On Nov. 1 the cross country team competed in the meet they worked toward for all season, the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 Sectionals. Both the boys and the girls team placed 2nd, a result that was relatively disappointing and did not reflect the work of the teams this season.
Having faced injuries and illnesses throughout the fall, the teams had to overcome many barriers throughout the last few months, but ultimately sectionals were no different.
Junior Anna Youssef, the girls’ team top runner, faced a detrimental stress reaction the week of sectionals taking her out of their lineup. This led less experienced runners to have to step up including sophomore Oriana Soloway who became Westfield’s top runner following Youseff’s injury.
Despite it being her first year on varsity, Soloway had a standout performance. She placed 6th overall, running a time of 19:39 and being the only Blue Devil to medal. Soloway said, “With Anna not being able to race, [that] was definitely harder for everybody, but we all persevered and tried to make the best of it, and I think everybody put their best foot forward and gave their best effort to make up for that loss.”
Many other rookies and less experienced varsity runners had to step up for the girls. Junior Evelyn Charles placed 18th (20:41), sophomore Natalie Salzano placed 20th (20:54), senior Claire Sewald took 23rd (21:01) and to round out the top 5 scorers, sophomore Abigail Drennan placed 26th (21:09).
Girls head coach Joseph Berardi said, “Overall the team lost by a little bit more than I thought we would. I thought the gap would be a little bit closer, but we had some really good performances, so I’m happy with the girls that competed and ran hard.”
Ultimately the girls scored 89 points, securing them second place behind Bridgewater-Raritan High School, who won the sectional title.
Looking forward to the boys team, they took second place, losing their first sectional race in five years.
Junior Alex Davlouros placed first for the team, overall taking 13th with a time of 16:41. Junior Nikos Davlouros followed, taking 18th (16:50). Finishing in 19th place was junior Brent Kengeri (16:53), sophomore Lincoln Staiger in 20th (16:54) and in 21st, senior Brody Toriello (16:57).
Alex said, “As a team we’re all disappointed in the way that the race turned out, but we’re using it as a learning experience so we can be in our best shape possible mentally and physically for groups.”
The team ended with a score of 91 behind Ridge High School who scored 31 points, a sizable difference. The major gap was disheartening, but the team will use it as fuel for the last few races of the season.
Boys head coach Christopher Tafleski said, “The approach to Saturday’s group championship is the same as it has been for the last few meets. The fitness is there. The will to prepare is there. It’s the execution in races that’s been lacking. It will take a much better performance on Saturday for us to qualify for the Meet of Champions. It can be done but there won’t be much room for error.”
On Saturday, both the boys and girls will head to the infamous Holmdel Park in Holmdel, NJ to compete in the group meet. They will have to use the training and work they’ve been putting in since August to gear up and try to qualify for the Meet of Champions.
