Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

11/20/2008 - Sussex Perfect For Runners

With its beautiful wooded valleys, picturesque vistas on top of steep mountains, and rugged terrain, it seems like Sussex County was designed intentionally for the sport of cross country.

And with the Sussex County Interscholastic League disbanding after this school year, it is safe to say that the cross county teams from this area have taken full advantage of their natural surroundings and this fall has been no different.

Yes, Pope John was the dominant team on both the girls and boys sides, like it has been for the last decade under the outstanding tutelage of coach Brian Corcoran, who should definitely find a spot in the Sussex County Sports Hall-of-Fame someday for his contributions to the sport as well as indoor and outdoor track.

But some other teams had some great success this season as well, especially when they didn’t have to go head-to-head with the Lions. And as a matter of fact, some teams and individuals did have some success going against the Lions even if it was a matter of bad luck on the Lions part.

Case in point, Newton’s boys cross country team, which was paced by Michael Galonski all season, turned in the upset of the decade in late October when the Braves stunned Pope John in their SCIL regular-season meet.

The Braves snapped the Lions’ impressive 73-meet SCIL winning streak dating back to 2000. But truth be told, it was more of the Lions’ miscues that led to the upset as two PJ runners were DQ’ed for mistakenly not following the course while leading the pack in first and second place.

It was unfortunate for the Lions, who would have won the race easily, but the rules are the rules. It is the same as a relay runner dropping a baton or a swimmer leaving too early. Unfortunately, in these sports, one little mistake and can cost you big time.

But also give credit to the Braves for running a hard race. If they would have went in with the attitude of “let’s not try, we are going to lose, anyway” they probably would have lost due to PJ’s outstanding depth.

But the setback didn’t stop the Lions from sharing the SCIL crown with Vernon, their eighth straight. PJ also went onto win the SCIL Festival for the ninth consecutive year behind the fine efforts of Kevin McCormick and Tim Paziora.

It was also at the Festival that a Vernon runner brought memories of the glory days of cross country at Vernon. The Vikings were one of the most dominant programs in the SCIL since the league’s inception in the mid-1970s until Pope John’s emergence in the mid-1990s under then-coach Joe Gaba, who guided PJ to three straight state titles in 1993, 94 and 95.

Louis Stengel stunned the crowd at the Sussex County Fairgrounds with his victory, the first Vernon victory since Chris Johnson in 2001. Stengel joins the ranks of some of the top Vernon runners of all time, like Steve Grube, John Moran, Rich Falcone and a slew of other runners who excelled for former coach Doug Castellana and current coach Ray Morris.

And Vernon wasn’t the only other team to taste success this season. Wallkill Valley’s boys pulled off a stunner at the North 1, Group 2 race when the Rangers nipped favorite Indian Hills to capture their first title since 2000. Wallkill coach Sabrina Lucas does an outstanding job with the Rangers, who have had their fair share of success over the years as well.

But when I think of Wallkill cross country, the first and last name that comes to my mind is Jim Lame, who was amazing during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The SCIL has seen its great share of boys runners like the aforementioned Vernon runners, and all the PJ standouts over the years (Justin Scheid, Jeremy Scheid, Connor Fox, Matt Wooley, Anthony LaMastro, Jon Juleus etc.). And for those of you new to the SCIL, believe it or not, there were other teams besides PJ that ran circles around the other teams in the SCIL.

Vernon and Hopatcong, with their great coach Les Nagle, had a tremendous rivalry in the early years of the SCIL that continued through the 1980s and early 1990s with each also having great success at the sectional meets as well.

That is another thing about the SCIL; Garrett Mountain was never a mountaintop to hard to climb for SCIL teams as the loop has brought home many a championship trophy home from West Paterson.

This season also saw some fine stories on the girls side as well. PJ ran its SCIL winning streak to 58 and the Lions won the regular-season title for the sixth straight year and the Festival for the sixth year as well.

Sarah Cariati has led the charge all season along with Cat Carey and Jenny Heigis, whose sister Lara was one of the greatest runners to ever come out the SCIL.

High Point’s girls also had a magical year and the Wildcats won their first-ever North 1, Group 3 crown behind the great efforts of Kristina Salvador and an outstanding supporting pack.

And Kaitlin Chegwidden of Wallkill Valley continued her family’s dominance in North 1, Group 2 by winning the section for the second straight year. Her older sister, Aimee, had won the section the previous three seasons.

Over the years, the boys teams have had great team success state-wide, but I always remember the remarkable achievements of some of the individual girls runners over the years, starting with Cathy Stone of Vernon in the 1970s to Lisa Pakutka of Hopatcong in the early 1980s and to the best of them all, in my opinion, the wonderful Christi Constantin of Kittatinny who capped the 1980s before going onto an All-American career at Georgetown.

Then there were great runners like Stephanie Andrasek of Newton and Tracy Pombo of Vernon in the 1990s with Lara Heigis of PJ reigning over the SCIL in the 2000s (that is weird to write, 2000s!).

And these runners could not have done it without some fine coaches as well. The league has had some great ones: Corcoran, Castellana and Morris, Naelge, Lou Cravotta at Kittatinny, Don Scofield and Rich Heckman at Sparta and the list goes on, including the Dean of SCIL coaches Louise Andriola of Lenape Valley who has seen it all over the last 24 years.

And you can’t forget High Point graduate Ryan Hashway over at North Warren. He has built the Blairstown school into a dynasty as the girls have won four straight section titles, while guiding the boys to their first this season.

Cross Country is a unique sport that attracts unique individuals. Individuals who are willing to put in grueling road work when its 90 degrees and you feel like you going to pass out to this time of the year when it just burns your lungs to breathe.

I have also found that most of the runners to be polite and outstanding students in the classroom. And there is a great amount of respect and sportsmanship at cross country meets, where I have mentioned in the past, that the last-place runner gets as big of a cheer as the winner.

So congratulations to all the runners from the SCIL, you did the league proud in its final season.

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

11/20/2008 - Sussex Perfect For Runners