South Brunswick Girls Cross Country Returns Great Depth

While a lot remains to be determined about the 2011 South Brunswick High School girls cross country season, the effort and the options are pretty well covered.

According to Coach Wilfredo Rivera, most of the girls on his team have done a lot of running over the summer. And while South Brunswick only needs to line up five girls to officially score as a team in a race, it currently has 33 runners on its roster.

"I'd have to check, but if you combine the total with the boys team (46 runners), this might be the highest number of runners we've had since I have been here," Rivera noted.

Last year, South Brunswick finished 4-1 in the regular season. South Brunswick also competes in invitationals, county and state meets.

The first event on the schedule is the Cherokee Invitational on Sept. 10. The first regular season meet will be a home race against Piscataway on September 13.

The main events on the schedule are the Greater Middlesex Conference and Central Jersey Group IV meets.

"We came in third in the counties (GMC race) last year," Rivera noted. "I expect we'll do a little better this season. Prior to last year, the girls had won the GMC four years in a row."

South Brunswick placed sixth in the Central Jersey Group IV meet last season. The top five teams advance on to the Group IV finals.

"We had a lot of talented girls," Rivera said. "The girls just needed some time to adjust."

Cayla Del Piano, a senior, will lead the run for a better 2011.

"She's one of the better runners in the state," Rivera said. "She is by far the best runner in the county. That is unlikely to change."

Del Piano will have a lot of company on race days. Dhanashree Bahulekar, Jenna Boyle, Archana Bottu, Lindsay DelPiano, Sanika Dighe, Karen Reyes, Danielle Resnick, Zenzali Lael, Emily Lane, Julia Lekht, Taiyana Madden, Gina Martinez, Nicolette Mateescu, Monica Eserjose, Jessica Himmel, Emily Giarrantano, Harshini Sahani, Nicole Sendner, Nina Paranjpe, Khadija McDonald, Stephanie Zheng, Carly Trill, Jenna Thompson, Charlotte Thomas, Christina Zhang, Megan Hussey, Kristen Huang, Shruthi Shankar, Kristen Tran, Danielle Oakes, Miranda Tanpiengco and Melanie Huen are other members of the team. 

"We had talent, but a lot of inexperience last year," Rivera noted. "The experience we gained last year will go a long way to helping this team do even better this season."