Brian Kibelstis
Last Friday, I was able to attend the Osprey XC High School Invite. The Osprey Invite is a high school cross-country meet held at the athletic complex on Pomona Road near Lot 8. The annual event is sponsored by the Stockton XC / Track program, and provides high school cross-country runners with the opportunity to win medals and be seen by college-level coaches, the latter more for upperclassmen than the freshmen and sophomores.
Among those running the meet were my former teammates from Williamstown High School, who posted a strong showing among the twelve teams racing. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed third in their respective races, with strong individual showings to boot. Among the medalists – comprised of the top ten runners in each varsity race – were three representatives of the Williamstown Braves teams, including a promising freshman and a graduating senior with collegiate potential. Besides the Braves, runners representing Absegami, Mainland, Raritan, Atlantic City, Brick Memorial, Cedar Creek, Holy Spirit, Oakcrest, Ocean City, Pennsauken, and Pinelands Regional competed on the course, which was noticeably – about 400m, or ¼ mile –longer than the standard 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) of a typical high school cross-country course. As a result, many times were noticeably slower, although a number of newer runners were able to break their personal records (PRs) in spite of the longer course.
Although the course was noticeably longer than a normal race – something I heard several times over from my old teammates after they ran – the winning times are still pretty impressive. The girls’ race, which started first around 4:15, was won by a runner from Mainland in 18:50, over a minute before her nearest competitor, a runner from Ocean City who crossed in 20:09. The boys’ race, which started after the girls’ race finished, was won by a runner from Absegami in 17:20, which, in a standard 5K, is a good, but not exceptional, time. When accounting for an additional 400m, however, it would equate to a 5K time of about 16:03, which is a notable time in high school cross-country; likewise, the winning girls’ time would equate to a 17:26 in an exact 5K. The top Williamstown times in each race, 17:49 in the guys’ race and 22:06 in the girls’ race, would respectively equate to about 16:30 for the graduating senior and 20:28 for the upstart freshman.
Overall, I would recommend any former high school runners to look out for this meet next year to see if your old teammates are coming to your backyard. I found out about this meet quite by accident, and I wound up having a great time reconnecting with my old coaches and teammates, seeing the latter where I was at this time last year – trying to figure out where they will end up for college, etc. – and being able to help them with it in ways I previously hadn’t been able to.