Championship Season

He deleted the good, err better looking, picture of himself

Just like that the Somerset County and Skyland Conference Championships have come and gone.  These two meets are generally two of the most anticipated races of the season.  You get out of school early, you compete at local parks, you race friends and rivals from nearby schools, and the fans are roaring.  So how did we fare?

At the Somerset County Championships at Pleasant Valley Park the Immaculata Boys team captured a 9th place finish.  This represents the best team showing since 2004 when the Boys finished 6th.  Michael Paustian led the way in 23rd place and TJ Harkins was hot on his tail in 24th place.  Michael Blandino continued his extremely consistent campaign as the third man with a PR of 18:16.  Sean Castellano used a shrewd move to finagle an 86th place finish and Giovanni DeSapio was close behind to round out the team.  On the girls side, Sophia Gonzales ran the second fastest race of her Cross Country career as she came in at 23:11 and Taylor Luger ran a Season Best in going sub 26.  And to add to the excitement, Carly Makowicz returned to action and was able to mix it up in her first race back.

The Skyland Conference Championships, held at the lovely Natirar Park, was highlighted by TJ Harkins 7th place finish in the "Small Schools" Division (31st overall).  This was absolutely TJ's best effort since the first meet of the season at Randolph.  He used the workout he did earlier in the week at Natirar as a springboard to an extremely strong second half of the race, as he kept passing people on the hills on the top of the course.  TJ was the 5th non Junior/Senior and 16th finisher from Somerset County schools, an impressive feat considering last week he was 24th at the Somerset County meet.  Other than that, Michael Blandino again showed absurd consistency with an 18:22 showing.  The fact that he has run between 18:16 and 18:32 at pretty much every meet this season shows that a breakthrough is right around the corner.  

The focus now turns to the NJSIAA Non-Public B State Group meet on November 11.  The one for all the marbles.  The meet that can turn a mediocre season into a great season or a great season into a season that leaves you going home devastated.  Over the next 3 weeks the team will be physically and mentally prepared in every way possible in order to arrive at Holmdel on the 11th ready to rock.  

Stay tuned for some dueling Power Rankings from Coach Leddy and Coach Heibell in addition to more new features coming soon.