At the beginning of the 2023-24 cross country season, the Blue Devils were not even considered one of the top 20 high school programs in the state. They were unranked and were not acknowledged as a top New Jersey cross country program.
“We were under the radar for most of the season, and then towards the end we really surprised a lot of people with our sectional performance,” said head coach Joseph Berardi.
Historically, girls cross country at Westfield has always been a competitive program. Past runners such as Duke commit Katie Hamilton and Tufts commit Sonia Olson led their teams to have remarkable seasons. Despite these incredible performances, Westfield had a lot of catching up to do in the rankings this season.
“I think the team performed really well. We worked as a team and really exceeded our expectations,” said senior captain Belen Arbelaez.
Westfield started their season off at the Magee Memorial Class Meet on Sept. 23 at Greystone Central Park. Freshman Anna Youssef placed second overall out of the freshman girls. From that meet on, the Blue Devils continued to improve and grow. Later in the season, they ranked third place in the Union County Championship on Oct. 19.
Most memorably, the Blue Devils took home the North 2, Group 4 sectional title on Oct. 28 for the second year in a row without two key runners, Youssef and senior captain Grace Lisnock.
In regards to losing both runners, Arbelaez said, “After [Youssef] was sick and [Lisnock] dropped, it showed that the team was capable of stepping up and doing better even when the circumstances were not in our favor.”
In the following weeks, Westfield competed in the Group 4 Championship and Meet of Champions. They placed third at the group meet and seventh at MOC’s.
“This was one of the best seasons we’ve had since 2017,” said Berardi. “It was a great season and not just for the varsity girls, everyone had a role to fit into the culture and it was probably the tightest team since I’ve been here. They were a joy to be around, there was always good enthusiasm and energy at practice.”
With few seniors participating in the winter track and field season and a primarily young distance team, the underclassmen are expected to hold a lot of weight in the upcoming season.
Senior captain Grace Lisnock said, “I think there is a lot of potential for the distance program in these upcoming track seasons. Unfortunately, there will be limited seniors in the winter, but the talent from the younger girls and momentum from the great cross country season will help us.”
