Cross Country is truly a sport unlike any other. A group of people spend their free time together, and simply run. Whether they do it for the competition, as conditioning for another activity, or just to hang out with friends; everyone shares a common desire to improve. Runners power through intense workouts, long-runs, and every distance in between. Our sport is others’ punishment, yet there is a continuous desire to run that keeps bringing us back.

The Cross Country team went into this year with modest goals. After losing four seniors from the Class of 2016, this cross country season was initially seen as more of a rebuilding year. The varsity team, led by senior captains Joey Defeo and James Smart, was mostly made up of what seemed to be a makeshift supporting cast. The rest of the varsity team was made up of a pair of freshmen, (Stephen Daly and Harrison Vives), a converted soccer player (Ira Daly), and a transfer student (myself). Al Chiesa finished the season as the 7th man for varsity, although Tyler Davidson, Brendan Lawlor, and Finn Gannon were 7th at various points in the season.

Our year began with the Roxbury Invitational, where Stephen Daly won the freshman event, and Joey Defeo won the varsity event. However, because half of the varsity team was taking the ACT that day, it was unclear how our team as a whole would fare this season. Next, the team beat Chatham in our first regular season meet to go 1-0 in the NJAC Conference. Over the course of the next month, the team would go on to beat Morristown, cruise past Mendham, and sweep Montville to finish with an undefeated record in regular season competition. By this time, we knew that we were a more talented team than we initially thought. During that span, the team participated in a number of invitational meets. The Varsity team headed to Van Cortlandt Park in New York City for the Manhattan Invitational, while the JV and Freshman competed in the Greystone Invitational. The top 12 runners for Delbarton later headed to Rhode Island for the Ocean State Invitational, and stayed overnight for the meet while the JV and Frosh ran at the Passaic Invitational. The last invitational meet was the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park, where the state championships are held each year. The varsity team was able to win the “Group F” race.

Upon finishing the invitations and regular season, the team was in high spirits and ready to make some noise at the county and state level. On October 18th, the team had the NJAC championships, and on a day that was the hottest in weeks the Green Wave was able to take second as a team. A week later, NJACs was the Morris County Final, one of the most anticipated races of the season. Conditions were pristine, and almost everyone on all three levels achieved personal records or “PRs” that day. The team took second only to Morris Hills, at the time ranked 11th in the state. In the process, the Varsity team set a Greystone school course record, breaking the 2013 team’s previous best time. Following counties, we prepped and raced at the Catholic Track Championships, the first round of the Non-Public A State Championship. The Green Wave placed second once again, but all teams automatically advanced to the next round, and many teams didn’t run their best runners that race.

Finally, on November 12th, the Varsity team was back at Holmdel Park for the official Non-Public A State Championship. In order to advance to the Meet of Champions (aka as the NJ state final), the team had to place top three in Non-Public A division. It was an exhilarating day, as members from the JV and Frosh, as well as even a few not associated with XC, came to represent the Green Wave. The race was tough, but in the end, Delbarton took third and moved on to MOCs for the first time since 2013. The team knocked off #18 Bergen Catholic and #19 Union Catholic, and was beaten only by the 2015 State champion, CBA, and runner up, Don Bosco. In the process the Varsity set another school course record for team time at States. During the final race of the season at MOCs, the team didn’t run as well as they would have liked, but still placed 15th in the state as a team overall, a weighty accomplishment for a team that wasn’t expected to do much at the outset.

Needless to say, the season was a massive success. Top runner Joey Defeo consistently competed to win in each race, and eventually committed to the top ranked NCAA XC team in the country, Northern Arizona University. The rest of the varsity achieved many individual accolades, and Steven Daly even had the top freshman time in the state for a portion of the season. We improved dramatically over the course of the fall, vastly exceeded any expectations we had, and had a great time while doing it. Along the way there were a couple of hiccups, but no matter what, we stuck together and faced the challenges ahead. This season was one that we will never forget.