Columbia HS boys’ cross-country team captures first place at SEC-American Division Championships

The Columbia High School boys’ cross-country team won the team title at the Super Essex Conference-American Division Championships at Branch Brook Park in Newark. From left are Ricky Hankey, Jonathan Salinardo, Jared Pangallozzi, David Ives, Avery Coreschi, Tim Depue, and Rob Howell.
The Columbia High School boys’ cross-country team won the team title at the Super Essex Conference-American Division Championships at Branch Brook Park in Newark. From left are
Ricky Hankey, Jonathan Salinardo, Jared Pangallozzi, David Ives, Avery Coreschi, Tim Depue, and Rob Howell.

MAPLEWOOD, NJ (updated Friday Oct. 7, 10:12 p.m.) – The Columbia High School boys’ varsity cross-country team won the team title at the Super Essex Conference-American Division Championships at Branch Brook Park in Newark on Oct. 5.

The Cougars finished first among 10 teams. They defeated second-place Seton Hall Prep by a score of 48-70 based on five runners scoring for each team according to the place they finished.

The team’s average time for the 5K (3.1 mile) course was 16:42, the third-fastest time in course history.

The Cougars were paced by three top 10 medal-winning performances:  Senior Jared Pangallozzi finished third in 16:08, followed by juniors David Ives in seventh place and Tim Depue in eighth.  Juniors Avery Coreschi (14th) Jonathan Salinardo (16th) rounded out the scoring. The time span between the first and fifth runners, often referred to in cross-country as the “compression,” was an impressive 58 seconds.

In the girls’ varsity race Columbia’s Claudia Steiner finished in 13th place in a field of 66 runners.

The next cross-country meet for the boys’ varsity team will be Friday, Oct. 28, in the Essex County Championships at Brookdale Park in Montclair. The meet begins with the freshman race at 3 p.m. and concludes with the varsity boys’ race at 5:20 p.m.