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.

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.

Cranford Girls 2007 XC MVC

For the most part the names and faces have changed for the Cranford High School girls cross country team, but even with the school’s most talented senior class now on college campuses, a new group of girls is serving notice that the Cougars should not be overlooked.

With four freshmen among their top six, the Cougars just missed edging out favored Arthur L Johnson High School at last week’s Mountain Valley Conference championship held at Warinanco Park. The Crusaders took the top two places in the race to defeat Cranford 33-39 but Coach Tim Styler saw much to be pleased about.

“We came into the season with two girls returning from last year's championship squad and we expected a run from A.L. Johnson. They were second to us last year and returned most of their squad. They ran very well at the conference race this year and were able to sneak two girls in front of our top three,” said Styler. Earlier in the season Johnson had edged the Cougars by two points in a dual meet.

Junior Joy Hanke, one of the team’s two returning runners, finished third in 20:52.20, just ahead of freshman Alisa Commerato fourth in 20:57.99 and the team’s other veteran, senior Erin Hannen fifth in 21:05.73

In only her first year of cross-country, Commerato has already turned heads with her strong consistent runs. “Alisa is finally getting into the habit of getting out faster. Alisa has natural speed and we are seeing steady improvement out of her. She and the other freshman have come along nicely this season and have really been a nice surprise for us,” said Styler,

Freshman twins Bridget and Veronica Miller finished ninth and 18^th respectively and freshman Julia Lagone was 19^th “The Miller twins, Bridget and Ronnie are rounding out our top five. They are getting stronger as the season progresses. Both have taken the
challenge of running with the older girls and push themselves in races

to stay within striking distance of the other girls,” added Styler, who is pleased the way that his veterans have led the youngsters. Also competing in the junior varsity race were juniors Meagan Monahan and Polly Powasnik

“Erin has stepped into the role of captain for our team. This is an honor that we do not hand out. She is always on the phone with the girls and organizing the girls for runs and keeping the group together, which is key to developing a strong team. She trains hard and along with Joy is an example for the other girls and we have seen a lot of progress from them,” said Styler

The Cougars now set their sights on attempting to win their third consecutive county title next Wednesday at Warinanco Park. Last year’s favorite, Summit, is considered the front-runner again this year but Styler’s rapidly improving team should not be counted out.

“These girls are showing an ability to rise to each challenge and I expect them to step up during the next championship meets ahead of us ,” said Styler.

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2007 Cranford Boys XC MVC

At the Mountain Valley Conference (MVC) meet last Tuesday Cranford sophomore William Smith ran 17:33.31, the third fastest overall time. The only drawback for the Cougars was that it happened in the Junior Varsity race where Smith finished more than two minutes ahead of the second place runner. While coach Tim Styler noted that Smith would not have made a difference in the varsity race, he was pleasantly surprised that his prodigy looks ready to make a solid Cougar team that much stronger for the championship races coming up.

Smith was left off the varsity seven because he had missed most of the season with a lingering viral infection and had been unable to run under 20 minutes in practice.

“A few days before the race he was mentioning how he was feeling pretty good

and wanted to run varsity at the conference meet, however I couldn't pull one of our other seven runners out of the varsity lineup. So we had Will run the JV race hoping that he would get his confidence back and challenge for a spot in the top seven,” said Styler who added.

“ Will is talented and we expect him to drop his time this fall. His third place finish overall would not have changed the varsity team standings. We would have still finished third,” said Styler.

“Our other seven guys have been running well all season and steadily dropping their personal bests,” said Styler.

With Smith sidelined, fellow sophomore Roy Colicchio has stepped up to become the team leader, followed closely by senior captain Steven Phillips.

Colicchio ran 18:03.44 (5:48.8 per mile) to lead the team in eighth place. Phillips followed in 11^th in 18:19.555:54).

“These two are always leading the workouts and runs and along with Will should be a good nucleus moving forward,” said Styler, who envisioned 2007 as a bit of a rebuilding season due to the graduation of one of Cranford’s greatest all time runners, Joe McKenney as well as solid performers Kevin Boyle and Eddie Baker.

“We had a very talented senior class last year but you always have to replace good people,” said Styler who noted that McKenney has continued his outstanding running at New York University, who is currently ranked second in the country.

But Styler has been pleasantly surprised by the overall balance that his team has shown.” We’ve had great improvement from our young team, Sophomore John Powasnik is becoming a steady fourth runner and freshman Michael Cassidy has run in the mid 18s so far and is very determined to be among the best freshman in our school history books,” said Styler.

Juniors Tyler Schott and Miguel Caulfield have also shown improvement and rounded out the top seven along with senior Billy Albert. With Smith healthy, it makes for eight runners battling for the top seven.

“We have great competition with these guys battling for spots and setting personal bests every race,” said Styler.

Powasnik was 14^th in 18:35.04 (5:58.9), followed by Cassidy 17^th in 18:42.39(6:01.3) and Schott completed the scoring in 20^th in 19:00.83(6:07.2). Caulfield was 22^nd in 19:05.88 Albert was 27^th in 19:44.16.

In addition to Smith, three other Cougars competed in the junior varsity race.

Seniors Jacob Skelcy, Max Lasky and Mark Kuczynski ran 21:01.56, 21:57.35 and 22:25.60 respectively.

“The competition is great for the team and will certainly lead us to some good
results in the upcoming races. “