RIST AND REWARD: Princeton High boys’ cross country runner Jacob Rist competes in a 2013 race. Last Saturday, senior Rist placed 35th individually at the Group 3 state championship meet to set the pace for PHS as it took 13th in the team standings. Rist clocked a time of 17:05 over the 5,000-meter course at Holmdel. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

While the Princeton High boys’ cross country team didn’t finish as high at the Group 3 state championship meet last Saturday as it did last fall, Mark Shelley saw progress.

“Other people ran great races and we couldn’t control that,” said PHS head coach Shelley.

“What we could control, we did well. We ran very, very well. We were 11th last year and 13th this year but I think this was a better performance in terms of hitting our potential. I was very pleased, we were going south at the state meet last year in terms of injuries and this year we were headed in the other direction.”

Senior Jacob Rist battled through injury to set the pace for the Little Tigers, placing 35th as he covered the 5,000-meter course at Holmdel in a time of 17:05.

“Jacob has not been 100 percent this fall, he had achilles tendinitis,” said Shelley of Rist, who took ninth at the Central Jersey sectional meet on November 8 to help PHS finish second in the team standings in that competition.

“He gutted it out; he wanted to break 17 and came really close. The only way for him to heal would have been to take six weeks off but he is a senior and didn’t want to do that. We listened to his parents and doctor.”

Another PHS runner, sophomore Alex Roth, gutted it out as he overcame knee problems to place 57th at the state meet.

“We were amazed with how Alex did,” said Shelley. “He ran 17:05 at Thompson Park last week and then ran a 17:24 at Holmdel on a harder course. Holmdel has more hills. He was tentative with his knee earlier. At Holmdel, there is the hill in the beginning and he got out a little better. He was just seven seconds off his Holmdel record. He has six weeks off with just rehab; it shows his natural ability and how seriously he took rehab.”

Senior James Cao gave the team a serious effort as he finished 93rd with a time of 17:55.

“James was emotional after the race, it was his last race,” said Shelley. “He has always been the ultimate teammate, the kids love him and we as coaches love him.”

Shelley loves what he has seen from junior Noah Chen over the last few weeks.

“Noah is very talented and very personable; he has sometimes struggled with consistency in workouts and meets,” said Shelley of Chen, who was PHS’s third finisher at the state meet, taking 62nd in a time of 17:28.

“We have seen a positive change in his consistency over the last few weeks. He is going to be a leader for us next year. Getting him to harness his ability has been our goal.”

Sophomores Jonathan Petrozzini and Patrick O’Connell showed their ability as they took 89th and 105th, respectively, on Saturday,

“Petrozzini and O’Connell are both sophomores and it was their first state meet,” said Shelley.

“Petrozzini has had problems with hips and O’Connell had strep throat and was out 10 days; it has been tough for him to get his stamina back. Both PR’s at Holmdel.”

In Shelley’s view, his runners gained some mental toughness as they dealt with the ups and downs of the season.

“It was frustrating that we had a number of injuries to our top guys,” said Shelley.

“It hurt us in terms of competitiveness but it gave the opportunity for freshmen and sophomores. We had two freshmen, Nick Delaney and Alex Ackerman, who got to run some varsity races. One of the things about sports is that it is like life, you get lessons in dealing with adversity, individually and collectively. Individually, you may lose your place and you have to still be a good teammate. The team might not do as well as we want. The lessons go beyond cross country. We want to help the kids take the lessons and learn from them.”

With a stellar group of young runners returning, Shelley believes the future is bright if those lessons are heeded.

“We have a great group of kids; we have a super foundation for the next two or three years,” said Shelley.

“We had a freshman, three sophomores, and a junior run on Saturday; we may have been the youngest team in the state meet. They need to be running consistently in the summer, that let’s us do more focused practices in the fall and it also helps prevent injuries because you increase the base. We are looking for them to be in the 30-50 weekly mileage range, depending on the individual runner. They have seen that guys like Jacob do that and how it has helped.”