For the members of the Saddle Brook cross-country teams, even a pandemic could not stop them from chasing down their goal times and working their hardest to propel their team to victory.
Cross country meets looked a little different this year than usual. The Falcons often found themselves running much later in the day than they were used to, due to the “pod” system enacted by meet officials.
Teams in a “pod” were scheduled to race at very scattered times, and the first pod had already left the premises before the next one arrived. This limited the amount of contact different teams had with each other. The times were then computed together by the racing software at the end of the day.
The pods were very small compared to what athletes are used to. Each pod contained no more than five teams whereas normally there are upwards of ten teams in a race.
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This change in meet style did not stop the Falcons from excelling and landing themselves recognition.
On the boys’ side, junior Joey Quimby was named first-team all-NJIC, while junior Colin Unis was named second-team and senior Justin Sgambati was named honorable mention.
For the girls, senior Devin Davila and juniors Caroline Kaprelian and Julia Bednarz were named first-team all-NJIC. Senior Gianna Logerfo was named second-team and freshman Olivia Poskrobko was named
honorable mention.
In addition to the pod system, no spectators were allowed on the course, which made
the race much quieter than the runners were
used to.
Cross country is all about battling adversity
and our athletes did so in a unique and
exceptional way this season.
By: Bianca Ianneillo