On Oct. 24 the boys cross country team geared up to face their biggest rival, Union Catholic, in the Union County Championship meet. After four long years of second place finishes to Union Catholic, the boys cross country team finally won.
It was an intense match-up and knowing that the boys needed to individually do their part to succeed head coach Chris Tafelski said, “It would be a two team race.”
Tafelski also emphasized the fact that they had lost to Union Catholic in this same meet in the past. “Last year when we went out guns blazing and we got shocked when their top guys were able to stick with us which led to us getting jumped in the later stages of the race,” said Tafelski.
This idea was echoed with senior Kaleb Stoeckmann who said, “Coach really wanted us to put UC in the driver’s seat and force them to make the first move which we then used to pick them apart.”
This narrative held true although the top part of the race went out slowly it was a very competitive race with Stoeckmann and seniors Cole Varner and Ryan Daly, along with junior Brody Toriello making up the top pack with sophomore Alex Davloros not far behind.
Westfield stayed patient and waited for UC to make their move which they did right after mile two. Westfield saw the move, and covered it extremely well and put them in a very good position going into the final stage of the race.
Daly was able to claim second place in a tight race against an Elizabeth Runner, Stoeckmann and Toriello, separated by just three tenths of a second finishing fifth and sixth place, followed by Varner and Davloros getting eighth and tenth place respectively.
Emotions were at an all time high following the race. Daly who had been a part of the varsity squad since he was a freshman said, “It feels great to finally bring home a county championship after it pretty much being robbed from us the past two years, so being able to go out this year and finally win it with these guys especially makes it all the more sweeter.”
Looking ahead for the Blue Devils on Nov. 2 they will be looking to bring home even more hardware in the state sectional meet with their biggest competition in this meet being Ridge High School. Tafelski is “optimistic” for this meet.
