Dance, Dance

That's right, baby. Bust out your dancing shoes because Mike Paustian and TJ Harkins just punched their tickets to the THE SHOW. Meet of Champions. Clear your calendar for next Saturday, November 18, at 11:45am, and find your way down to Holmdel to cheer these two boys on. How did they become the first Immaculata Boys XC runners to qualify for the Meet of Champions since 2004, when some strapping young lad named Chris Heibell booked his ticket, you ask? Let's find out.

Going into the race TJ and Mike both looked like good bets to finish in the top 10. But we all know races aren't run on paper and even the slightest slip up could cost them dearly. With that in mind, this is how the race played out:

• 1000m: TJ comes out of the Roller Coasters leading a 4-man pack of places 6 thru 9. They are about 20m behind 4th and 5th place while the top 3 (Spinelli, Wilson, Bronstein) have already broken away. Paustian is about 10m back of this pack sitting in 10th but cannot let them get away.
• 2500m: Right before they go up the bowl, TJ is still in a pack but this time has fallen to 7th. 4th thru 6th are within reach. Mike has dropped to 11th but urgency starts to set in as he makes a move up the hill to get back in the top 10.
• 3600m: At the tennis courts TJ remains in the pack but it's stringing out and Mike has moved up into battle for 9th.
• 4800m: TJ pops out of the woods and hits the homestretch neck and neck with Jack Farrell in a race for 7th place. The two duke it out to the finish and Farrell just nips him by a second but TJ still secures an 8th place finish to move on. Paustian pops out of the woods in 9th place but three kids are hot on his tail. Jackson Powers from Newark Academy looks strong and pulls up next to Mike with about 100m to go. Luckily Paustian finds another gear to just hold him off in a photo finish and earn his trip to MOC with a 9th place showing. With 11th and 12th place only 4 seconds behind this last stretch was not for the faint of heart.

And there you have it my friends. That is the story of how TJ Harkins and Mike Paustian became dancing buddies. But that's not the only story to tell from Holmdel today. Also in the boys race Michael Blandino finished 35th while dropping 35 seconds from his previous Holmdel best. Giovanni DeSapio, racing with the intentions of others at heart, dropped 1:33 from Shore Coaches and Sean Castellano showed grit down the stretch in outkicking a rival from Ranney (no, not Josh Zeng) to propel the team score. Speaking of team scoring, the Boys team finished 10th, which is a huge step in the right direction for this young squad.

In the girls race, Sophia Gonzales led the way with a 45th place finish and time of 23:51. She ran 3:02 faster than at Shore Coaches and 14 seconds faster than her all-time Holmdel PR. Carly Makowicz followed closely with a time of 24:17, which is 50 seconds faster than her Holmdel best and only 6 seconds off of what she ran at Greystone last week, which considering the courses, is a very impressive feat. And Taylor Luger, who now claims she a is cold weather specialist, finished in 25:02, which not only is a drop of 40 seconds from her Holmdel best but is also her second best lifetime race. Quite the impressive end of season showing from Taylor between this week and last week.

Lastly, who had the better Power Rankings, Heibell or Leddy? Welp, by being cocky and choosing not to update his Power Rankings to account for Oratory getting bumped up or Paustian being healthy again, Heibell sadly made a grave mistake. Despite his best efforts, not even he could create a scoring system so wild it would crown him the winner. So congratulations to Coach Leddy, who by correctly predicting 8 of the top 10, has won nothing. Except maybe bragging rights.

We'll catch you all at Holmdel next Saturday morning dressed in your finest blue face and body paint. GET UR IMMAC..... (just kidding Lambo, that's all you)