2004 Union County Boys Cross Country

As the weather gets colder, the rivalry between the Westfield and Cranford boys cross country teams and their star runners Joe McKenney and Kevin Brown of Cranford and Jeffrey Perrella of Westfield continues to heat up. Cranford ranked seventh in the state, needed its best performance of the year to outlast the twelfth ranked Blue Devils and annex their record tying eighth straight Union County championship November 3 at Warinanco Park by a 34-43 margin. Westfield has also twice won eight straight titles, most recently accomplishing the feat between 1989-1996, right before Cranford started its current streak.

Perrella and McKenney each ran their fastest time on the course and continue to bring out the best in each other which can also be said about their teams. Westfield senior Rob Broadbent continued his ascent with a personal best 16:34, fifth overall and was joined in the top ten by senior Mike Gorski, ninth in 16:52 and junior Kris Kagan tenth in 16:59 but Cranford took the next three places to clinch the title. Also helping the Cougar’s cause was a third from Kevin Brown, who was five seconds behind Perrella.

The race became a replay of their two previous contests as, McKenney out kicked Perrella over the final quarter-mile to win but Perrella was satisfied with his race strategy.
The runners had moved through the one-mile and two miles together with splits of 4:58 and 9:55 respectively with Brown and Andrew Catalano of Roselle Catholic also in contention.

“Brown and McKenney took the race out at a strong pace and I got out
to my fastest start this season. Then Catalano cruised up along side
me, and that is pretty much how the race ran until about the second
mile mark when Catalano broke ,” said Perrella.

Brown was separated from the two leaders in the third mile at the bottom of a hill nicknamed “the Alamo”. After that it was a duel between the two leaders until the final stretch.

“ I think getting off to the fast start took a lot out of my kick, because at the end, my legs felt very tired,” said Perrella.

“I wouldn't say McKenney has a very strong kick, it's more or less
the fact that I don't have much of a kick. I usually am able to throw
in a pretty strong burst at the end of a race, but I wouldn't call it
a kick ,” said Perrella.

“ I guess the best way to take the sting out of McKenney's kick
is if I kick earlier. I think I can drive to the finish longer than he can, but I don't know.”

The emergence of Broadbent as a force has made the Blue Devils a bigger threat in the Group IV championship tomorrow where they will face some of the top teams in the state.
“ Rob is running great times at meets and at practice. He is really
determined this year and he really wants to do well, which shows
through in some of his great performance. Same with Mike, one of our
best pole vaulters. He is showing magnificent strength out there. And
Kagan is Kagan. He keeps getting better and is turning in performance
after performance. ,” said Perrella.

The Blue Devils fifth and sixth runners, Ameer Rogers and Jay Hoban have switch back and forth as fifth and sixth runners.”
“ Everyone is running excellent and they are all improving beyond
anyone's wildest dreams. I think over the course of this year, they
have dropped at least a minute off their times. I wouldn't be surprised
if we see some big PR's at Groups, and maybe even a top three finish ,” said Perrella.