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.”