As the Union County Conference and Greystone Invitational Champions, OPXC has been no stranger to victory this season. However, maybe the most prestigious win of the season came during this weekend’s senior night at the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Championships. This win had extra value to the Ram Runners who upset rival Delbarton and dominated Seton Hall Prep en route to victory. Senior Captain Tommy Hunt led the Rams alongside Junior Declan Kelly; both runners broke the 17-minute mark and placed inside the Top 10. Connor Bassolino followed in a respectable time, however, none of the Top 3 ran personal best in the unusual 80-degree October heat. In spite of this, Freshman Aidan Murphy admirably ran much tougher than the leading trio and scraped his way to a personal best time of 17:37. James Nolan battled to round out the scoring 5, while Tim Callahan paced Senior Bobby Bajkowski who closed out the varsity 7 with a career-best time on senior night. Unfortunately, OPXC fell short of achieving their season-long goal of setting the School Record Varsity average at Greystone. The harsh reality of this is that the 2023 team was more than talented enough to set the record, but lacked the big-time performances necessary from top runners. Nevertheless, the Rams still earned a major victory and will aim to beat Delbarton, among other rivals, at the Non-Public A Championships on November 4th. Also worthy of mention is that the JV Rams captured the Catholic Championship title as well. Junior Varsity was led by Senior Conor Heffernan ahead of Juniors James Milton, and Tristan Knight. The victories on the course created a great environment for the senior night celebration that partook while the sun began to set. Here, Coach McCrystal reflected on what the Class of 2024 has meant to the program just before all 5 seniors voiced the impact the coaching staff, teammates, parents, and Oratory Prep Cross Country Program at large has had on their lives.
