“Rebuilding year” is not a phrase one typically associates with a team that recently won its fifth consecutive Mercer County championship.
“We lost so many athletes last year, a lot of coaches would call this year a rebuilding year. I hate that sentiment, ‘rebuilding year,’” said South boys’ cross country coach Kurt Wayton. “It’s like a purgatory limbo. For our kids, I want to put out the best possible product.”
Wayton’s product turned out to be pretty good. His Pirates were undefeated in dual meets, won the Mercer County title, and headed into the state meets with their sights set on a berth in the Meet of Champions on Saturday, November 22, at Holmdel Park.
At the Group IV Central sectional on November 8, the Pirates took third place, led by senior standout Nikhil Pulimood, who won the race, and Tim Bason, who finished third.
Pulimood again carried the team at the Group IV championship on November 15, taking the individual state title in a time of 15:44. As a team, meanwhile, South finished fourth. With only the top three teams in each division qualifying automatically for the Meet of Champions, the Pirates had to wait out the rest of the day’s races to see if the team’s average time would hold up for a wildcard spot.
South’s girls found themselves playing the same waiting game after a fifth-place finish in a highly competitive Group IV race. They, too, earned a wildcard berth at the Meet of Champions.
At the sectional meet the week before, South’s girls were the class of the field, taking first place and finishing three runners in the top 10.
South’s top runners this season were Christina Rancan and Deirdre Casey. The pair finished second and seventh at sectionals and fifth and sixth at the group meet. “We look to them as our leaders,” head coach Josh Siegel said, but he named Alex Hesterberg, who finished ninth at sectionals and 33rd at groups, as the team’s most improved runner.
“The girls just became a team and supported one another throughout everything, whether it’s practice, school, or competition itself,” Siegel said. “We’ve been so successful running as a team and just becoming a better unit.”
On the boys side, Wayton said Zabih Kotecha served as a leader this season, while Bason, who finished fifth in the Group IV meet, was one of the team’s most improved runners.
Pulimood also made big gains this season, and with the second fastest time across all races at the group meet, he is in a prime position for a top finish at the Meet of Champions. “He’s always raced pretty tough,” Wayton said. “I think the big thing with him in the last year is just the training. It’s allowed him to just put anything together, so now he’s in a very small group at the top.”
North’s boys’ cross country team earned an 11-3 record and advanced to the group championship for the first time since 2009 with a fourth-place finish at the Central sectional.
“It’s so great to watch them grow together.” North boys’ coach Brian Gould said. “Watching these guys grow over the summer for me was great.”
Kian Jackson was North’s top runner, while Albert Mendez and Gabe Yoder-Shenk took leadership roles as captains. Jackson was the highest-finishing North runner at the Group IV meet with a 34th-place finish in 16:49. North finished ninth as a team.
“We have a pretty good tradition going back for our seniors, who may have been average guys for the first couple of years, really stepping up and competing well,” Gould said. “Gabe was one of those guys this year, and I think Kian as well. He was always a good runner, but he really competed at a high level this year. Shuming Teoh, he’s a junior, he stepped up and performed really well, competed really well and acted as a leader as well.”
North’s girls’ cross country team, with just nine runners, finished with an 8-6 record and finished fifth at the Central sectional to qualify for the Group IV meet, where the Knights finished 15th.
“They were disappointed in how they did,” North coach Monica Biro said. “We have a lot of young girls on the team and they’re learning to race, they’re learning to race for their team. I think it’s more that they were disappointed because they had higher goals for the team themselves.”
Nonetheless, five runners — Yuzki Oey, Sahana Natarajan, Anu Kandasamy, Julia Grande, and Sarah Liu — ran personal bests at the Group IV meet. Oey, the team’s top runner, advanced to the Meet of the Champions as an individual with a 13th-place finish in 19:28.
“She’s been really focusing on her race,” Biro said. “Making sure she gets out fast, that she [toughens] up her mile and then she finishes that last mile strong and fast as well.”
Cross Country
Central Jersey Group IV sectionals on November 8 at Thompson Park in Monroe.
North boys: Fourth place. 8. Kian Jackson, 16:18.2; 28. ShulVing Teoh, 17:03; 30. Rohan Doshi, 17:04; 32. Colin Stern, 17:06; 37. Justin Bauter, 17:19; 57. Yaanik Cahnbley, 17:41; 71. Nic Stalzer, 18:04.
North girls: Fifth place. 5. Yuzki Oey, 19:15.3; 8. Jessy Nguyen, 19:24.9; 46. Sahana Natarajan, 21:33; 65. Julia Grande, 22:08; 66. Anu Kandasamy, 22:08; 101. Sarah Liu, 23:34; 117. Eshita Sangal, 25:42.
South boys: Third place. 1. Nikhil Pulimood, 15:40.2; 3. Tim Bason, 15:53.9; 15. Sam Williams, 16:38; 39. Thomas Moxham, 17:20; 45. Zach Crossey, 17:25; 48. Zabih Kotecha, 17:30; 50. Dexter Benkard, 17:31.
South girls: First place. 2. Christina Rancan, 18:54.8; 7. Deirdre Casey, 19:19.1; 9. Alex Hesterberg, 19:27; 12. Haley Rich, 19:48.1; 14. Edlyn Gulama, 19:53.4; 35. Elizabeth Petrov, 21:01; 75. Alli Bacher, 22:20.
Group IV state championship on November 15 at Holmdel Park.
North boys: Ninth place. 34. Jackson, 16:49; 46. Teoh, 17:03; 52. Doshi, 17:08; 59. Stern, 17:12; 94. Jonathan Logan, 17:38; 119. Bauter, 18:01; 135. Gabe Yoder-Schenck, 18:25.
North girls: Fifteenth place. 13. Oey, 19:28; 44. Nguyen, 20:31; 88. Natarajan, 21:27; 112. Kandasamy, 22:13; 135. Grande, 23:16; 137. Liu, 23:32; 140. Masai Davis, 24:09.
South boys: Fourth place. 1. Pulimood, 15:44; 5. Bason, 16:03; 22. Williams, 16:35; 62. Crossey, 17:15; 93. Kotecha, 17:38; 114. Moxham, 17:56; 121. Benkard, 18:04.
South girls: Fifth place. 5. Rancan, 19:10; 6. Casey, 19:10; 33. Hesterberg, 20:09; 57. Rich, 20:49; 76. Gulama, 21:08; 93. Amy Tsai, 21:39; 120. Bernadette Cao, 22:34.
