The OP Rams have had many meets this year with a good amount of success. On October 6, the Rams traveled to the Greystone Invitational, which would prove to be an important meet. Many runners showed up big this meet. The top 75 runners earned a medal as well. Leading the JV team was Junior Tristan Knight, who delivered an excellent performance placing 3rd overall with a time of 18:55. He was followed by Junior Aidan Wizeman who narrowly missed out of the top 5 but still got a personal record with an impressive time of 19:20.
The following meet was the Union County Conferences which was held at Oak Ridge on October 10. Oak Ridge is one of the most popular and well-liked cross-country courses in the state due to many runners achieving their personal bests there. The JV team had a strong performance at the race. Out of the entire JV team, 11 athletes finished in under 21 minutes and three finished under 22. Junior James Milton had a breakout race coming in first for JV with a personal best of 19:06. His 14th place finish helped the JV team’s overall placement. Following Milton were Senior Connor Heffernan and Junior runner Aidan Wizeman. Heffernan ran a 19:17 and Wizeman ran a 19:38 respectively.
Following two successful JV meets, the team looked to build on its momentum at the Union County Championships, held at the Warinanco course in Roselle. This course is well-known due to its extra 150 meters. The team secured 5th place out of 12 teams at this race, which was solid. Although many runners performed quite well in the race, not everyone was able to achieve a personal best, and it proved to be a challenging race due to its extra length. Despite this, the JV team has one final opportunity to showcase their skill at Greystone on the 28th at the NJ Catholic Championship. Given the team’s experience at the course and its vast depth and talent this year, there’s a possibility that the team will perform exceptionally well to end the year. Many JV runners are looking to break the 19 minute and 20 minute marks at this race. This meet should cap off a strong year and provide a good base for future years.
