By Bill Alden

Jackson McCarthy didn’t have his greatest day as the Princeton High boys’ cross country team competed in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional meet earlier this month.

Senior McCarthy placed 12th overall as the team’s third finisher, helping PHS take second in the team standings.

Last Saturday in the state Group 4 meet at Holmdel Park, McCarthy produced his best day of the season, finishing sixth overall, covering the 5,000-meter course in a time of 16:29 to lead the way for the Little Tigers.

McCarthy’s heroics helped PHS take fifth place in the team standings as senior Acasio Pinhiero finished eighth in 16:36  and senior Tucker Zullo came in 27th at 16:57.

“Jackson ran lights out; the week before he made some tactical errors early and worked really hard to get back in the race,” said PHS head coach Jim Smirk, whose team was later added to the upcoming Meet of Champions (MOC) as a wildcard pick.

“I think more than anything, he just cleaned that up, He had more confidence in his ability to stay with the race late. That is how he raced and it paid off. It is pretty impressive for a guy who a lot of people think is an 800 specialist.”

Smirk, for his part, wasn’t surprised that McCarthy came up big last Saturday.

“I think that is true of that crew, at any given day these guys are all capable of a good race,” said Smirk.

“Acasio did that at sectionals and Tucker has done that probably half a dozen times this season where he just runs away from the rest of the race. That is one of the advantages of having that veteran crew that has come up through a pretty successful number of years that they have been on the team. They have that confidence to take that shot when they are ready.”

Pinheiro and Zullo drew on their experience as they gritted things out at the Group meet.

“Acasio wasn’t feeling great at the beginning of the week; he did the work he needed to do to make sure that he advanced,” said Smirk.

“Tucker had a little bit of a tough day. He went out aggressively; he just needs to take a deep breath and realize that he is good enough to take an attack late. There was a late attack in the race and it just snuck up on him a little bit. He wasn’t quite ready to respond to it, he fought his way through it.”

Further back in the pack, junior Tyler Fu and sophomore Jacob Bornstein fought hard as they placed 49th and 93rd, respectively.

“Tyler Fu had a really nice day; he was on the correct side of the break and he picked up a lot of places within the last mile of the race,” said Smirk of Fu who clocked a time of 17:15 with Bornstein coming in at 17:49.

“That kept us involved and gave us an opportunity foe this wild card. Jacob did what he always does, which is make sure that he hangs in and close the door for us. It is great; he is the perfect fifth man. He never panics; he just keeps doing good work. I think our estimate was that he picked up 18 places in the last mile and a quarter so that was a really great end to the race.”

PHS will be looking to end things on a high note at the MOC this Saturday at Holmdel Park.

“For Tucker, Acasio, and Jackson, it is more of the same; it is this idea of let’s see how small that gap can be and how far up the race we can be,” said Smirk.

“I think Acasio and Tucker are both capable of better races than they had on Saturday. In talking with them, they are both excited to have that opportunity so we want to see them do that. They have worked hard their entire careers to be in this moment. We want them to find success there. For Tyler and Jacob, I think the big here is what can we learn and what can we build.”