Cross Country Coach Expects Strong Season, Despite Loss of Team Stars

Two-time Watchung Conference champion Brittney Veeck and Meet of Champions qualifier Martin Sweeney graduated last May. But, coaches Jeff Koegel and Bob Rafferty say they're hoping the returners and some new harriers can help fill the void.

“I think we’ll be OK,’’ said Koegel, who’s in his 13^th year as coach and is a calculus and math teacher. “We never have a whole lot of kids, probably something like 14. We might pick up one or two when school starts. Numbers haven’t ever been our thing.’’

Despite the lack of depth, the Raiders have had some good dual meet teams. Last year, the team was second in the Watchung Conference and fourth at the Union County meet.

Sweeney, who was 10^th in the State Group III meet last year, second in the Watchung Conference and third in the section and Union County meet, led the Raiders to an 8-1 dual meet season.

“He was one of my all-time bests,’’ Koegel said.

Senior Brandon Wheeler and junior Alex Parker will be the two top runners this season, returning along with senior Bobby Evans and senior Brian Walsh. Wheeler, Walsh and Parker finished 27-28-30, and Evans finished 33^rd in the county meet.  Sophomore Jon Kerby was 39^th. Wheeler was fourth in the conference meet and Parker was eighth.

“We had some kids who were inexperienced last year and were a little on the inconsistent side,’’ Koegel said. “But they put together a good summer and I expect they’ll do better this year.’’

Eight girls came out for the team, including Laura Bruce and Kathleen Leeper. Bruce was 38^th in the county meet where the Raiders finished seventh after finishing second the year before. Bruce was also eighth in the conference when the Raiders finished second to Westfield.

Junior Ali Pearl is also a runner with promise, and has the genes. Her mother was a state cross country champ in New York, Koegel said. Pearl came over to the cross country team from soccer, something that is unusual in Scotch Plains.

“We have a lot of first-timers,’’ Koegel said. “We’ll do OK in dual meets. I think Ali is going to be good and the two juniors will do well.’’

Koegel said that while the team will miss the two graduated stars, quality is what the club is after.

“Brittany had school records on every course we ran on and in track she had every distance record,’’ Koegel said. “It’s a big loss, but we’ll move on.’’