Cranford Girls Conferences

Veteran Cranford Girls Cross Country coach Ray White believes there is a silver lining to everything so leave it to him to find the positives in the Cougars’ move south to a much tougher Central Jersey Group II section for tomorrow’s Section Championships at Holmdel Park.

“It’s probably better for us to be in a tough section because last year we dominated our section and weren’t ready for the better competition in the states,” said White in his 27th year as girls’ coach.

White tried to remedy last years’ disappointment by having summer training sessions at Holmdel. He thinks their hard work and dedication has led to a strong season and an optimistic forecast for the state meets.

“I think they learned from last year. They are working harder and are dedicated to succeed,” said White.

White sees Shore Regional as the team to beat with Rumson also a strong contender.
The Cougars have a strong individual contender in sophomore Laura Gallo, who outran Mary Shashaty of Scotch Plains to win the Watchung Conference Championship last Wednesday at Warinanco Park. Gallo ran 19:58 for the 3.1 mile course and White thinks she has a good chance to beat her top competition from the shore schools.

She is also a top contender to win the Union County title where Jessica Rodriguez of Roselle Catholic has run faster and is the favorite. Gallo has filled in strongly for graduated four year star Malory Harlin, now running at Williams College.

“Mal helped Gallo tremendously last year, showing her the ropes and giving Gallo someone to shoot for,” said assistant coach Timothy Styler a former Cougar star runner.

“Laura has a great chance to be in position to battle for the county title. There are some competitors from Oak Knoll, Roselle Catholic, Plainfield, Scotch Plains Fanwood and Westfield but Laura has that go get them attitude and will always do her best...”

In the county team race, White realizes that third place behind Scotch Plains and Westfield is probably the most realistic goal, considering both the Raiders and Blue Devils beat the Cougars in dual meets as well as the conference meet... “Third place would be a good effort. We would have to have our third through fifth girls step up to do that, “said White.

Gallo used a 6:03 second mile to open a lead in her conference race and was pleasantly surprised that she had the strength to hold off Shashaty .enabling Cranford runners to sweep both the boys and girls individual titles. Like Gallo, boys’ winner Joe McKenney is also a sophomore. The girls have a bright future with freshman Erin Hannon and junior Kristen Ford moving to the top five along with junior Jennifer Hanke, whose brother Josh runs for the boys’ team. Both Hankes finished in the top ten in the conference races, with Josh sixth and Jennifer eighth.

Styler sees a team ready to peak at the right time.
“The girl’s team is coming together. Jen Hanke is running very well and the pack is not too far off for a championship season push.”

Cranford Boys Conferences

For veteran Cranford Boys Cross Country coach Ray White it is almost a shame that Westfield couldn’t be in the Central Jersey Group Section 2 meet that will be contested tomorrow at Holmdel Park. The emergence of the Blue Devil team and the individual brilliance of junior newcomer Jeffrey Perrella have made Cranford and its stars, junior Kevin Brown and sophomore Joe McKenney better runners and the team more focused.

“Westfield is the best thing we could have asked for,” said White in his 36th year as Cranford mentor. “They have made us push down harder and become a better team. It really helps to have them next door.”

At the Watchung Conference Meet on October 21, McKenney celebrated his sixteenth birthday in style by outrunning Perrella with a 16:04, the second fastest time in Cranford history. The record holder, assistant coach Tim Styler thinks the sky is the limit for the talented sophomore.

“As a sophomore it's a spectacular time. The problem with running times like that is that it's harder to keep taking huge chunks of time off. As far a Joe going under the 15:42, only time will tell. He has the talent and for the next couple years will have the competitors pushing him within our own team and Perrella,” said Styler.

McKenney led six Cougar runners in the first eight as they outscored Westfield 22-37 and averaged an impressive 16:43
per runner. Westfield, which lost its only dual meet to the Cougars, figures to be the toughest competition in the Union County Championship meet next Wednesday at Warinanco Park. Senior Andrew Catalano of Roselle Catholic figures to complicate the individual race where McKenney and Perrella have eclipsed his best time with their recent performance.

“Perrella has been very good for Joe and Kevin, just like Westfield has been good for our team ,” said White.
“It’s good to have such a strong team next door to us.”

Brown, ran 16:37 at the conference meet and cannot be counted out for the individual county tile. But before the Cougars defend their county title they must compete tomorrow in the sectional meet where they are a strong favorite in their initial year in the section after it was realigned. White, whose team is ranked seventh in the state and first in Group 2, looks at Raritan and Delaware Valley as the Cougars’ strongest competition.

“If we run the way we’ve been running we should do fine in the sections ,” said White. The section meet has been moved up this year because of the Student Aptitude Tests (SAT) being given on Saturday November 6. That moves the State Championships to November 13. The Union County Meet was originally scheduled for this past Wednesday but was moved to November 3 to give the teams sufficient rest for the sections.

“The sections are more important than the Union County race because this leads to a state title ,” said White.
Of course, Cranford is far more than a two-man team and a big part of the Cougars’ success has been the improvement of third through sixth men, which have been seniors Nate Thompson, twins Brian and Kevin Mahoney and junior Josh Hanke. In the conference meet they finished within 18 seconds of each other and Styler was also impressed with the progress of junior Glenn Brown.

Styler, a championship runner between 1997 and 199, sees a championship work ethic to the current group of Cougars.
“The success of this team just a testament to what coming out everyday and wanting to be a major part of the top seven can do. We are extremely proud of what they have done so far and like the rest of the team we are looking forward to what they can do during the championship season.”