The following was submitted by a team parent.
: Jacob Paul, Coach Lisa Morgan, Gabe Benson, Jared Pangallozzi, Jon Salinardo, David Ives, Luke Burke, and Tim Depue
The Columbia boys varsity cross country team traveled to Brookdale Park in Montclair on Friday afternoon for the 2015 Essex County Cross Country Championships. In a field of 21 teams the Cougars finished second to one of the best teams in New Jersey, Millburn.
Columbia was paced by junior Jared Pangallozzi, who finished 3rd out of 150 runners in a time of 15:50 over the 3.1 mile course, and sophomore David Ives (9th in 16:19). As reported on the MileSplit NJ website, both Pangallozzi and Ives achieved national elite status for their races. Rounding out the scoring by the top 5 runners for the Cougars were Jacob Paul (32nd), Tim Depue (35th), and Jon Salinardo (41st).
The junior varsity teams for Columbia also ran strong races at Brookdale Park. The boys junior varsity team finished in 3rd place out of 16 teams. Top twenty races were turned in by Edward Martinez (6th in 17:37), Ricky Hankey (7th in 17:45), and Matt Lintern (15th in 18:05). The girls junior varsity team finished 3rd out of 9 teams. Emma Cook (6th) led the team followed by Milena Almetica (9th), and Jenni Hill (20th).
Next up for the Columbia cross country team will be the varsity New Jersey state sectional championship race to be held Saturday, November 7, at Greystone Park in Morris Plains.
