Karen Walker looked at how her squad finished last year; observed the newcomers that came in this year, and figured that the Hopewell Valley Central High girls cross country team had a chance to do something that hadn’t been done in 15 years.
She figured right.
A combination of holdovers and newbies lifted the Bulldogs to their first NJSIAA Meet of Champions berth since 2009, as they were the final wild card team to come out of the state meets. Hopewell finished third in the Group III race. Only the top finisher in each group got an automatic bid to the MOC, and the next eight teams with the lowest combined times were wild card entries.
“We finished 12th in the Meet of Champs and we were the 14th team to get in; so we finished higher than our seed, I guess you could say,” Walker said. “After we finished fifth at state groups last year; and seeing who was coming back and the team dynamic; and seeing how we were lining up at the first two meets compared to where we were last year, I thought we had a chance of making it in. We talked about the possibility of making the Meet of Champs as a team and the varsity girls were excited about it.
“We knew it was not guaranteed and we had to do a lot of work and a lot of things had to go right for us to get in. I knew it was gonna be a challenge but in the end I’m not too surprised at the way it turned out because I knew this team was all in on it.”
The Bulldogs top seven runners featured four returnees and three newcomers. They won the TCNJ High School Invite meet; took third in the Colonial Valley Conference meet behind Princeton — which finished second in the MOC — and West Windsor-Plainsboro North; and began their march to the MOC by taking third in Central Jersey Group III (the top five advanced to Groups).
“It was amazing to be able to go to Meet of Champs as a team,” said senior Claire Dumont, who went as an individual last year with teammate Elsie Rey-de-Castro. “Going into the summer it was definitely on our minds. We knew it was a bit of a reach. We were the underdogs.
“But as we got into states and sectionals it was getting closer, and it was amazing to have the whole team there. Everybody went in super excited to race super hard.”
Dumont was not only the team’s No. 1 runner, but one of Mercer County’s and Central Jersey’s top harriers as well. She took first place at the TCNJ Invite in 18:47, was fifth in the Colonial Valley Conference Meet (19:06), fourth in CJ III (18:52), sixth in Group III (19:12) and 30th in the MOC (19:34).
“She leveled up to a whole new place this year,” Walker said.
Dumont said she was not focused on time. “I was more focused on my place (in Groups),” Dumont said. “My goal was to be in the top 10. I wanted to get out in the top pack and leave everything I had out there. The goal was also to get on our record board but I had no clue what my time was while racing. I was just focused on my place.”
Although Dumont’s MOC time was 22 seconds slower than in the Group III meet, it was also 22 seconds faster than her mark in last year’s Meet of Champs.
“I wasn’t happy with my race,” she said. “I don’t go out strong, I chip away at the race. At the Meet of Champs you have to get out hard and hold your place. It wasn’t my usual racing strategy and I felt pretty tired toward the end. It’s just a very fast race so it was a bit more challenging.”
The good news for Hopewell is that Dumont, who is still deciding on where to run in college, is the lone senior among the top seven runners. She helped guide the younger runners in her own quiet way.
“Claire was a lead-by-example leader,” Walker said. “She’s a super sweet kid. If any of the girls ask for advice, she will happily share everything she knows with them. And she just does all the little things she’s supposed to do to help herself get better. She sticks to the training program over the summer.
“She’s not necessarily the loudest person, that’s where Sydney (Young) jumps in. Sydney is super outgoing; a bubbly personality. She’ll talk your ear off and ask a million questions. There’s definitely different energies they bring but it’s good when your top two runners have that balance of personalities.”
Young is a sophomore who missed most of the season with a stress injury she developed in late summer. After working hard and “cross training like crazy,” according to Walker, Young used the CVC Freshman/JV race as a tune-up for the state meets.
She quickly re-established herself as the team’s No. 2, placing 13th in CJ III (20:02), 11th in Group III (19:47) and 46th in the MOC (19:56).
“With Sydney sidelined we didn’t have that whole group together for the regular season,” Walker said. “That’s why we maybe flew under the radar and people weren’t expecting us to be up as high as we were in state meets. We had to regroup when Sydney was injured but everybody just rolled with it.”
Young was the final piece of the puzzle for a strong state run. The other five runners in Group III meet were sophomores Rey-de-Castro, Anna Wilson, Sophia Pellegrino and Lainie Smith, and junior Maddie LaChance. Wilson and Smith both joined the team after playing soccer last year, while Pellegrino moved up from JV. Other seniors who helped contribute at various points of the season were Bryce Hanley and Maggie Maclean.
“Everybody stepped up to a whole new level,” Walker said. “Maddie was running JV in the early meets last year and eventually ran varsity races. This year she improved on every single course by one or two minutes. She just gained so much confidence.”
The coach was quick to note that while her top seven ran in the MOC, it was an entire team effort that helped get them there.
“We have a really big team and they’re such a supportive group,” Walker said. “Seven of them are representing the greater team, they’re all out there rooting for each other. It’s a nice environment. I’m proud of the program and how much the girls help each other out.”
And most of them will return to keep helping each other next year.
“I am really excited,” Walker said. “A lot can happen in a year. There’s so many things that can change. You never know if someone will end up getting injured, like with Sydney this year. Nothing’s a given, we still have to put in the work and hopefully we will be in a good position to get back there next year.”
Hopewell Valley Meet of Champion cross country runners Anna Wilson, Maddie LaChance, Sydney Young, Sophia Pellegrino, Lainie Smith, Elsie Rey-de-Castro and Claire Dumont with assistant coach Matt Stein (left) and head Coach Karen Walker.,
