Cross-country runners Gabby Manto and Paris Hughes laugh. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
Stephen Buonamassa and Jared Hughes practice. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
There is traditionally a family-like atmosphere within the Robbinsville High School cross country program and, aside from sharing pasta parties, chores, practice sessions and serving as a dating service, the bond has also been strengthened by mutual success on the trails.
That took a little detour last year, when the Raven boys suffered a rare sub-par year while the girls continued to roll.
This season, things are back to normal as both teams finished with 12-2 dual meet records and won their respective Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division championships.
“We’ve been working really hard,” boys’ senior captain Jimmy Lynch said. “We have pretty much a core that runs together and trains hard. It’s starting to show.
“Compared to last year, our paces are a lot faster, training is a lot harder. We’re taking it more seriously. Coach (Mike Walker) feels we’ll be in serious contention for the states, that’s what we’re going for. We’re trying to get the top three hopefully.”
Girls captain Jamie Lazzaro says things are always more fun when both teams are doing well.
“Absolutely,” she said. “The boys’ team is working so hard, and it really shows. They’re winning a lot. It’s nice to have both teams focused and showing it with results and with times. It’s something to be proud of.”
Which is the type of environment Walker tries to provide as the overseer of both programs. A great runner himself for Rancocas Valley High and The College of New Jersey, the coach understands how important it is to mix in a little fun with the grueling workouts of distance runners.
“We always work together at practice,” Walker said. “It starts when they meet up for summer runs, and they even go to the same cross country camp (Cross Country University by Jim Schlentz).
“The boys and girls team get along great and do the team pasta parties together. We have a fun trip up to Rhode Island to compete in the Brown University Northeast Cross Country Championship and that is another great team bonding experience.”
Lynch feels the two teams have a healthy relationship that both supports and competes with each other.
“It’s not like we’re against each other, but we’re always trying to push to see who can be the better team and get further,” he said. “Were supporting each other; trying to get far as a program, not just as a team. It’s a bit of motivation.
“The girls didn’t stutter last year, they kept on going. We stuttered a little bit and now we’re regaining what we had.”
Lazzaro feels the relationship is helpful in the program’s overall success.
“I think we motivate each other and help each other,” she said. “It’s better to work together than have some sort of rivalry or anything like that. We make them carry the water jug and help set up the tent, so it’s nice to work together instead of split up. But actually, the girls are better at setting up the tent than they are.”
Lack of camping skills aside, the boys are back in form. They have been led by a top-three pack of Zach Michon, Ryan Gross and Rich Kasper. There is then a gap of around 40 seconds to Lynch, Christian Roberts, Dan Milo, Pat Buanamassa and Bobby Hastie. Michon has been a consistent number one, but Gross and Kaspar have challenged.
“Things are getting good with us, our team gap is starting to close again,” Lynch said prior to the Mercer County Meet on Oct. 25. “The distance between one and five used to be a minute, now it’s down to 37 seconds. Having all of us come in as more of a pack is important.”
Walker feels the team came in hungry after last season’s off-year, and despite making some youthful mistakes it has progressed as expected.
“They’re right about where I thought they could be,” the coach said. “We are young with a lot of talent, and they put in a lot of work over the summer to improve themselves and the team culture. I think we wasted opportunities last year, and the guys came in focused for a much better season.
“Another great characteristic about the team is how they truly like pushing each other and rooting for each other. They are goofy at times, but they are all business when the gun goes off.”
Lynch felt an early-season win over Princeton laid the groundwork for renewed confidence in the boys. He was also enthused by a close loss to powerful West Windsor-Plainsboro North, in which Gross was missing from the lineup.
“Looking at it on paper, if Gross was there we would have won that,” he said. “That gives us a good feeling.”
On the girls’ side, Julia Borowski and Erin Holzbauer have been the top two runners, followed by Paris Hughes and Gabby Manto. From there, it’s a mixed bag that includes Enlin Carow, Makenzie Bayless, Caitlyn Krueger and freshman Lauren Kroepfl, who ran the first 5K of her life in an Oct. 15 meet and was the fourth Raven across.
Borowski and Holzbauer have alternated between one and two, and Holzbauer’s emergence has been huge considering last year’s No. 2, Annalise Celano, is out for the season.
“Erin really has been a savior to the team,” Walker said. “She has stepped up in a big way with her training and the results are showing.”
Walker was hopeful of closing some big gaps in the time between the top four and the rest of the group by the time the county meet arrived. But for the dual meet season, Lazzaro felt things were tight enough.
“Julia is usually the lead runner,” Lazzaro said. “But we have a pretty good pack that are a minute or two within her and that’s usually how we take the other team down, because there’s so many girls running so close together.
“It would definitely be great to win Central Jersey (Group II). I think we’re definitely one of the top teams out there.”
Through it all, they will continue to get their carbs as the boys and girls sit down to break bread together.
“We have pasta parties to bring the teams together,” Lynch said. “We bond together. I think the chemistry is pretty good.”
And that’s where the dating service comes in.
“Some of those pasta parties can get pretty crazy,” Lazzaro said. “At our last party, we had one of the guys ask one of our girls to Homecoming.”
Which he did. And as of Oct. 15, they were a couple.
“Oh God,” Lazzaro said with a laugh. “She’ll probably kill me if this is in the paper.”
Hey, it’s all part of being one big happy family.
And a winning family as well.
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