SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange–based Our Lady of Sorrows cross-country team ended its season with strong efforts at the St. John the Apostle Championships.
A tired OLS team took to the field against 13 other teams for the final cross-country meet of the season. While the results were not as good as hoped, they gave everyone great hope for next year. The expanded divisions hurt OLS, because the team is very young.
Third-grade girls Kendrick Conway and Anouk Lomuscio were the first off the mark in the third, fourth and fifth grade novice race but finished an unaccustomed middle of the pack over a course that was almost twice as far as what they have been running. However, the good news was that Kendrick’s 24th place was among the top ten third and fourth graders, while Anouk was among the top ten third graders.
Third-grade boy Gianluca Ravano also finished in the middle of the boys’ novice race but was third among third graders and 14th among third and fourth graders. Sam Chalk had a very rare off day; he also finished in the middle of the pack, with Christopher Schmidt not far behind.
In the varsity sixth, seventh and eighth grades race, Nora D’Andrea placed 13th. Just a seventh grader in her first season, she easily placed among the top ten sixth and seventh graders. Maudie Grace Lomuscio, one of the team’s most decorated runners over the years, finished her last race for OLS on a strong note.
Experience showed all season in the boys’ varsity, with Alfonso and Rafael Dunmeyer and Joe Schmidt. The streak continued with Alfonso taking eighth, Joe 14th, and Rafael 18th. Perhaps they were not at their best, but they are all seventh graders.
Lorenzo Tomasso, who helped an injured runner to finish last week, finished strongly in the special novice race.
Caleb Dean and Alessandro Ravana placed No. 1 and No. 3 in the fun run.
OLS’ expectations are higher for next year, considering that OLS had no cross-country or track for two years and 60 percent of the team had never run before this year. Two will graduate, but the team’s first-team all stars, Alfonso Dunmeyer and Joe Schmidt, will return, as will second-team all star Nora D’Andrea. Millie Williams, Rafael Dunmeyer, Marcus Williams, Gianluca Ravano and Kendrick Conway all missed honors by one performance. Watch for Christopher Schmidt to regain the form that he showed two years ago, and Anouk Lomuscio and Sam Chalk will gain from a year’s experience.
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