On Wednesday, October 16, Oratory’s cross country team traveled to one of the fastest courses in the state in Oak Ridge. This was the first meet of “championship” season in which the team had a chance to truly compete. The varsity squad first raced at 3:20pm and they were followed by the JV team at 4:30pm.
Due to the unique circumstances of this race, the team was able to race ten guys on Varsity rather than the usual 7. This allowed for the potential for more scoring and extra depth in the race. Although the varsity squad was missing one of their runners (Chase Lynch), they still managed to perform quite well. Declan Kelly, the fastest man on the team, and one of the two captains, looked to achieve a personal best on the course. Kelly ran a 16:13, and came close to this endeavor, and he was only 15 seconds from the school record of 15:58, set by Max Russo. Kelly medaled and placed 5th. He was quickly followed by Connor Bassolino who ran a time of 16:22. Bassolino rounded up the top ten at number nine and also medaled. Overall, the remaining varsity squad all performed strongly. James Nolan managed to narrowly break 17 minutes in the 5k, and the entirety of the 10 guys for OP managed to come in under 20 minutes. If this meet proved anything, it was that the team’s hard work paid off. Oratory placed third in the varisty race beating two very good teams in Summit and Elizabeth High School. Their 16:50 team average was the best in school history.
The Boys JV squad had another strong performance, complementing that of the varisty team’s. Oratory placed 4th in the JV race out of 10 teams beating out Scotch-Plains-Fanwood HS as well as Elizabeth and Rahway. The team was led by promising freshman Will Timbie who recently returned from injury and ran an 18:50 time. Within the JV race, a staggering 11 guys broke the 20 minute barrier. Many runners achieved both personal bests and course records. James Milton, who has been in rehab for a while, returned in time with a big race, running a 19:14. Cathal Hislop ran a PR of 19:15. There were also many strong performances from the younger guys on the squad. Chad Vassallo and Matt Surmay, two freshmen, were both under 20 minutes, and PRs were achieved by sophomore runners, Jake Toto and Matt Salaki. Overall, the team performed strongly and both the JV and Varsity look to set even more PRs in the Union County Championship at Warinanco Park on the 24th.
