IN THE NEWS: Mount Cross Country Finishes 2nd in Division

CALDWELL – The Mount St. Dominic Academy cross country team had impressive performances at the Super Essex Conference Liberty Division Championships on Monday, Oct. 7 as well as at the Essex County Track Coaches Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 12.

The Lions finished in second place in the Liberty Division Championships.

“Senior Aly Greenberg, our No. 1 runner all season, improved from 15th last year to third this year,” said head coach Robert DeCarlo. “Gabby Caputo, also a senior, jumped from 29th to seventh, and freshman Cara D’Angelo ran a personal best of 23:20 to place sixth overall. All three were named first team, all-conference for their efforts.”

At the Essex County Track Coaches Invitational, held at Branch Brook Park in Newark, the team won many medals and picked up career milestones.

“We had a great day overall,” DeCarlo said. “We ran 13 girls; 11 won medals and 12 ran either personal bests or season bests. Our frosh girls team placed second and our sophomores placed third. We only had two girls in each of the junior/senior races and it took three to score as a team.”

The seniors race saw impressive performances from Greenberg and Caputo.

“In her fastest time ever, tri-captain Aly Greenberg broke 22 minutes for the first time, running 21:53, a personal best by 28 seconds,” DeCarlo said. “Tri-captain Gabby Caputo, who missed about a month mid-season due to illness/injury, has continued to improve, running a lifetime best at Branch Brook of 22:51, 30 seconds better than her previous best on this course.”

In the freshmen race, “Cara D’Angelo improved by 54 seconds to place third; Lea Przyhocki improved by 39 seconds to place seventh, and Ava LaBruno and Amanda Hayes both improved by 50 seconds to place nine and 13th, respectively,” he said.

In the sophomores race, “Carina Navas ran a 5K PR of 24:04 to place 11th, and Juliana Herbst improved her 5K time by over a minute to take 14th,” the coach said. “Victoria Wall and Stephanie Peters also ran personal bests to finish in the top 25.”

In the juniors race, DeCarlo said Elizabeth Victori, in her first race since week 2 of the season after injury/illness, “ran a personal best of 24:49, dropping 56 seconds from her previous best, and Elena Tyndall took 45 seconds off her previous best to break 27 for the first time.”

In the regular season, the Lions finished with an undefeated record of 11-0.

“We never talked about winning at all during the preseason and simply preached hard work and consistent improvement,” DeCarlo said.

“After starting at 6-0 after week 2, we talked to the girls about the big match-up with Livingston during week 3, which ended up in a 27-28 win for us in our toughest match-up of the season. Carrying that 8-0 record into week 4 gave us the momentum we needed to attack early in the races against West Essex and Cedar Grove and to finish 11-0.”

The championship season continues with the Essex County Championships on Friday, Nov. 1; the NJCTC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 9; and the NJSIAA Group Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16.