TITLE DOUBLE: Members of the Princeton Day School boys’ cross country team are all smiles after they placed first in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public B state meet last Saturday at Holmdel Park. It marked the first Non-Public title in program history for the squad. It was also the second title this fall as the Panthers had previously won its first Prep B state championship in 15 years on October 30. PDS is next in action when it races in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on November 16 at Holmdel Park.

By Justin Feil

The Princeton Day School boys’ cross country season that began with uncertainty is ending with confidence.

Last Saturday, junior star Grayson McLaughlin finished third to lead a young Panther boys’ team to its first New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public B state championship on the heels of its first Prep B state championship in 15 years.

“It’s been amazing,” said McLaughlin, who clocked a time 17:29 over the 5,000 meter course in the Non-Public B meet at Holmdel Park. “Everyone on the team is so nice. Our community is amazing. We are like a brotherhood on the team. So to win it with this group of guys, it’s been amazing. And it’s so nice seeing all the hard work pay off and it’s a great feeling.”

It feels like just a starting point for the Panthers, who do not have a senior among their top seven varsity. That perceived lack of experience hasn’t hurt them. McLaughlin, Alexander Chia (11th in 18:36) and Luke Nolte (19th in 19:03) are the eldest PDS runners as juniors. Edward Letko, who was fifth in 17:56, is just a sophomore and Michael Zhou, a freshman who was 22nd in 19:19, rounded out the top five Saturday. Sophomores Jasper Mackey (25th in 19:20) and Cy Cooper (29th in 19:35) have also bolstered the Panthers’ depth.

“It’s really exciting honestly to see what we can do next year and in years to come because last year we graduated a few seniors so this year we kind of had low expectations going into it,” said McLaughlin. “But then, come race time, we started putting up these great times and we got really excited. It’s just special because we’ll be able to replicate this for years to come if we continue to put in the work. I think we’re only going to get better from here.”

PDS lost three runners from last year’s top seven, but have found their replacements. Their depth has delivered time and again.

“We definitely put an emphasis on ensuring we had a more stable team one through seven so that if one of our kids had a bad race, someone else would step up,” said PDS coach Mike Mazzei. “And I think we did a good job of that this year because then our four, five, six, seven each race have been different. They always kind of switch off that back half of our varsity team and it just goes to show you how close they are.”

The Panthers return to racing this Saturday when they’ll compete against the best of the best in the Meet of Champions, again at Holmdel Park. Each group champion received an automatic berth, plus the next eight fastest teams from across all groups. It is expected to be the final race for the Panthers this fall unless they elect to run at a regional race.

“Hopefully we can get a good place as a team scorer at Meet of Champs and kind of show Princeton Day is a legit program and we’re just going to keep getting better and better,” said Mazzei. “No one is leaving in our varsity seven, which is awesome. We have such a young team and I think that’s what’s going to be big is we’re having all this success now and I think after winning these two championships with preps and state, I think a lot of kids are going to get very excited now and be very motivated to train this summer and the upcoming seasons. And I think next year we’re going to come out even better. I think we’re going to even grow the program a lot more going into next year.”

PDS is playing with house money at the Meet of Champions. They are going out to run personal records on the course and see how they stack up with a team that could all be back. They will be setting a standard for next year.

“We want to keep developing that,” said Mazzei. “We want to keep winning consistently. That’s the goal. And then hopefully each year to keep moving ourselves up in the state rankings, I think that’s big too. When they do the compressed results of all the groups, I want to see where we ranked this year and then make it a goal next year to be a higher ranked team in the whole state when they combine the groups.”

The Panthers could see they were on an upward trend last year. A narrow miss in Prep B actually helped to spark this year’s success.

“We just missed winning preps by one point last year,” said Mazzei. “I think those seniors like Arun (Patel) last year were very good with rounding those kids up and telling them, keep putting the work in, you guys are going to, if you keep doing what you have to do, you will be good next year and you have the potential to have a really good team. And I think that’s what happened.”

McLaughlin has been an up-and-coming runner since he arrived at the high school level. He came with some impressive middle school credentials, which had Mazzei interested in how he would develop. McLaughlin has been able to contribute since his freshman year, with his role also increasing on the team each season.

“Obviously as a freshman, I really looked up to my seniors,” said McLaughlin. “We had great seniors, upperclassmen and captains to look up to. And then last year as a sophomore becoming one of the top guys, I started to become a role model and this year I’m a captain. I’m one of the oldest. There’s no seniors on the varsity team, so I’m like the oldest on the varsity team, so it’s been great. I’ve been able to become a leader and I think I’ve done a good job at bringing the team together.”

Letko’s development has helped to push along McLaughlin for the top spot, and getting Chia back after he didn’t run last season has further improved the Panthers. They’ve filled in the other varsity spots with motivated runners that showed early at the Cairn University Highlander Invitational that they would make PDS a strong contender.

“It was our first race win in a while as a team and we had some young guys step up and put up some really good times,” said McLaughlin. “Everybody PR’d that race, so that was kind of the turning moment where it was like, we really have a chance. That’s where it kind of started to all click for us. And then after that we had our CVC race where everybody continued to PR by like 30 seconds and our team average was 17 something which was insane.”

Races continued to give the Panthers good feedback. A few weeks after the Cairn meet, McLaughlin broke the school record on the Robbinsville 5K course with a 16:47.60 clocking at the CVC Divisional XC Championships.

“It was amazing,” said McLaughlin. “I kind of knew in the back of my head what the school record was, and it wasn’t my goal. But then during the race I was like, I have a chance and so I just started to kick. It was motivating me throughout the race and then after it felt great. It was super rewarding. Everyone was congratulating me at school.”

McLaughlin has been lowering his times by nearly a minute each successive year. He ran 20:00 at groups his first year, then 18:12 last year, and now 17:29 last Saturday at groups.

“I think it’s just consistency,” said McLaughlin. “It’s going to practice every day, doing the workouts, and our coach has been great. He’s been tapering us recently to allow us to perform at our best at the championship time. So consistency is what it comes down to.”

McLaughlin has been doing all this as a top runner for the Panthers despite not running year-round like most other elite runners. He has played ice hockey the last two years and intends to do the same again this year, but will also do some winter running. Then in the spring, he expects to return to baseball, where he plays infield and also pitches some.

“Probably all of my main competitors, they all run track, so it’s really tough,” said McLaughlin. “I’m kind of stuck between baseball and spring track, but I really do love baseball. But I may have to switch maybe this year or next year now.”

The PDS cross country team is thrilled to have him running whenever they can. He’s been an example of what hard work can produce.

“I know he’s going to develop more and I’m excited,” said Mazzei. “He’s just been a great kid to coach. I put the belief in him how good he can be and he knows how good he can be and I feel like his ceiling is just so high. He works his butt off every day and wants to be better every day he comes to practice. He just puts everything into it. He puts his heart and soul out there when he comes to practice. He gives it all and his hard work pays off and that shows his success.”

McLaughlin has been happy to be a contributor to the team’s success. The Panthers already have a prep and group state title this year, and it sets the bar for next year when expectations will be high with so much back.

“I think we’re all so excited for next year,” said McLaughlin. “I think we’re kind of hungry to see how far we can go next year and to see how many we can get in the top 10, see how good each of us can be. And I think it’s really motivating for a lot of the kids maybe who aren’t on varsity yet because they’re seeing our success. They’re probably getting motivated to put in the work. So I think this is only going to make us stronger in years to come.”