Livingston HS Cross Country Opens Season At Lancer Invitational

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Livingston High School Cross Country. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The Livingston High School Cross Country (XC) program hosted the 20th Annual Lancer Invitational on Friday, September 6 at Littels Pond. Opponents from Bloomfield, Caldwell, Kearny, North Star Academy, St. Vincent Academy, West Orange and a Suffern, NY team came to compete. The events got started with the girls JV race at 4 p.m. Next was a boys JV race at 4:30 p.m., the girls Varsity race at 5 p.m. and boys Varsity race at 5:30 p.m. All races were 5k in length. In XC the top 5 finishers places are added up for the team score. A 6th & 7th runner can displace another team’s runners. The lowest point total wins. Coaches and athletes were excited to get that first race of the season in and set a few goals for the competition. This meet is looked forward to as it is LHS only home meet. Friends, family, teachers and alumni came to cheer on the lancers on this spectator friendly course.

The girls JV race got underway and included 11 Lancers, 9 of whom were running their first ever High School XC race. Juniors Kiera D'Souza and Avery Lerman got out with the lead pack, setting a fast pace. The three-loop course layout gives coaches and fans a chance to follow the progression of the race at many points. The Suffern girls made a deliberate and patient attack as they began to move into the lead positions as the second loop was being contested. D'Souza and Lerman worked hard to stay in the mix. The fast start began to take its toll on the more inexperienced of the Lancers and other runners. As the competitors came out of the woods on the final lap, Suffern had imposed its will on the other squads. They completed the shutout, taking the first 5 places and scoring the lowest possible score in XC, 15 points. D'Souza (24:37.8; 6th) and Lerman (25:20.7; 8th) both ran a nice opener with their best-ever times at 5k. Frosh Shubhada Bhoyar (26:21; 11th), newcomer Carolina Romero Vasquez (26:55; 12th) and frosh Summer Levy (27:22; 15th) rounded out the LHS scoring giving the crew a 2nd place finish. Suffern and LHS took the top 12 spots, as 3rd place Bloomfield, St. Vincent Academy, LHS and Suffern filled out the rest. The remainder of the LHS squad were all running their 1st HS XC races. This included nice efforts by Allison Zhou (16th), Ava Gelfenshteyn (21st), Kacey Law (23rd), Kayla Greenfeld (24th), Ioanna Gliati (28th) and Richelle Lederman (30th).

After the JV boy’s race, the varsity action started with the girls stepping up to the start. The race went out fast and smooth with four girls quickly moving to the front. Among them was LHS Capt. Sophia Paparsenos. After two loops, a similar attack as in the JV race was taking place. Sufferns top pack was again patient and worked together to gain control of the team picture. Sufferns' Grace Delaney (19:23) held on for 1st over a hard charging West Oranges' Ava Neretic (19:26). Paparsenos (20:23; 3rd) had run her fastest ever 5k. Suffern once again took the team title by going 1st and then 4th through 7th for an impressive 19 point score. The Lancers put in a quality effort with the top 5 all equaling or running considerably faster than their 2023 opener. Their top 5 average was quicker than 2023 and their point total of 46 crushed last years effort. This earned them a second place finish of the 8 teams competing on the day. Sophie Schumacher (21:47; 8th) cut 2:20 from her 2023 time to come in next for LHS. Capt. Lila Maru (22:20; 10th) was next, with Sarah Nidhan (22:58; 13th) and Emma Xing (25:08; 22nd) running a gutsy race after turning her ankle early in the race , completing the top 5. Jordyn Fersko (25:55; 27th) and Lexis Chen (27:06; 30th) rounded out the varsity 7 of the 38 finishers.

It was a good start to the 2024 season, with quality performances on their home course earning trophies and medals this past Friday night. The team is making strides as they prepare to jump into the conference schedule, starting Tuesday 9/17 at Branch Brook Park vs. Bloomfield, Newark Academy and Millburn. The squad continues training hard in preparation for the conference dual meets and Championship, Counties and States and they eagerly await the challenges in front of them. As the sun was setting on this seasonably beautiful weather day, the XC family helped clean up the area, amid the conversations and good energy that the home crowd had helped bring to the meet. All in all it truly was a memorable day. Congratulations on a nice home meet and best of luck to the Lancers for the rest of the season!

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