SETTING THE PACE: Princeton High boys’ cross country runner Saboor Qureshi heads to the finish line at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) Championship at Thompson Park. Senior Qureshi placed third individually to help PHS finish first in the team standings as they edged runner-up WW/P-North 47-51. The Tigers girls also took first at the meet, producing a dominant 32-75 win over runner-up WW-P North. The Tiger runners are next in action when they compete in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet on November 1 at Thompson Park. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Justin Feil
This cross country season has already exceeded anything that Saboor Qureshi expected.
A senior who gave up soccer to join the Princeton High boys’ cross country team, Qureshi’s addition has given the squad a low-scoring frontrunner who helped lift coach Jim Smirk’s Tigers to the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) Championship last Thursday at Thompson Park.
“It’s just a testament to our work ethic,” said Qureshi. “It’s a testament to Smirk’s training philosophy as a whole, training vanilla. We do the best work possible. We do simple work every day, day in, day out. We work on our stretching. We work on mobility. We work on our speed. We work on our endurance. And that just shows how much that we’ve been working, how much that piles up. And it just shows that the results will come from that training.”
Qureshi held off a pair of challengers to take third place individually. His 16:26.69 clocking over the 5,000-meter course was less than two seconds ahead of Finnegan Curley of Hopewell Valley and John O’Leary of Allentown, but it was critical in a race so closely decided. PHS edged WW/P-North, which had the race’s top two finishers, 47-51, thanks to Qureshi’s efforts up front coupled with courageous efforts from the Tigers’ next pack and a breakthrough performance from sophomore Aleric Deess.
“As a runner, you always have to be confident,” said Qureshi. “You always have to trust yourself. You always have to put yourself first. The girls being a clear favorite, it’s a plus. But for the guys, it’s just we had to believe in ourselves. We knew that a lot of websites, we were looking around and they were saying, North had the advantage. But we just knew we had to trust our training. We had to develop our team identity. And I think we found that on the guys’ side. And that team identity is just determination through adversity and we’re able to put out results and put out the times that we want.”
PHS kept their pack bunched together with sophomore Lachlan Arnold, senior Braedyn Capone and junior Finn Wedmid finishing seventh (16:49.48), eighth (16:49.48) and ninth (16:51.74), respectively, all before WW-P North’s third finisher. North had a strong pack as well that put their fifth runner in 19th, but that was negated by Deess, who produced a 17:14.81 time — almost 30 seconds better than his time at Thompson 12 days earlier — for 20th place and PHS’ fifth finisher to seal their victory and give them momentum heading into the state sectional championships this coming Saturday.
“Amazing, amazing race from him,” said Qureshi. “And just the whole pack of guys in front of him, Finn, Lachy, and Braedyn, they just did amazing to secure those spots that we need to win those points.”
The PHS girls also won the CVC title. The Tigers lived up to their role as the heavy favorite by putting together a dominant 32-75 win over runner-up WW-P North. Their first five scoring runners all placed in the top 13. Senior Kajol Karra was second overall in 18:51.99, five seconds ahead of junior teammate Grace Hegedus who was third. Junior Eowyn Deess took sixth in 19:47.67, 10 seconds ahead of junior Phoenix Roth who was eighth. Both broke 20 minutes. Sophomore Rosemary Warren rounded out the scoring in 13th in 20:33. To top off everything, PHS also won both JV CVC Championships last Saturday.
“I’m super proud of where the program’s gone to, but really it comes down to these kids just really investing in each other and doing the work,” said Smirk. “It’s nice to see Saboor come over from soccer because his experience with the track program was a really positive one for him, so he came over to cross country and that kind of was a little extra spark for us this year. And then the guys have really come around. These are guys who, their freshman, sophomore year, I don’t think anybody really talked too much about these guys.”
The Princeton boys were fourth at last year’s CVC Championships meet, and none of their runners finished better than 10th. They made significant jumps among the returning runners, and then picked up Qureshi, who has been a significant contributor for the Tiger track teams, mostly in the 800 and 1,600 meters. He decided at the end of last winter to make the move to cross country for his final high school year.
