On the endmost day of September, the Rams traveled to the infamous Holmdel Park to compete in the New Balance Sponsored Shore Coaches Invitational. As the most prestigious meet in the entire country last weekend, it was no surprise that this invitational gathered runners from various different states spanning almost the entire mid-atlantic region.
Facing off against hundreds of runners, the Rams were once again led by Senior Tommy Hunt, who was one of three varsity medalists for OPXC in the section the Rams were placed in. Although not a school course record, Hunt’s time of 17:11.29 on a course as grueling as Holmdel was respectable, though he does expect to run significantly faster at the Non-Public A State Meet and the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, both of which are also held at Holmdel Park. Junior Declan Kelly was OP’s second varsity medalist, running the fastest time he ever has on the course and crossing the line in 17:31. He was followed by Connor Bassolino whose time of 17:51 also earned the Sophomore a medal. The Varsity Rams scoring 5 was rounded out by James Nolan and Tim Callahan in 18:35 and 18:37, respectively, however it is worth noting that freshman Aidan Murphy led the JV Rams in a time of 18:27, and will be called up to the Varsity 7 for this weeks race. Similarly, both the 2023 Rams and the 2017 OPXC team with the school-record average placed fourth in the Shore Coaches Invitational, but it was actually this years varsity team that had a faster average. They will look to continue to haunt, and eventually surpass the team from six years ago. OPXC will wrap up their regular season on Friday, October 6th, before starting championship season just a few days later.
