The Livingston High School boys’ cross country team traveled to Brookdale Park in Bloomfield on Friday, October 29, to compete in the Essex County Cross Country Championship. “Team goals were discussed, personal race plans were laid out, and the squad prepared to battle these other competitors,” noted coach Dave Czeizinger. “Despite going in seeded 11th, the Lancers had all worked very hard over the past two weeks preparing to have their best race of the season. Though a county title was beyond their reach, they hoped to move up in rank among the county squads.”The Lancers brought 26 harriers to compete in the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity championships.Freshman Race The freshman race was approxiThe freshman race was approximately 3,200 meters in length, a shortened version of the JV and varsity five kilometer course. LHS had nine entries among the 70 runners. “The team had practiced at the park, but unfortunately on the starting line, a decision was made by the officials to change to the course layout,” explained coach Czeizinger. “This led to much confusion among all the athletes, and so essentially had them running different courses and lengths to the finish line. That being said, reporting times and finish places would do no justice to the finishers.” Putting in great efforts for LHS were Zachary Barber, Ryan Kropac, Senjun Lu, Landry McPherson, Joshua Park, Kevin Quirk, Nicholas Siao, Dylan Sutton, and Daniel Wang.Junior Varsity RaceTen Lancers competed in the JV race, with seven counting toward the final team score, and, said the coach, “all were ready to compete to their best effort.” Aleksander Kasperski went through the first mile in 5:49, setting a nice pace. “The second mile slowed a bit, but the effort was there and the first five JV Lancers to cross the line all set season’s or personal best times in the race,” noted coach Czeizinger. “This, combined with the fact that all ten are underclassmen, point toward a strong future for the team.”Leading the way was Kasperski, finishing in 19:43 for 24th place. Next in was Zacharie Canent (21:50; 85th). The next five Lancers, coming in rapid succession to round out the scoring for LHS, were Jonathan Hu (22:29; 103rd), Brett Levine (22:58; 115th), William Wang (22:59; 116th), Tyler Greenberg (23:12; 123rd) and Eliot Vishnevsky (23:17; 125th). Noah Kates (24:32; 141st), Justin Wayne (24:49; 147th), and Lucus Zhu (24:50; 148th) also ran well, as ...
