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By Bill Alden

As the Princeton Day School boys' cross country team hit the hills around the Great Road this August for its preseason training, longtime head coach Eamon Downey realized that he had something special on his hands.

"I felt it could be a good year for us,” said Downey. “We had a bunch of seniors returning who had been together for four years. We had a promising ninth grader in Erik Lefebvre and there were some other surprises in the freshman group. I thought we had enough depth to compete with the other Prep B schools.”

Last week, the Panthers showed they could do more than just compete as they ran to the Patriot Conference title in a meet held at Gill St. Bernard’s on October 11.

Precocious freshman Lefebvre lived up to his promise as he placed second in a time of 17:46. Senior leader Jeff Moll was just behind Lefebvre, finishing fourth in a time of 17:54.

Showing depth, the Panthers other top finishers included Kevin Suyo in 11th, Senior Garret Helm in 12th, and freshman Mike Melizzo in 14th.

The Panthers’ performance at the meet even took Downey by surprise. "Things gelled at the Patriot meet," asserted Downey. "They ran above their potential. At the Newark meet, Gill had two runners ahead of us and Rutgers Prep had two. At the Patriot meet, there was just Taylor Coate from Gill."

It appears likely that not too many people are going to finish ahead of Lefebvre over the next few years. "He ran a 4:59 mile at Timberlane and broke school records there,” said Downey.

"I thought he might step in and be a top-5 guy on varsity. He’s caught up with our workouts. His biomechanics are good and he’s a strong runner. He has a great head for competition, nothing rattles him."

Senior star Moll has been a consistently strong competitor for the Panthers. "Jeff is a great leader," said Downey.

"He’s also a rower and that adds to his strength. I thought that so far this season his workouts had been strong but he hadn’t raced in a manner that reflected that. He dipped under 18 minutes last Tuesday and I think he reaped the benefits of his excellent training."

Downey was pleased by the excellent performances turned in by his supporting cast. “Kevin has struggled to get into a flow, he did a fantastic job coming in 11th,” added Downey.

"Helm ran cross country in middle school but didn’t come out for the varsity until this year. He has a lot of room for improvement. Mike Melizzo is a dark horse. He’s a young-looking freshman with a beautiful stride.”

Downey is hoping the Patriot crown will be a springboard to more success the rest of the fall. 'I think it will build confidence,” maintained Downey. “I’d love to see these guys keep improving at the big meets. If the two freshmen and Helm can keep improving we could gel into a nice team. I see us as a top-three team at the Prep B meet."

PDS also appears to be well-stocked to make some noise for seasons to come. "The nice thing is that with the seven guys we took to the Patriot meet, we have other freshmen beating down the door," noted Downey, whose team has a dual meet at Pennington on October 22 before hosting a tri-meet against Hun and Lakewood Prep on October 25. "We have 10-12 kids in our workout pack. We have good numbers."

It certainly looks like PDS will be clocking a lot of good numbers in upcoming races.