By Rich Fisher, Contributing Editor
Top photo: St. Gregory the Great’s cross country program were represented in all four races at the New Jersey Catholic Middle School state meet, and along with the JV’ team’s state title, many of the other boys and girls ran impressive races. Courtesy photo
To do it once might be considered lucky. To do it two times in a row? Well, that indicates a pretty good product.
The St. Gregory the Great, Hamilton Square, JV girls cross country team proved just how good it is by winning its second straight NJ Catholic Middle and Grade School Meet’s Elementary state championship in Millington, Nov. 7.
“The first time we did it, it was like ‘Who the heck are these guys?’” coach Chris McGowan said. “The second year is tricky; people are a little more ‘Are we doing it again?’ It’s like, I don’t want to say pressure, but there were expectations.
“I was super excited for the kids. They were overjoyed. … I was talking to one of my assistant coaches saying ‘How many hills do you think we ran?’ They put in so much work and they really liked doing that so it’s pretty cool.”
The race attracted more than 100 runners from 18 top Catholic school programs across the state. St. Gregory the Great’s 53 points beat out host school St. James (61 points), Basking Ridge, which finished fifth in the nation last year. St. James JV won the state meet in 2023 and ’24 and won at every other age group in this meet.
“We held them off by running as a pack,” McGowan said. “We had four girls finishing in the top nine on the very hilly 2400-meter course. We trained since August running countless miles and hills and sprints in preparation.”
The team goes into every race recognizing their faith by praying.
“That’s a huge part of our deal,” McGowan said. “We do our Hail Mary and everybody prays together. It’s actually a touching moment. And we make it a point to cheer for each other. … We’re a Catholic school and I can’t emphasize that enough.”
St. Gregory the Great’s was led by its 6th-grade foursome, which returned after winning it last year. All four were medal winners as Grace McGowan, the coach’s daughter, finished third, in 10:04 and was just four seconds behind the winning time. Salma Kiehl (7th, 10:21), Kyleigh Jones (8th, 10:22) and Salma’s sister, Camila Kiehl 9th, 10:22) were as close to a solid pack as a team can get.
“It’s a special group of girls,” McGowan said. “They all like to hang out outside of practice. In terms of leadership, it’s very helpful to have kids that won it last year. They knew what it takes and how hard you have to work.”
Also figuring in the scoring was 5th-grader Natalie Ferrara, who was St. Gregory the Great’s fifth finisher while running the same 12:27 time as 6th-grade teammate Leah Minutoli. Other finishers were 5th-graders Lillian Cote (13:56) and Maggie Patrick (14:48), who was also one of last year’s champs.
“Leah and Natalie were critical to the title, pushing each other and crossing the finish line together to lock in our fifth scoring spot,” McGowan said. “Lillian and Maggie pushed all the way up the tough final hill. All of the hard training paid off, and that extra boost gave us the margin we needed this year. Every one of the girls earned this victory.”
Patrick’s mom, Melanie, was the team’s co-head coach and is considered by McGowan “Just amazing. She’s a jack of all trades. She runs the practices smoothly; she’s a rock star at the meets.”
As for repeating as champs, McGowan felt it was a daunting challenge.
“One of the hardest things to do is do it twice,” he said. “We can’t have any injuries. The St. James team must have had 50 kids on the team, so if somebody twists an ankle it’s not that big a deal for them. But for us, we need every single person that runs to show up. A lot of things have to go right. The kids have to like it and be interested, and stay healthy.”
In the varsity girls race, St. Gregory the Great’s Stella Moore earned a medal with an eighth-place finish in 10:12. Moore was third in the JV state meet last year and was the top 7th-grade finisher in the varsity race.
“Stella had an outstanding race,” McGowan said. “She wanted to run with the JV this year but she had to move up to varsity because of her grade, so it was a little tougher for her, but she just ran with it.”
Grace Cote ran a 13:39 in the varsity race, her first 2400-meter race, and McGowan said, “She finished strong up the final hill.”
In the boys JV race, Lincoln Young was St. Gregory the Great’s top finisher in 10:55, followed by Holton Parker (11:39), Matthew Thau and Garrett Cote (12:16).
In the boys varsity field of 65, Luke Ferrara was 26th (10:11), followed by Rocco Sniffin (10:46) and Sean Gostkowski (13:38)
“Luke ran his best race of the season and finished just 18 seconds from a medal, and Rocco ran 41 seconds faster than last year while moving up to the older division,” McGowan said. “Sean battled all the way to the line and won a very close sprint to the finish, edging his opponent by less than half a second.”