FRONTRUNNERS: Princeton High girls’ cross country runners, Lou Mialhe, left, and Chloe Taylor compete in a recent race. Last Saturday at the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet, senior Mialhe placed ninth individually and sophomore Taylor took 10th to help PHS finish fifth in the team standings and secure the last qualifying spot for the upcoming state Group 4 meet. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the Princeton High girls’ cross county team competed at the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet last Saturday, its frontrunners did their job.

Senior Lou Mialhe placed ninth, covering the 5-kilometer course at Thompson Park in Jamesburg in 19:40.44 while sophomore Chloe Taylor placed 10th on 19:44.26.

But it was an unheralded performer, junior Annefleur Hartmanshenn, who outdid herself and made the difference, taking 24th as PHS finished fifth in the team standings to secure the last qualifying spot for the upcoming state Group 4 meet. Hillsborough placed first with WW/P-S taking second.

PHS head coach Jim Smirk tipped his hat to Hartmanshenn’s inspiring effort.

“Annefleur is a kid who in her freshman year was a rank and file kid; she worked her way into a varsity position,” said Smirk, whose team has 112 points with Freehold just behind at 118.

“She was really the big thing that got us through on Saturday. She was in 31st place with a little under a mile left and she moved up to 24th. She was under a ton of pressure in the last mile. Ultimately, we passed Freehold because she passed their fifth, fourth, and third runners in that last mile. Not only did she move up seven spots but she added three additional points onto Freehold.”

In Smirk’s view, Hartmanshenn personifies the persistence that can lead to cross country success.

“It is good, solid consistent work, it wasn’t just in a season, it was year after year,” added Smirk.

“She really did the yeoman’s work, nitty gritty in the trenches to get it done every day and get better every day. She is the kind of kid you want to held up and and say look it doesn’t really matter where you start, it is what you are willing to do on a daily basis that makes it happen.”

The Little Tigers got some good work at the sectional meet from junior Izzy Trenholm, who placed 16th in a time of 20:07.92.

“Izzy has had two postseasons in her career; in her freshman year she broke her elbow and last year she had a little sickness coming into the end of the season,” said Smirk.

“She is finally putting together a complete season so we want to see her get on board with racing that is good and strong at the end of the season. She made a very good move this weekend to do that.”

At the front of the PHS pack, Mialhe and Taylor complemented each other with their tactical moves.

“Lou likes to run a little bit more aggressively early on and Chloe likes to come on a little bit later and I think they both had their advantage,” said Smirk.

“I think Chloe maybe put together a little more complete race from start to finish but in a lot of ways Lou set a front edge for us, a target. She did more of the veteran work and I think Chloe did a little more of the younger runner work, being aggressive late and doing a nice job there.”

Another Little Tiger who did nicely was junior Jackie Patterson, the 53rd place finisher.

“She is a kid with a lot of talent, cross country is a stretch for her,” said Smirk.

“Late in the season, she started to gain a little more confidence. We wanted to give her a shot and it paid off for us. She came in fifth for us and filled that back edge for us. We squeaked through.”

Having made it to the Group 4 meet on November 14 at Holmdel, Smirk is looking for his runners to build on their effort at the sectional.

“I think it is a little more of the same; we want our middle to run a little bit better,” said Smirk.

“We think both Izzy and Annefleur have more to give; we want them to explore that a little more. We had some questions about the 5, 6, and 7 spots for us and I think they figured that out a little bit. We moved forward there a little bit.”