By Bill Alden

Jackson McCarthy and Tucker Zullo have formed a productive partnership for the Princeton High boys’ cross country team over the last few years.

Last Saturday at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park, the senior stars worked together to produce a fitting culmination to their state careers as McCarthy finished 24th in a time of 16:27 over the 5,000-meter course with Zullo right behind in 31st with a time of 16:30.

“We took turns going back and forth, back and forth,” said Zullo. “I really like to take it out strong the first mile and Jackson was just sitting on me the first mile. And then the second mile it was reversed and we just were able to feed off each other. It’s funny, we were talking to each other during the race and saying, ‘I’m here,’ or ‘I got you.’”

While Zullo has often been the leader of the pack for PHS this fall, he had no problem trailing McCarthy at the MOC.

“I told myself at the beginning of the season I wanted to break 16:30 at Holmdel and that’s what I did today,” said Zullo. “I could not be more happy. And my training partner for four years was right there with me.”

PHS head coach Jim Smirk was very happy to see McCarthy and Zullo come big last Saturday.

“They worked incredibly hard and not just this season,” said Smirk. “They had great mentorship with the guys above them over the years. I think they took full advantage of that and really are an impressive credit to this program. It’s funny because you’re always trying to put together that race where you have that kind of connectedness to allow it to happen. To have a day here like this at the Meet of Champions, I am so happy for them.”

The team’s younger runners had impressive performances at the MOC as junior Tyler Fu placed 78th in 17:07 with junior Nick Trenholm taking 143rd in 17:57 and sophomore Jacob Bornstein finishing 155th with a time of 18:15.

“Ty ran a great race; he has been part of the story, the progression of Tyler Fu from a guy who is on the roster to a guy who is going to lead us in the future,” said Smirk, whose squad finished 13th of 20 schools in the team standings of the competition won by the Christian Brothers Academy.

“We’re real excited about his effort today. Jacob Bornstein has been this rock for us all season. The Meet of Champions is a different kind of beast and we’re thrilled he had the experience. He’s had an outstanding season for us and it’s hard to say anything but great things about him. He’s been our No. 5 guy because Nick Trenholm missed some significant time with an injury and today he started to show he’s a big part of our future as well.”

In Zullo’s view, the PHS team has a bright future. “We want to be a program that everyone is looking at, whether we have five guys under 16:30 or we have five guys under 18:30,” said Zullo.

“Tyler really put together a great season; and our sophomores, we had them going from running freshmen races last year to some of the top varsity races in the country this year. They had no time to get that JV experience.”