40 (27:03) led the Fanwood finishers.

Former Race Director Art Bilenker, a Jaycee and race benefactor once again held court after the race and gave out awards to runners who could answer trivia questions, had the strangest jobs and had the nicest biceps among other things.

“This is nice day for the community. It’s a good day for everyone,” said Bilenker, a dentist in Cranford.

After a frenzied start early in the day when he seemed to be holding three conversations at once, Rokicki settled in and after the race could enjoy what was another successful race.

“I hope to do this for many years. Once you get through the first one, each year gets a lot easier,” said Rokicki.

24 years of Tuesday Summer races

Next Tuesday July 10th will be a major milestone for the Raritan Valley Road Runners as they present their 100th race in their Tuesday night summer series which spans an incredible 24 years.

On May 22, 1984, Club President Allen Paul's vision of a series of competitive but fun summer races was born. Mike Geraltowski and RVRR's current president Gene Gugliotta placed 1st and 2nd place in that race, and both have pledged to return on Tuesday, 24 summers later, to "defend their titles". Kristin Stout, winner of the 1st 1 mile run at age 10, has also agreed to return, this time to run the 5K. Kristin, recently back from Iraq, was surprised at her 6:19 time in 1984. "I would have felt less sorry for my fellow platoon members during their 1 mile training run if I had remembered that I ran 6:19 as a 10 year old".

Over the years, the RVRR Summer Series has changed its course, its location, and the runners have aged (a little). But ask anyone of the 300+ competitors we average in a summer, the tradition of competition and fun remains.

For the 100th race, race director Doug Brown plans some special and exciting events. There will be plenty of food, lots of prizes, and more special guests. The race commences from its current location, Buccleuch Park across from St Peters Hospital in New Brunswick. Registration starts at 6pm with the race at 7pm. There is also a Kids Series with races starting promptly at 6 pm.