After Encouraging 3rd Place Finish at Sectionals, PHS Boys’ Cross Country Primed for Group Meet
PACK MENTALITY: Princeton High boys’ cross country runners take off at the start of the county meet last month at Thompson Park in Jamesburg. Last Saturday, PHS returned to Thompson Park for the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet and took third in the team standings to earn a spot in the upcoming state Group 4 meet at Holmdel. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
After finishing second in the county meet at Thompson Park in Jamesburg in late October, the Princeton High boys’ cross country team posted slower times on the course last Saturday in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet.
“We were expecting a lightning fast race so when the race ended, we were actually kind of disappointed by our time,” said PHS head coach Mark Shelley.
“The first mile was very slow by the standards of the competition; I think there was some jockeying going on. We were 15 seconds off what our average was at the county meet (16:50 versus 16:35).”
Shelley, though, was not disappointed by his team’s result as it took third, with 126 points, putting it just behind South Brunswick (122) and champion Old Bridge (43). Junior Alex Roth led the way for PHS, taking eighth in a time of 16:13.70 over the 5-kilometer course with sophomore Will Hare next in 18th at 16:41.48.
“Old Bridge and South Brunswick, who are very, very good, knew they were going to qualify anyway so they didn’t feel the need to exert huge amounts on energy,” said Shelley, noting that the runners were slowed by the muddy conditions in the park.
“Overall, we basically ran the same average as South Brunswick and we were closer to them than we have been all year. We beat South (WW/P-S) for a third time. We beat Hunterdon Central, they were seventh and they had been ranked higher than us all year. Montgomery and Hillsborough are always very, very good and we beat them. If we don’t have our best day and we can still be close to front and not get caught by these other people, that says a lot about what we have been doing.
In Shelley’s view, the team’s finish exceeded his expectations coming into the fall.
“At the beginning of the season when we got moved up to Group 4, I wasn’t sure we would get out of the sectional, looking at everybody and who they had back,” said Shelley.
“I knew we had a chance to have a good year but at the same time there are things you can’t predict.”
Sophomore Nick Delaney had a very good day at the sectional, taking 30th in 17:01.07 as the third Little Tiger to cross the finish line.
“Nick Delaney was sixth or seventh all year and he ran third, that is the essence of a team sport,” said Shelley.
“He broke his foot last spring so he was not able to run all summer. It is frustrating for him, he feels like he is a little bit behind the guys. He has always shown a real tenacious mentality and he had two tremendous workouts the last two weeks. Yesterday before the race, I pulled him aside and told him that he shouldn’t settle for being sixth or seventh with the workouts he had been doing. He said ‘Thanks coach, I really appreciate that, I am planning to score today.’”
The team’s top scorer, Roth, produced a solid eighth place finish even though he didn’t have his best day.
“Alex has been very consistent in his performances, yesterday was a day where he would probably tell you that he was not happy,” said Shelley.
“He was in second and third place in the beginning of the race but didn’t have a good second half of the race. He finished eighth and he had beaten several of those people ahead of him before.”
Hare produced another superb race, cementing his status as the squad’s No. 2 runner.
“He has really separated himself from the other group,” said Shelley.
“Depending on what happens, we may let him do some more training with Alex and get him a little closer. Clearly, he has emerged as a really, really gifted runner. He is so relaxed about everything. He was more worried about the Clemson football game than the race. One of the things about running is that you want to be focused but you don’t want to be overly uptight. He certainly is not overly uptight.
Shelley is expecting tight competition at the Group 4 meet this Saturday at Holmdel.
“I think, in the global scheme of things, you look at Group 4 and it is amazingly difficult,” said Shelley.
“Not only do you have the teams that qualified yesterday in the Central, you have Cherry Hill East, you have Cherokee, and others like Morristown and Millburn. The way we look at it, there are eight or nine excellent, excellent cross country teams in the meet. The top three automatically qualify for MOC (Meet of Champions) but there are two wild cards total and they almost certainly will come out of our group. So our goal would be the top five. If we can do that, it would be an incredible achievement. There are probably five or six teams fighting for two spots.”
As PHS prepares for that battle, Shelley will be emphasizing process, not result.
“We will focus on what we can control at this point, you have to trust your training and trust your teammates,” said Shelley.
“We will be smart. We don’t talk about winning championships, we talk about running our race. We will try to pick out competitors who we think will be in a good position for us to challenge. It is more to do with teams we haven’t seen.”