Woodside in Pursuit of 100th Coaching Win at Princeton High

If you coach long enough and keep producing talented athletes, milestone moments are destined to arise.

John Woodside, the coach of the Princeton High boys cross country team, starts this season with a career record of 95-34.

"If we do what we're supposed to do, we'll get that 100th win this season," Woodside said. "That will be a big milestone."

It would certainly be a surprise if Woodside didn't reach 100 wins this season. Princeton is traditionally a strong cross country team. It was 11-2 last year and won the Valley Division of the Colonial Valley Conference.

Other highlights from 2010 included a second-place finish in the Central Jersey Group III meet and a third at the Mercer County championships.

"That was one of our better seasons," Woodside said.

According to Woodside, the top two returning runners are Matt Hoffman (a senior and captain of the team) and Will Flemer, a junior.

Kevin Petrovic, a senior, is another one of Princeton's stronger runners. He was in India, however during most of Princeton's preseason.

"Not sure who the other top guys will be," Woodside said.

In cross country, the top five finishers for each team in a race determine the scoring. During regular season matches -- and a few tournaments -- teams can enter as many runners as the want. When it comes down to the late-season county and state champions, each team must designate seven runners.

As it stands now, Princeton many students seeking one of those seven spots. Princeton has 43 boys out for the cross country team.

Among the guys literally in the running to help win meets for Princeton are Ian McIsaac (junior), Joe Rorem (junior), Vevin Vahdat (sophomore), Sage Healy (sophomore), Anders Berg (sophomore), Matt Wong (junior), Sabara Dasgupta (sophomore) and Luke Bozich (junior).

Kevin Ivanov (senior), Conor Donahue (sophomore) and Matt Burns (senior) ran for Woodside in the spring track season and are also giving cross country a try.

All the runners will get a chance to show what they can do in a meet when the season starts on Sept. 13 against Notre Dame and Robbinsville at Mercer County Park.

"Robbinsville was behind us last year, but they were right on our heels," Woodside said. "Don't know for sure what they have this year, so you're nervous about that. Notre Dame usually has a pretty good team. It'll be a tough opening meet."

It'll also be the first chance to close the gap on that 100-win mark.