2005 Union County Girls Cross Country

It would not be exaggerating to say that the conditions last Wednesday at Warinanco Park were dreadful as a cold wind conspired with swamp like course conditions from a torrential rain the previous day to slow almost every runner down from the ideal conditions the previous week. But Cranford’s Junior sensation Laura Gallo didn’t seem to mind and even dropped her time thirteen seconds in defending her title and leading the Cougars to their first title ever. Placing all five runners before Westfield’s first finish, Cranford easily defeated its long time nemesis 38-88, a feat made even more impressive
by the exploits of three first-year cross-country runners in its top five.

Following junior Jen Hanke (20:21) in fourth place was junior Hannah Van Why (ninth, 20:45), Jen’s freshman sister Joy Hanke (11th, 20:50), and junior Caitlin Curtis (13th, 21:21). Kristen Ford and Erin Hannen ran 22:00 and 22:02 respectively to complete the Cougars’ impressive showing. Van Why played field hockey last fall while Curtis played soccer.

“Didn't the new kids run great today,” said veteran Coach Ray White.
“That was real cross country conditions out there today, but the girls ran smart and used the wind to their advantage.”

“I would rather run on a dry course, but this made the race a little more interesting,” said Gallo, who ran the same time a year ago.

“I wasn’t surprised with the time. I was just trying to run against the clock and not worry where the other runners were.”

A 5:55 first mile left Gallo 40 yards clear of a chasing pack that included Jen Hanke, Van Why and Watchung runner-up Cassy Valdes of Scotch Plains.

“The footing was a little tough in places but our coach has taught us to run in all types of conditions and it wasn’t too bad,” said Gallo.

Gallo extended her lead to 100 yards at the two mile mark and expanded it in the final mile to win by a whopping 52 seconds over runner-up Kelly Polisin of Oak Knoll in Summit.

“Coach White has taught us to run in all kinds of conditions so we were pretty well prepared for anything,” said Jen Hanke.

“It was extremely hard to run today. We were all worried about falling down,” added Joy Hanke.

The girls will easily face their toughest challenge of the year when they compete in the North Jersey Group 3 Section II contest tomorrow at Warinanco. A year ago the Cougars finished third in a competitive Central Jersey Group II meet but the section they have moved to is loaded with two of the state’s top ten teams, Ridge and Voorhees as well as Morristown. Gallo faces some extremely difficult competition including freshman Melanie Thompson of Voorhees, who ran 18:25 last Friday but White is confident his star and team will respond.

“Laura can run a lot faster. She responds to tough competition,” said White.

The Cranford Boys saw their eight-year winning streak end as Westfield, led by overall winner Jeffrey Perrella won with 46 points. The Cougars joined the Blue Devils with three top ten finishers but wound up fifth with 117 points.

Defending champion Junior Joe McKenney finished third in 16:56, nearly a minute slower than his winning time a year ago.

“I’m having good practices but I keep running lousy races,” said a muddy and frustrated McKenney.

“The conditions were no excuse. They were bad for everyone. Hopefully I will work everything out and run better in the next few meets,” said McKenney.

Josh Hanke joined his sisters in the top 15 with a sixth place finish in 17:33 and Kevin Brown, running his first race of the season after injuries was tenth in 17:54.

The Cougar Boys, who are the defending Group 2 champions, will also have their work cut out for them tomorrow in a very tough section that includes Holmdel and Ridge.