Both the boys and the girls of the Marlboro High School Cross-country team have just sprinted their way to the end of a great 2015 season. Everyone has worked extremely hard this season, and with the leadership of Coaches Sypniewski, Leibman, and Alex, the team was destined to have an amazing season.

This season, the majority of the meets were against three other schools and these were called “quad meets.” Teams that the students played against included Manalapan, Middletown North, Middletown South, Freehold Boro, and Freehold Township. Additionally, the team ran in invitational meets such as the Monmouth County Championships and the Battle of Ocean County Park.

Every school that the team ran against had a different course to run the 5K on. According to senior, Kathy Gong said that for her the hardest course was at Holmdel. This is because of all of the hills that the course has.

The team is very young and has the potential to improve greatly. The only senior this year is Kathy Gong and she has been running since her freshman year. The majority of the team also runs on the MHS track team and is looking forward to training for what is to come during the rest of the year. The Cross-country team has been running since August to prepare for this year and practices every day.

Kathy Gong said, “The team has put in a lot of effort. It takes dedication to come to practice everyday as well as balancing school work.”

Some notable accomplishments this season came from, junior, CJ Maree and, sophomore, Anna Paziweska. Maree ran his personal best time this season with a time of 16:45 for a 5K. Paziweska placed 11th place at the Battle of Ocean County Park with a time of 20:55. Additionally, the new runners for this season Devika Rao, Emily Liu, Elaina Heraty, James Rapley, and Luke Rapley improved a lot over the course of the season and show a lot of potential for next year along with junior Juliet Oskowsky who proved to be very valuable to the team.

Overall, the MHS cross-country team had a very successful season. There is no doubt that their hard work and dedication paid off.