Coach says his Mustangs have beaten rival only three times since 1998
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK and DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — The Mainland Regional High School girls cross country team is young but undefeated this season and peaking at the right time.
Coach Brian Smith said the Mustangs just accomplished a rare feat in team history by beating Ocean City High School in a dual meet 26-29 on Friday, Oct. 30. He said the last time Mainland had beaten its cross-bay rival was in 2016 and the time before that was 1998.
“The team was just ecstatic, the seniors had never beaten Ocean City before,” Smith said, explaining that MRHS had lost to OCHS by 1 point last year in Linwood, 27-28.
Smith called Friday’s matchup “essentially our [Cape-Atlantic League] championship.”
“We are the top two teams in the CAL,” he said, noting Ocean City is ranked fourth in South Jersey by the South Jersey Track Coaches Association and the Mustangs were not even mentioned.
Smith said every runner on his team ran their season-best against the Red Raiders on Friday.
“That’s what you work and train for and it’s not that unusual, but the difference here is that it was on Ocean City’s course. Part of it is on the beach so it can be a difficult course, and it’s essentially this year our conference championship meet,” Smith said.
The Red Raiders have dominated the sport for the past two decades, Smith said, and beating them, especially with such a young team, was a terrific accomplishment.
“When you really boil it down, Ocean City’s the top team, they have been the top team in the conference for many years,” he said. “Historically over the last 20 years it’s been Ocean City and everybody else trying to beat them.”
Smith said what was more impressive than the victory was that all seven of his runners set season-best times. Not only that, but his top two runners — junior Lily Malone (19:53) and freshman Claudia Booth (19:56) both broke the 20-minute barrier for the first time Friday.
They finished 1-2 for the Mustangs in Friday’s meet, followed by Ocean City’s Alexa Palmieri (20:07), Erin Hanlon (20:30), and Frankie Ritzel (20:37).
Mustang Gillian Lovett (20:34) was sixth, Ocean City’s Marissa Vallese (21:02) seventh; Mainland’s Chloe Malone (21:05) and Savannah Hodgens (21:06) eighth and ninth; and Red Raider Vanessa Karayiannis (21:07) 10th.
“The goal is for the runners to get faster as the season goes on and when it comes time for the state meets be at their best,” Smith said, adding that it’s called “tapering” and involves heavy weeks of training leading up to the state meets.
“So we’re in that tapering part of the season where you want them to be at their best,” he said.
Smith said his other top runners are junior Hodgens, freshman Lovett, senior Giselle Obergfell, freshman Chloe Malone and sophomore Sydney Luff.
Smith said his returners are Obergfell, Mary Kate Merenich, Olivia Lovett and Melina Galias, and his promising newcomers are freshmen Booth, Gillian Lovett, Malone and Julia Moore.
Smith said Gillian Lovett finished sixth Friday and has “really been a surprise this year. She really stepped up on Friday as well.”
He said she dropped her personal record time from 21:46 to 20:34, knocking 1:12 off of her previous best time.
“With freshmen they can really surprise you because they are pushing themselves like they never have before and freshmen can really see tremendous drops in time over the course of the season,” Smith said.
The coach said the Mustangs had beaten Pleasantville, Holy Spirit and Oakcrest before taking on the Red Raiders, with Malone winning each of those races and Booth finishing second.
Smith said all of the traditional invitational meets have been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The team’s top goal is to compete for the South Jersey Group III championship Nov. 14 at Dream Park in Gloucester County. Ocean City is the defending champion.
He said both teams would be racing at the SJTCA invitational meet Nov. 7 at Dream Park in Gloucester County as a “dry run for sectionals.”
“I have four freshmen in my top eight, three freshmen in the top five and they have never run this course,” Smith said. “My goal in running this coming weekend is to have my girls become familiar with the course because the following Saturday is the sectional race for the South Jersey championship.
He said familiarity with the course is important so the runners “are not wondering where they should make a move or how much farther they have to go.”
Ocean City girls try to keep healthy
Ocean City coach Trish Hopson said Friday’s meet “wasn’t one of our better days, but we ran hard. I’m just glad we got the race in considering we didn’t have the greatest weather. I’m just happy that we’re out here.”
She said her focus is to keep her team healthy. “Right now we’re not all healthy but we’re doing our best. One day at a time.”
Her runners, she said, “have been great, resilient, super appreciative of the opportunity to get a chance to not just practice, but compete, so we’re very grateful for that. We’re happy the state let this happen.”
The pandemic-shortened season has been different.
“I can’t compare this year to anything because I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said after the meet.
“I’m just looking forward to tomorrow and assessing how we regroup after today, physically more so than anything,” Hopson said.
The coach said Hanlon and Palmieri have been the team leaders.
They “have done an outstanding job taking over the leadership roles. We took a big hit with our seniors graduating, so they’ve been huge.”
Hopson added that two freshmen, Marissa Vallese and Frankie Ritzel, “have been outstanding” and that senior Vanessa Karayiannis has been in that top seven.”
One of the team’s varsity runners, Avery Jackson, was out for the meet Friday. Two other runners who have “been in the mix” for Ocean City are Issy Padula and Grace McAffee.
The Ocean City girls are 3-1 on the season.
Ocean City was at Cape May Technical School Monday and finishes the regular season at Lower Cape May Regional at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9.