Memorial XC teams looking toward the future

Brick Memorial boys cross country coach Al Cuthbert and girls coach Jessica Jones had enjoyable seasons last year with marquee names on both teams who have since graduated. Now they're rebuilding with some promising young talent as they head into the big weekend meets later this month.

"It's tough to go from last year to this year," admitted Jones, after both teams from Brick Memorial competed in the Shore Coaches Meet at Holmdel Park on Saturday. "We're young, with no seniors. We have four freshmen, two sophomores and five juniors."

Jones said one of those sophomores — T'keya Grimes — "has surprised us" and has come on strongly as the lead runner of late, followed by juniors Jaimie Scott and Abby Thornton, who were among the top five runners on the team last year when graduates Kristen Perrine and Melany Weissinger ran outstanding times. Grimes did not place in the Shore Coaches Meet but ran a team-best 21:12 time on the grueling hills. Scott clocked a 22:23 and Thornton was timed in 22:51.

Grimes last week ran a 21:12 in a double dual meet with Toms River South and Toms River East, and Thornton clocked a 21:20.

"I definitely see improvement in the past week alone," said Jones, as she prepares her team for the Ocean County championships on Oct. 25 at Ocean County Park and the Shore Conference meet the following Saturday.

Jones said the return of two injured runners by then — junior Theresa Messano and sophomore Kelsey Moore — "will help us a lot." Messano has been out the past two weeks with a knee injury, and Moore has had a stress fracture since August. Both potentially are among the top five runners on the team. Jones also praised juniors Kristy Martel and Kylee Stahlin and freshmen Stephanie Hansen and Taylor Fish.

Brick Memorial's boys, likewise, are finding that life after Andrew Brodeur and George Cook is tough. Brodeur, a perennial Meet of Champions qualifier, is at Duke, and he and Cook were the top two runners on the team last year. The No. 3 runner last fall, senior Mike Berti, has a hip problem and a muscle pull in his lower back but expects to be back for the county meet. Sophomore Andrew Goelz, the No. 5 runner last year behind senior Neil Stocco, currently is the lead runner until Berti returns. He ran a 17:55 for 54th place out of 189 in the Shore Coaches Meet. Stocco was 62nd in 18:09.

"They've been our top two guys, and some young kids are coming along and

doing the best they can," said Cuthbert. "Goelz is continuing to run well." Goelz surpassed his best time last year of 18:33 on Saturday and has run a 17:08 at Ocean County Park. Senior Russ Moretti clocked a 20:56 in the Shore Coaches Meet, followed by Michael Brown (20:58) and Justin Heimbuch (21:09). "I saw some guys improving quite a bit,

like Michael Brown and a freshman — Andrew Stranieri — who can be our fourth or fifth runner," said Cuthbert. Stranieri ran a 21:08 at the Shore Coaches Meet.

Both Brick Memorial teams are winless in dual meets after both finished about .500 last year and looked for their first victory on Tuesday when they were in a triangular meet with Jackson.

Brick Township's girls, who did not run in the Shore Coaches Meet, will compete in the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea on Saturday. Megan Schenk will lead the way after she finished in third place in the Colts Neck Invitational in 20:11 and finished first in a dual meet against Toms River North last week with a 19:57 time.

"She's doing really well; we're very excited," coach Don Blair said emphatically, referring to Schenk's performance and her attitude. "Her workouts are going well. They're all pointing to their lowest times of the year at the end of the month, when they should be hitting a peak. She's on target with everything we're doing."

Sophomore Jess Palazzo is a solid No. 2 runner who was 23rd in the Colts Neck Invitational in 21:59. Junior Randi Disbrow in that meet clocked a 24:58 for 51st out of 67 entries. Blair is hoping to get sophomore Amber Schaver back from an injury; she clocked a respectable 15:01 in a modified 3,200-meter course hosted by Cherokee. In that meet, Schenk was timed in 12:22 for 16th place out of 200. Palazzo finished in 13:12 that got her 47th out of 186 in the sophomore division.

With his smallest squad ever of 10 runners, Blair hopes they'll be ready to run their best on the big weekend meets starting in two weeks.