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Sports

Girls Cross Country Takes Third at State Sectionals

Boys cross country comes in fifth

ELIZABETH, N.J.—It was a brisk autumn day at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth for the State Sectional Cross Country meet.  Conference and county champions, the Summit girls went into the race with high hopes.

Summit senior co-captain, Katie Watson, led her team to a sold third-place finish.  Watson was 8th overall with a time of 20:34.  This was Watson’s first race back after missing most of the season due to an injury.

“It was cold…I was shaking,” said Watson.  “I was hoping to break 20:00 because the last time I ran here I ran 20:02, but…”  She trailed off shaking her head.  After a second she smiled though, “I placed, which is great.  I mean, I like medals!”

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Kearley Olcott, the Hilltopper’s other captain finished 12th overall with a time of 20:43.  It has been a rough season for the Summit captains, all of whom are just coming back from injuries.

“All captains have been hurt this season,” said Olcott.  “We’ve all been hurt and sick for the past month.  Most of the team the past month and a half has been freshman.  We’ve had five or six really step up!”

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Isabella Yozzi, Aleixa Diaz and Hannah Rose took on the race as a pack.  The trio came in 18th, 20th and 22nd respectively.

 “We’ve been doing it the last few races I think,” smiled Diaz.  “It helps you attack other individuals when you’re in a group.  It gives you the mentality, ‘oh we can take them, we can take them.’”

Yozzi agreed, “We don’t really plan it, we just kind of stick together.”

Though it may not have been the day the Hilltoppers were hoping for, it was still a good showing, especially for many of them just coming back for the first time.

“They worked very hard,” said Coach Dave Field.  “We obviously didn’t have the greatest race today.  Today just wasn’t our day.  It’s disappointing, but we have another race next week to prepare for.”  Coach Field added, “When you lose three of your top four runners and you still manage to win a conference and a county championship that speaks volumes about the future.”

The Hilltopper boys took to the course less than an hour later.  Captain Thomas Chin came in second overall with a time of 16:57 in a tight race for first, and led his team to a fifth place finish.

 “I felt pretty good up until I hit the track and then the guy just creeped back up on me,” said Chin.  “It’s been a pretty good season.  We’ve done pretty well as a team and I’ve been doing pretty well individually

Junior captain Jesse Taylor came in 30th overall with a time of 18:24.  He did exactly what he planned to do, and said he was happy with the team.

“We all maintained a basic pack for two through four which is pretty good,” said Taylor.  “Our coach tells us to go out as a pack because if you keep the pack together you can displace and win a lot less points which is a great advantage.”

Both the boys’ and the girls’ teams will spend the week getting ready to move on to the state group meet in Holmdel next weekend.  Both hope to qualify as teams for the Meet of Champions.

Girls’ Results- Team: 3rd-66 points

8. Katie Watson- 20:34

11. Nicola Hallenborg- 20:43

12. Kearsley Olcott- 21:02

18. Isabella Yozzi- 21:25

20. Aleixa Diaz- 21:27

22. Hannah Rose- 21:27

32. Emily Richards- 22:19

 

Boys’ Results-5th-114 points

2. Thomas Chin- 16:57

26. Steven Smolyn- 18:15

30. Jesse Taylor- 18:24

31. Matt Espy- 18:24

33. Christos Hantzaras- 18:32

55. Andrew Mandelbaum- 19:30

57. Daniel Gunther- 19:41

 

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