Hightstown Boys Cross Country Hoping to Continue Great Run

The Hightstown High School boys cross country team has put together a great three-year run of racing and the team has the talent to go for four in a row, according to Coach Tom McCafferty.

Hightstown finished last season with a record of 9-4. The team continued running well into the post-season, placing fifth in the Central Jersey Group III meet. The top five teams in that race earned a spot into the Group III championships.

"We made it to the Group III finals three years in a row," McCafferty said. "The guys have been at that level for a few years."

Well, how about another encore.

Luke Dermody returns for his sophomore season after a great freshman year.

"He was the Freshman of the Year for the state," McCafferty said. "That's not just for Group III, but the entire state. At the Group III championships, he was the fastest out of all the freshmen that ran at Holmdel Park."

Dermody placed 18th in the Group III championships. Hightstown was 13th in Group III as a team.

"No need to put any pressure on him," McCafferty said. "He'll probably finish in the top five -- if not win -- most of the races he enters this year. We Just need two to five on our team to stay with him."

The top five runners on each team establishes a team's score in a cross country race based on the spot they finish. Teams are allowed to enter as many runners as they want during regular season races, but Hightstown needs to designate seven runners for the county and state races.

Hightstown has 27 runners on the team.

Ashwin Narayan, a senior, figures to be among Hightstown's top runners. Unfortunately, he's recovering from an injury and will not be ready for the start of the season.

Darren Freedman, a senior, was one of Hightstown's top seven runners last year. He figures to be in that group again.

"He certainly has the experience of running at the state level," McCafferty said.

Steven Vitabile, a senior, is an all-around great athlete. He's a very good swimmer and has become a tri-athlete (swimming, running and biking).

Jared Sokoloff, a senior, runs year round at Hightstown.

"He's [Sokoloff] probably going to finish with 12 seasons of running at Hightstown," McCafferty said. "He does cross country, winter track and spring track. I expect him to contribute for us."

Alexander Mintz is moving from soccer to cross country this season. Having seen him run in the spring, McCafferty is confident it will be a smooth transition for the junior.

Kapil Khatri, a senior, was Hightstown's 10th runner last year,

"He's moving up," McCafferty said. "He put in a lot of mileage over the summer."

For the start of the season, at least, this figures to be Hightstown's top seven.

"Nice to have some guys back with experience," McCafferty noted.

"We'll see how the season goes. We lost to Princeton for the CVC Valley Division. We both lost some guys, so that should be a close meet."

Hightstown will open the season Sept. 10 when it takes part in the Cherokee Classic. Hightstown will open the regular season Sept. 13 against Trenton, Steinert and Lawrence in a quad meet at Mercer County Park.