SETTING THE PACE: Princeton High boys’ cross country runner Alex Roth heads to the finish line in recent action. Last Saturday, senior star Roth took fourth individually at the Central Group 4 sectional meet at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, setting the pace as the Little Tigers won the team title. PHS will be looking for another big performance when it runs in the state Group 4 meet in November 12 at Holmdel Park. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Later this month, the 1974 Princeton High boys’ cross country team will be inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

Over the course of this fall, the 2016 boys’ squad has been following in the footsteps of its 1974 predecessors, making plenty of history in its own right. 

In late October, PHS won the team title at the Mercer County Championships for the first time since 1992. Last Saturday, the Little Tigers added another chapter to their success story, cruising to a first place finish at the Central Group 4 sectional meet at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, breaking the meet record for five-runner average with their mark of 16:05.3.

Senior star Alex Roth led the way for the Little Tigers, taking fourth individually as he clocked a time of 15:39.60 over the 5,000-meter course. Junior Will Hare took sixth in 15:51.50 with sophomore Acasio Pinheiro coming in seventh at 16:04.50, junior Nicholas Delaney finishing 11th in 16:22.80 and junior Alex Ackerman placing 16th at 16:27.80. The Little Tigers had 44 team points with runner-up WW/P-S well behind at 89.

PHS head coach Jim Smirk noted that his runners have been drawing inspiration from the 1974 squad.

“During our team meeting the guys were saying we are doing something that is on par with what this historic group in 1974 did,” said Smirk, whose team earned its first sectional title since 2012 and its first-ever at the Group 4 level.

“How cool would it be, the year that we are inducting them, to make this run. They were talking that the 1974 group raised the idea of cross country and what it meant to be on the team.”

In reaching the heights of a county and sectional title double, PHS has focused on doing the right things day in, day out.

“We have been building this all season, it is good hard work,” added Smirk.

“There is no real secret formula here. It is just a really good group of guys, a lot of strong leadership, a lot of conviction about what it takes to be good, and then following up with that, both in practice and out. They are doing all of the things they should be doing to give themselves the opportunity for success.”

Smirk, though, was taken aback by learning that his team had broken the meet record for average time.

“That was certainly what our goal was, we didn’t want to just go out and run, we wanted to challenge ourselves,” said Smirk, noting that the mark had been held by a powerhouse WW/P-S squad.

“We didn’t really know for sure what we were going to look like against a deep field. We had run in Manhattan, we had run at Bowdoin. We ran well there but that was still the middle of the season and the end of the season is a little different. We wanted to see what that was like. We wanted to show that we could control all phases of a race and I think we did that.”

In controlling the sectional race, PHS displayed its depth. “However well our top three ran and they certainly did, if you look at the results, our 4-5-6 guys were great,” said Smirk.

“Our sixth guy (Jackson Donahue in 17th at 16:28.40) was ahead of everybody else’s third man.”

Juniors Ackerman and Delaney have emerged as unsung heroes for the Little Tigers.

“Ackerman was coming off a really tough spring where he was dealing with a hip issue; we just couldn’t get him healthy,” said Smirk.

“He did the work. We didn’t know what that was going to look like and frankly our goal has been to just get him back to where he was a year ago. That is enough and then he runs 13 seconds faster on that course for a personal best. Nick is growing into the idea that he is a complete runner. He is always going to see himself as an 800 guy who can drop down to the 400 and get stuff done. He has been excellent for us over the years in that role in track but it was like I am kind of here for cross. I will be a role player and I think he really elevated his own performance at sectionals. That was the challenge, let’s stop being just a role player and be a star. He took that role on and excelled at it. Even he was surprised, saying I think I have more in the tank.”

In Smirk’s view his runners will have more in the tank for the state Group 4 meet this Saturday at Holmdel Park.

“Our training is going to do that for us; we took just a little edge off but we are training the way we want to train,” explained Smirk.

“We do it as an individual thing. Every athlete gets a slightly different workout according to what their needs are. Some guys love the taper; some guys love to keep training and keep that intensity going with maybe an extra rest day in there.”