Last weekend, the Pascack Hills cross country team competed in the Brett Taylor Invitational Meet at Darlington Park in Mahwah. This was arguably the most successful of the season, as more than half of the team ran a personal best, 16 runners medaled, and both the JV boys and varsity boys came in first as a team in their respective races. 

For the first time since 2021, the varsity boys took home the first-place trophy at this meet. They had an average time of 18:20 and won by 44 points. 

The boys were led by senior Dylan Barrett who came in second place, broke 17 minutes for the first time, and ran a personal best of 16:57, running nine seconds faster than his previous time. Not too far behind Barrett was senior Jack Herrington who came in fifth place and ran a season-best of 17:26. Pascack Hills was the only team to have multiple runners in the top five. 

Seniors Alec Avedian and Leron Bharak also medaled coming in 18th and 24th respectively. Avedian ran a personal best of 18:48, beating his previous time by four seconds and Bharak ran a 19:12 which was only eight seconds from his personal best. 

Rounding out the varsity seven was junior Tyler Lovett who ran a personal best of 19:20 which is 23 seconds faster than his previous personal record (PR). Junior Colin Barry was only 10 seconds off his personal best running 20:08, and junior Alfonso Di Popolo was only one second away from matching his PR. 

Head Coach Elizabeth “Biz” Egan was interviewed regarding the seniors and varsity wins.

“I can’t say I was surprised because since this group of boys were freshmen, I have been anticipating their senior year to be something special. In this sport though it’s hard for everyone to perform well all on the same day given how many variables there are to a good race. When that happens though, it’s magic,” she said.

The most surprising thing about this meet was the dominance of the JV boys. The boys came in first as a team as well beating the second-place team by 39 points with 10 medalists. 

Senior Michael Beutel came in 3rd place and ran a personal best by 17 seconds with a time of 19:58 in his first race of the 2024 season. Junior Christian Lee came in 9th place running a personal best of 20:28, 53 seconds faster than his previous time.

Overall 14 out of the 16 JV boys achieved a personal best and every single boy ran a season best. Coach Biz was asked how important this meet was before the county and state tournaments.

“The psychological impact that the meet had on everyone is going to be most important. It showed that it’s fun to be competitive and it’s fun to win. But more so, it’s fun to do it as a team and not on the individual level. Confidence comes from demonstrating your ability and both the boys and girls are leaving the meet with new-found confidence,” she said.   

The team’s next meet is the Big North Patriot Championships at Darlington Park in Mahwah on Tuesday, October 8th.