Coming into the fall, Jim Smirk sensed that people had doubts as to whether his Princeton High girls’ cross country team could regain its standing as a perennial power.

“We have been working all season on trying to put together our identity; we had a lot of seniors last year and they were a good group of seniors,” said PHS head coach Smirk.

“There were a lot of question marks, more so from other people than ourselves, about how good we could be. A lot of people were floating around that it is a rebuilding year; there was this idea that it was OK if we weren’t very good.”

Those doubts were dispelled earlier this month when PHS floated to a first-place finish in the team standings at the Fall Classic. Senior star Lou Mialhe took place third individually to set the pace for the Little Tigers, clocking a time of 19:17.20 over the 5-kilometer course at Thompson Park in Jamesburg. Sophomore Chloe Taylor took sixth in 19:52.20 while junior Izzy Trenholm was eighth in 20:02.20 and junior Anne Fleur Hartmanshenn placed 17th in 20:31.50. PHS had a score of 69 to edge Westfield, who came in with 71 in the team competition that included 16 schools.

“The Fall Classic actually helped us say wait a minute here, every year we are working on building great athletes,” said Smirk.

“It doesn’t matter whether they graduated a bunch of seniors. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have a lot of seniors on varsity. Our goal is the same, to provide these kids with the best opportunity for success that we can. I am really pleased with our result but I can’t say that I am surprised.”

Smirk is pleased with the performance he has been getting from senior star Mialhe at the front of the PHS pack.

“Lou is bringing a high level of focus and commitment to everything she is doing,” said Smirk.

“I think she has learned a lot over the years and she is really starting to apply that. She is really taking a shot at making us a better team by doing those things.”

Rising sophomore star Taylor, for her part, is applying some valuable lessons she gained last fall in her first season with the program.

“There was no pressure on her as a freshman to carry the load; she was able to learn what it takes to be a champion level competitor,” said Smirk.

“In middle school, she won a lot of races because she was flat out better but when you get to high school, that is not always going to be the case. You are going to go against girls who are physically better than you and you will have to find ways to beat them. That’s what we wanted her to learn as a freshman and it is showing off now. She has been running really well.”

Junior Trenholm has also been doing very well for the Little Tigers his fall.

“Last year, she was a contributor on varsity but had a tough end to the season,” said Smirk.

“She got sick at the end of the season so this year she came with the idea that that could very well happen again so I need to make sure I make my impact every time I go out. She has been running with the idea that it is not enough for there to be there, she has got to make an impact and that is what we have seen from her.”

Hartmanshenn is developing into an impact performer for PHS. “I would say that the breakout star for us, the individual that is coming into her own is Anne Fleur Hartmanshenn,” asserted Smirk.

“She is a kid who freshman year was good but not our best freshman. Sophomore year she was good and she was a scorer on varsity for track. She was the eighth person in cross country and doing her job, winning JV races. She looked good but couldn’t quite crack into the varsity. She put in some work over the summer and she comes out this year and every time she races you see her grow in that varsity role. That’s what you want.”

While PHS didn’t get the result it wanted at the CVC Colonial Division meet last Wednesday at Veteran’s Park in Hamilton, Smirk saw it as a good learning experience for the squad.

“The divisional meet was a little tough for us; Izzy did not have a great race,” said Smirk, whose team fell 24-33 to WW/P-S but defeated WW/P-N 17-40, Trenton 15-50, and Notre Dame 21-36.

“She was not feeling real well, it was just a hiccup in the training. But on the flip side, Emma Eikelberner, who had been struggling this season, really stepped up and ran a very strong race for us. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get ahead of South’s middle pack. They beat us head to head and rightfully so, they are a good team. We will keep working at it. We didn’t come into that race fully formed. We know that isn’t the team we are going to look like in a month.”

With the county meet taking place this Friday at Thompson Park, Smirk feels his team will be in the running for the title.

“Our game plan is let’s do a better job securing our top four,” said Smirk.

“Lou is doing a great job; she is going to have some really tough competition. There are some other girls out there if you make a mistake they are going to make you pay.”