Saint James Cross-Country Teams Start Season Strong At Cherokee Challenge

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Saint James School in Basking Ridge opened its cross-country season before the school year began, sending its middle school teams to the Nike Cherokee Challenge in New Jersey.

The meet, described as the largest early-season meet in the state, drew more than 100 high school and middle school teams from multiple states.

Saint James' girls team defended its meet title, while the boys finished third.

The meet schedule shifted this year because Labor Day fell late in September, according to the school.

The middle school races, typically held early on the first Saturday in September, were instead run late Friday afternoon.

At 3:20 p.m., when the first race began, the temperature was nearly 90 degrees, which produced slower times even as competition remained strong.

Longtime Head Coach Matthew Wizeman was out for the meet, and newly named JV Coach Heidi Galeone took the lead role.

"The coaches talked all summer about how special this team could be, and while we knew our girls had a lot of fire power, we also felt that our new 8th grade boys had a lot of talent as well," said Wizeman.

"This was harder for outsiders to see because several runners were out last season and that really talented group of boys’ graduating class from last year overshadowed this current group, but I think our boys surprised a lot of other teams today - but we watched them all summer, so it came as no surprise to us to see them on the podium," said Wizeman.

In the girls' race, Saint James posted a dominant showing, with all five scoring runners finishing in the top 15.

According to the school, the team scored 50 fewer points than the nearest competitor.

Eighth-grade captains Julia Daus and Livy Battista led the way in fourth and sixth place, and Emiliana Galeone also finished in the top 10.

Bella Milelli and Avery Pfistner completed the scoring with 14th- and 15th-place finishes.

Fifth-grader Teagan Rogers also turned in a top-20 finish in her varsity debut.

In the boys' race, Saint James took third at what the school described as the hyper-competitive Cherokee meet.

John Babic, an eighth-grader, led the team with a top-10 finish. Seventh-grader Jack Thiemer placed in the top 20, while Alex Johnston took 24th.

Will Sheehan and Greer Sheehan rounded out the scoring with medal performances.

Saint James School is a private Catholic co-educational school serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade and is part of the Metuchen Diocesan educational system.