Both the girls and boys of the Pioneer cross-country team have officially finished a season to be remembered seasons with  perfect winning dual meet records. When the competitive season came around, the Pioneers brought out everything they had.

The first competitive meet was the Conference Championship. On October 15^th, the girls faced rivals Kent Place, Oak Knoll, and Roselle. With a 1 – 2 finish by Senior Rebecca Blitt and Sophomore Megan Friscia, both running under 20 minutes, the girls’ team clinched yet another Conference victory.  The Senior girls have won this title all four years.

For the boys the main rival this time around was Oratory Prep, but New Providence took them down. With a first, second, third, and fourth place finish by Jordan Price, David Adams, Michael Wolak, and Carmine Boccellari, respectively, the boys’ team clinched their first Conference championship in twelve years.

The next stellar performance came from the State Sectional Meet on November 9^th. To move on past this meet, runners must place in the top ten individually, or the team must place within the top five finishing teams. With a goal in mind, the girls team fought hard to move on. Falling slightly behind first place by nine points, and second place by one point, the girls’ team finished third overall and qualified to move on to the Group meet. Friscia, Blitt, and senior Megan Sullivan finished 4^th, 6^th, and 7^th individually. The boys’ race was even more exciting. With individual finishes by Price, Adams, and Wolak in 1^st, 7^th, and 8^th, the New Providence team was biting their nails waiting for the official results. What they saw they’ll always remember. The boys’ team finished the race in first place, winning the Sectional title for the first time since 2007. Both teams moved on to the Group Meet.

 On November 16^th, the competitive season was dwindling down to the final two meets. If they performed well enough, members of both teams could move on to the Meet of Champions. The rules were the same for this meet: finish top ten individually and move on to the Meet of Champions. However, instead of the top five teams moving on, it was only the top three here. It was bittersweet to find out the girls finished in 4^th place by a mere four points, but luckily one member, Megan Friscia, placed 8^th individually and qualified to attend her first Meet of Champions. The boys’ team continued their streak of luck. They placed 3^rd as a team and all seven runners became eligible to run at the Meet of Champions. Price finished 9^th individually that day, going home with two medals in hand.

The final meet of the season arrived on November 23^rd. With no meet following this one, all the New Providence runners had to do was run for the sake of running. Friscia finished 98^th out of 177 with a time of 20:25. The boys ran their final race with a team average of 18:10. What the teams got the most out of that day was the fact that they made goals at the beginning of the season and not only achieved them, but went above and beyond them. Congratulations to the 2013 boys and girls cross-country teams!