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.”