SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – In its final meet of the season, the Our Lady of Sorrows cross-country team set a single-season school record for medals.
Once every year, Saint John the Apostle hosts a traditional cross-country meet with boys’ and girls’ championships at the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels. The Varsity includes sixth-graders, along with the seventh- and eighth-graders, and they run the longer seventh and eighth course of 1.65 miles, almost a half-mile longer than their normal course.
The Junior Varsity is an even greater challenge as the third- and fourth-graders join the fifth-graders in running the 1.35 miles course for fifth- and sixth-graders. They run almost twice their normal distance.
OLS has no fifth-grade boys, but the third- and fourth-graders were up to the task as Christopher Schmidt in sixth, Joe Schmidt in eighth, Alfonso Dunmeyer in 13th, Rafael Dunmeyer in 14th and Brendan McKeon in 20th, put a scare into first-place Assumption and second-place Saint Elizabeth, both heavily reliant on fifth-graders. Add the strong efforts of Peter Dio and this squad is already the favorite for next year!
The Girls JV race showed the advantage that fifth-graders have, as Maudie Grace Lomuscio and Isabel Sabnekar placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Bella Borde and Mary Kola, both third-graders, showed no fear over the longer course.
The Varsity race was the last for Jared Edwards, who moves on to high school. His sixth-place finish capped a career that saw him win four major races. He never finished out of the top 10 in any race he entered. He is among the top five cross-country runners in OLS history.
Aryan Sabnekar, a seventh-grader, ran a solid race, as did Molly Donahue, the sole representative in the girls’ Varsity team.
Anouk Lomuscio was a determined participant in the Fun Run, but it will be three more years before she will be a third-grader.
The team set a record of 41 medals, but would have taken a team prize or two had it not been for injuries to Emma Torres and Halle Jules. Both would have been expected to win first or second league honors in the Varsity level. Fortunately, both will be back next year. Another who wrestled with injuries was Tyler Craig.
Thus, the team of 14 members finished the season with six first team and one second team members of the All-League team.
Next year should be better!
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