“It’s very backwards actually,” said Qureshi. “A lot of people quit cross country senior year, but actually going into high school, that was one of my main decisions to either do my original sport was soccer, so I came from soccer, and it was either soccer or cross country, and I chose soccer. But over time, as I did track, I did winter and spring track, I was just with the team more. I fell in love with the team and the connections that we had, the atmosphere that was built, the mentality that we had. It was just amazing to see, and really I knew that I could improve my track times, especially doing cross country, so I said, I might as well go for it.”
It didn’t take anyone talking him into it. Qureshi was confident that training with the cross country team could pay dividends. It has helped him develop further as a runner, and improved the Tigers as a team. His times have been even faster than anticipated, and he has handled the increase in mileage that comes with cross country after a full summer of solid training.
“I think the other part of his contribution is more than just how fast he’s going,” said Smirk. “He’s really integrated himself really well with the team and I think that is a holdover from his time in track and field as well. But he’s really embraced kind of the culture of cross country and the team identity of cross country. And I think he’s really thriving with this idea that you’re not just out there kind of by yourself trying to run personal best, but there’s this kind of whole team dynamic to it that really has a different flavor than track and field.”
One big difference is that the cross country courses are all unique, not a familiar 400-meter track. Learning them all has been one challenge for Qureshi. It’s almost as though he is a freshman in that way.
“It’s a very interesting dynamic because sometimes I will be talking to some sophomores or even some juniors and they’ll be coaching me on the course and telling me how it is,” said Qureshi. “And it’s just kind of interesting to see how that dynamic works. But it’s definitely been a little rough of a transition.”
Qureshi may have second guessed some turns through the season, but he made a splash from the first race. He was second overall at the Jerry Hart Cross Country Invitational, nearly breaking 16 minutes in his first high school competition. He has a personal record of 15:55.04 from the CVC Divisional XC Championships, and is hoping for faster times down the stretch as the state meets kick up.
“All of my results that I’ve had this year are a bit of a surprise to anyone, even me,” said Qureshi. “But I definitely knew with the work I was putting over the summer, I was very serious about it. I took my training very seriously. I put in the miles, I put in the time, set aside some time to stretch, set aside time to eat well, and I just knew that I would be able to race well if I did those things consistently over the summer.”
He has taken lessons learned over the track season and adapted them to his first season of cross country. And then he has found what works for him on the diverse cross country courses.
“I knew this from track, but it’s really just a mental sport,” said Qureshi. “You have to get your mentality right, and you have to get your mind right before the race. For me, that comes from a routine, that comes from doing the right stretches, that comes from hydrating correctly, and that gets me confident for the race and so that I can perform well for that. But specifically during the race, I’ve learned that I really thrive when I hit the downhills hard. And when I hit the downhills hard, I’m able to go very fast and create some separation between me and some other runners. So I thrive on that.”
The Tigers return to a familiar place — Thompson Park — where they face another big challenge when they race there on November 1 in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet. The results there determine who advances to the Group 4 state meet.
“We know Group 4 is tough, especially from track,” said Qureshi. “But I’m just excited to see how we can perform as a team, how I can perform individually facing some of those tough guys because I’ve only had a couple opportunities up until now to race some really fast guys. So I’m just kind of wondering what I can do, how I can hang, and how the team can perform as a whole.”
The Tigers are coming off a confidence building CVC title. PHS went toe to toe with a strong WW-P North team and pulled out the win.
“Clearly it meant a lot to the guys,” said Qureshi. “We were all extremely happy after that race. We were celebrating. We actually even poured water on Coach Smirk. I don’t know if he enjoyed that one a lot. But we were very happy because as a guys team, we were still trying to find our identity. We were trying to find what our purpose was, and I think we found it during that race.”
It’s the latest triumph for Qureshi and the PHS boys. He has been a big part of their emergence in his first season. It has him looking forward to running in college to see if he can continue his success in his new endeavor.
“I would be lying if I said the season has not exceeded my expectations completely,” said Qureshi. “I’m just thrilled with how everyone has performed and obviously including myself. But just to win a title as a team, it’s just unbelievable really as a first year doing this. So it’s just exceeding my expectations.”