The guys put in another great team effort on Saturday with a 2nd place showing (by two points) at the Shore Coaches Invitational, a sort-of mid-year assessment that showed the squad is ready to compete in Parochial A. Two sophomores got their first taste of varsity and put in decent performances for their first time racing Holmdel’s course. Two seniors, including captain Peter Gallagher, had the SATs to conquer and ran in the late, 5:15PM Open Race notching impressive results, most notably Chris Booth’s Holmdel PR of 18:14.
Captain Neil MacFarlane led the way for PVI falling victim to a cramp late in the race but still finishing admirably and registering his own Holmdel PR. His frustrations post-race clearly showed he expected no worse than sub-17 minutes. Plenty of races left to get that barrier taken care of. The pack behind him seems to get stronger each week, especially when you realize that each one of these guys will be back next year. A strong last mile, led by Mike Patterson, allowed the pack to overcome a slow start to the race. Patterson ran as 2nd man for the second week in a row, an incredible transformation for a kid that put in a lot work this summer. Dan Marino and Adam Verna rounded out the top five. It was Verna, however, that established the early position and though he paid for it in the last mile of the race, he continues to close the gap. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’ll soon pop for the junior.
Regardless of being two points out of first, the guys were happy to return home with medals and a firm idea of where they stand as a team. The depth that continues to build on this team is a hugely positive sign and one that could really set this team apart from others in the past.
Varsity ‘D’ Race (2nd out of 23 teams)
7. MacFarlane 17:17 (-:04, Holmdel PR)
23. Patterson 17:52 (-2:33, Holmdel PR)
25. Balzer 17:57 (-:26, Holmdel PR, #23 on Sophomore list for Holmdel)
30. Marino 18:03 (-:13, Holmdel PR)
34. Verna 18:07
72. Durante-Koller 18:52
84. Cleary 19:07
JV ‘C’ Race (7th out of 16 teams)
26. Rizzo 19:38
31. Boldurian 19:50
39. Feeney 20:04
55. A. Munns 20:28 (-:15, Holmdel PR)
76. Lang 20:58
Frosh Race
50. Rottler-Gurley 13:15
84. Schmidt 14:02
107. P. Munns 14:36
162. Packi 16:18
Open Race
12. Booth 18:14 (-:36, Holmdel PR)
17. Gallagher 18:26 (-:11, Holmdel PR)
Big things to come this week! Wednesday brings a divisional showdown against a strong Bishop Eustace squad and Camden Catholic. It will be the first of at least three meetings against our divisional rivals. After that, it’s the South Jersey Open at the weekend and the guys’ long-awaited first glance at a ‘flat” course.
A big congrats to the girls team for their 5th place finish. Led by freshman Monica Lee and senior Sara Gilson, they’re starting to see some encouraging results.
Pictures after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
