l. to r. behind Coach Lisa Morgan: Jon Salinardo, Gabe Benson, Jared Pangallozzi, David Ives, Tim Depue, Jacob Paul, and Luke Burke.
The following was submitted by a team parent.
The Columbia boys varsity cross country team traveled to the renowned Van Cortlandt Park course in the Bronx, New York on Saturday, October 17 for the NYC Cross Country Carnival. They finished third among the 12 teams narrowly missing second place which went to Chaminade. The top spot went to one of the best teams in New Jersey, Haddonfield.
Columbia was again led by junior Jared Pangallozzi who finished 8th out of 83 runners in a time of 13:28 over the 2.5 mile course. Rounding out the scoring by the top 5 runners for the Cougars were David Ives (13th), Gabe Benson (26th)), Jon Salinardo (29th) and Jacob Paul (33rd).
With the boys varsity team in NYC back in New Jersey the rest of the Cougars, led by Coach Rich Moss, were at the Essex County Invitational at Branch Brook Park in Newark with separate races for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The boys sophomore team, without the four sophomores at Van Cortlandt Park, finished 2nd out of 12 teams behind only Montclair Kimberley Academy. In a field of 96 runners were Edward Martinez (8th) and Ricky Hankey (9th) followed by Justin Dyer (14th), Matt Lintern (17th), and Jackson MacKay (29th).
The girls sophomore team also did well at Branch Brook Park. Out of 11 teams the Cougars finished second behind Nutley. In a field of 70 runners Briana Reckling (4th) was the first runner for Columbia followed by Catherine Jordan (13th), and Emma Cook (19th).
Next up for the Columbia cross country team will be the Essex County Championships to be held Friday afternoon, October 30, at Brookdale Park in Montclair.
