Cranford Boys 2004 Preview

Ray White, Cranford’s veteran cross-country coach, credits a simple philosophy for his hugely successful career – that the last kid on the team is just as important as the first kid. That helps explain why his Cranford Boys’ teams have established a reputation as a cohesive group in a highly individualistic sport.

Opposing coaches have marveled at Cranford’s ability to pack runners together which is often the difference in dual meets, where White’s teams have been nearly unbeatable in recent years. Last year the Cougars were unbeaten, captured the Watchung Conference, Union County and State Sectional titles by wide margins.

Although a number of top runners graduated, this year’s team has the potential to be one of White’s strongest with two of the county’s top underclassmen, junior Kevin Brown and sophomore Joe McKenney leading the way. Brown exploded onto the state scene last spring with a school sophomore record of 9:22 in the two mile and McKenney did likewise in the mile, compiling a 4:21.

Ironically both records were held by Timothy Styler, a 1999 Cranford graduate, who completed his first season last year as White’s assistant and some say heir apparent. “Tim has really helped with the fastest kids. He knows what it takes to be a champion and he has really helped make them better,” said White.

Styler is a luxury for White who has handled the dual positions of boys and girls coaches since 1978 when he started the girls program. “It is nice having Tim to work with the top kids and I can coach the remainder of the team”.

White, who has coached many top runners in his 35 years feels fortunate to have two budding stars that can challenge each other for the next two years. “Kevin can be as good as he wants to be, “ said White. “He’s a big strong runner.”

McKenney, on the other hand is more of a classic runner with effortless strides. “He has as light a turnover as any runner I’ve ever coached,” said White. ‘Joe has a very exciting future.”

White is quick to point out the key to the team may be his six seniors, led by Nate Thompson, who is battling junior Josh Hanke for the third spot. The other seniors are Dillon Malar, twins Brian and Kevin Mahoney, Sean Garrity, Tom Hannon and Chip Weiss. They were the mainstays of the Junior Varsity team, which won he Union County title last year.

“I really like this group of seniors. They are a very tight knit group and work hard to make each other better runners,” said White. “Their ability to balance out our top kids will be the key to our success.”

There was only blight on last year’s record, a fourth place in the state group two championships. at Holmdel Park. “I don’t know what happened to us that day,” said White. “We just didn’t have it.”

To remedy that situation from recurring, White has had the team meet every Saturday this summer at Holmdel for training runs. “I’m very pleased with the work we did this summer. The kids are confident it will pay off,” said White.

White is hopeful that a realignment of the state group will also help the cougars win the group title. Cranford has been moved from North Jersey Section II to Central Jersey, which means the sectional meet will be at Homdel Park.

“I like getting the extra week of practice there,” said White The section will be a lot tougher with teams like Shore Regional and Raritan. “I think we may have been overconfident because we had such an easy time in the sections last year, “ said White.

White expects the addition of junior Jeff Perrella from soccer to make Westfield a very tough opponent in the Watchung Conference and Union County meets. White cautions that you can never count out Scotch Plains either.

Starting his 36th year as coach and physical education teacher at Cranford High School, White shows no signs of slowing down. “I love working with Cranford kids. I see no reason to retire.”