Underclassmen Will Lead Girls Cross Country

After Millburn's top two girl cross country runners graduated last year, Head Coach Mike Artigliere is looking to fill the holes left by Shayna Rose and Sarah Barrese with his current seniors and underclassmen.

Rose and Barrese placed 9th and 12th in the county last season, so Artigliere is drawing from the talent on the rest of his team, which placed third in the county and second in the conference section last year.

"We had a good year overall," Artigliere said. "Being top three in the county and being second in the conference—which again, I think as a team we were shooting a little bit higher. Obviously the next step is to win it. All said, it was a good season, but I think we left some things on the table."

Based on last season's county cross country and spring track results, junior Emily Draper appears to be the lead candidate to snag the top spot on the cross country roster. She placed 18th in the 1,600 last spring in the county championships and 13th in cross country, along with an 18th place finish in the section.

Teammates Sarah Krauss, Margaret Tang and Beatrice Conrad along with senior Emily Butcher also are favorites to crack the top seven, which had not been set as of late last week.

"I think we've been fortunate the last few years to have enough runners in each class that we continue to reload," Artigliere said. "I'm not saying I'm not going to miss any of our seniors that we lost because they were great runners and they did a great job for our team, but we continue to build every year... We have a real solid nucleus."

The Miller girls have been chasing the Lancers for the last two seasons, and Artigliere said he does not envision things any different this season. The Millers finished second in the county and conference behind Livingston last fall.

This year, Artigliere said he hopes to have a competitive season - finishing in the top spot or near the top in the county and the conference.

Much of the girls' success this season could ride on Tang. She had a promising freshman season and was conference champion in the 3,200, but a less successful sophomore season.  Artigliere said this could be the year she finds her stride.

"She had a great season as a freshman, she had an ok season as a sophomore. I don't know what it was," Artigliere said. "I think it's quite possible [that she has a breakout season]. She seems like she's committed to it again this year and is working very hard toward being one of our top runners."

The coach said his goals for the season include keeping the girls healthy and challenging them to set personal best records. He admits that achieving the goals of winning the conference and the county will be difficult, but not impossible.

"With the loss of Sarah and Shayna, I have to see how good we really are," he said. "I think we have the talent level to be very successful."

Millburn kicks it's season off on Tuesday afternoon in a tri-meet at Branch Brook Park.