Nothing says ‘’cross country” better than an infamous, grueling hill in the middle of a 3.1-mile race. The Phillipsburg Athletic Complex is arguably home to the most challenging cross-country course in the entirety of New Jersey. Teams from the western and central regions of the state flocked to the home of the Stateliners, the annual hosts of the meet, on Tuesday, October 14th. The cool, cloudy conditions set the stage for fast times and shocking performances.
The Phillipsburg Boys delivered a fulfilling fourth-place finish in the team scoring. Junior Anthony Pettinelli was the top Stateliner finisher, with a time of 17:10.50 and a thirteenth-place finish in the Varsity race.
“Getting out strong is definitely key in this race. Especially at Skylands, it’s a bigger race than [the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Cross Country Championship]; there are more teams and more people, so you just want to get a good start,” Pettinelli remarked. “I thought we ran pretty well. We’ve got the two freshmen–Conor and Noah. Austin and Ryan are good senior captains, leaders. We’ve got our inbetween with me, Will, and Chris. We’ve got the experience and we’ve also got the rookies. I think it is just a good mix and once we start getting everyone to run together, we will be one of those top teams.”
Freshman Noah Davis finished in fourteenth place at 17:19.10.
“I’ve run [the Phillipsburg Cross Country Course] a few times before, but not really racing it. I think just regularly training with the team and coaches got me ready for this race,” Davis shared. “What I’ve learned that works is making sure you have energy at the top of the hill because the race isn’t won on the hill. So, making sure you have energy at the top to actually hit the downhill is very smart to do, in my opinion.”
Senior Austin Olexa, a veteran of the course, was pleased with his time of 17:28.30. He placed twenty-second overall in the Varsity race.
“I ran really well today. I dropped twenty-nine seconds from what I did two years ago. I didn’t run well at this meet last year because I sprained my ankle,” Olexa mentioned. “I didn’t get off to the start I wanted to–I got boxed in. I nearly got pushed and fell. But I was able to get back up there with that top group of kids that first mile, and I hung with them. I really tried to push it up the hill.”
“I knew I could run really well today. I knew I could outrun a bunch of kids that I normally haven’t been able to outrun, because I know this course more than a lot of the kids on these other really good teams.”
The next four Stateliners crossed the finish line closely together in an effective pack. Freshman Conor Tennant placed thirty-seventh in a time of 18:02.30. Senior Ryan Pugsley finished in forty-first place in 18:06.70. Junior Christopher McGuinness ran an 18:07.40 to secure forty-second place. A forty-third palace finish in 18:08.10 from Sophomore William Taylor rounded up the Phillipsburg charge.
“[The Phillipsburg Cross Country Course] is definitely difficult, but at the same time it is very fair,” commented William Hurst, the head coach of the Stateliner boys’ team. “There are just as many downs as there are ups; there are a lot of long, straight stretches. Obviously, the hill is very difficult. I think that if you break down the hill like we do, into three or four different segments, and you just realize that you’re not going to win or lose the race on that hill, and you go into it with a good attitude that it’s a 3.1-mile race, you can’t let 400 meters affect you, and you’ll be fine.”
“We finished fourth as a team, but our goal coming in was also to win our division, which they did. So, I’m very proud of the way they ran. I still don’t think we have run our best yet. Our ultimate goal is November 1st, to get to the Group meet from Sectionals.”
The Stateliner girls kept the same goal in mind as they braved their home course against a field of 142 runners. Freshman Olivia Auriema led the team with her twenty-third-place finish at 21:04.90.
“I wanted to place well because it’s our home meet. I especially wanted to beat my [time] from Holmdel, which was 21:32. I’m very happy that I was able to knock off about twenty-eight seconds,” Auriema acknowledged. “At the beginning [of the race] I felt really good. Then, when I got up the big hill and went down, I started to feel it, but I still wanted to push through it and get to the finish. I think next week’s goal is to knock off the four to six seconds to get a sub-twenty [-minute time].”
Sophomore Abigail Carrig was the second ‘Liner to cross the line in a thirty-fourth-place finish with a time of 21:52.70.
“The hill just takes a lot of people out mentally. Today wasn’t my best race, so I’m proud that I still finished it and got through it with a decent time,” Carrig noted. “Skylands is our conference meet, so it’s mostly teams from our area. We see some of them at invitationals, but not a lot, so it just kind of reflects on how we place within our area. The team did really well today. This was a very big meet; we were trying to place well as a team. I’m really happy that everyone was close in time together today.”
Freshman Emmery McDarby handled her first time racing on her home course like an expert. She ran a time of 23:07.20 to finish in sixty-first place.
“I was very proud of my race and my teammates, because I feel like we came in here very trained for [today], and everyone [ran] to the best of their abilities. I felt like we were really prepared by our coaches because in the summer, we would run on this course a lot. I was really paying attention to the small details of the hills,” McDarby recalled. “I feel really proud of my results, and I felt like I really pushed myself, so I am very excited to see how the next meets go.”
The remainder of the Varsity runners put up impressive times on the daunting course. Emily Bellfy, another freshman on the squad, finished in sixty-third place with her time of 23:09.20. Senior Captain Emily Tennant ran a 23:16.00 to secure sixty-eighth place. Sophomores Alana Palos and Quinn Foschetti finished ninety-eighth in 26:12.10 and 104th in 26:50.60, respectively.
The Stateliners are looking promising as they enter their championship season. Both teams will put their training to the test at the Phillipsburg Athletic Complex on Thursday, October 23, to host the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Cross Country Championship.
