The Lakeland Regional High School cross-country team continued to show its strength and prowess this season as the team advanced all the way to sectionals.

“I feel like this season was a big improvement in regards to our team compared to last year because we won a conference title and placed better at Sectionals,” sophomore Daniel Seminara said.

The varsity boys team began its season with a very strong showing at the Season Opener Invitational at Darlington, with the boys team coming within one point of first place and the varsity girls team securing first place in their race. The following meet at Darlington saw a reversal of outcomes with the boys team taking first and the girls team coming within a point of being first at the Big North Independence Batch Meet. 

It was the next meet at the Garret Mountain Invitational that both Lakeland teams would shine with the boys and girls securing first place in every race. The Lakeland team moved on to the Wild Safari Meet at Six Flags Great Adventure, where the boys team placed seventh amongst 21 teams in their race and the girls team placed first among 17 teams. This meet was the favorite for many on the team as they all got to spend the rest of the day having fun around the park.

Senior and team captain Zach Raider shared that the meet was his favorite even though it was “a fast course.” 

“My favorite meet of the season was Six Flags because almost everybody got PR’s and we all had a lot of fun after the meet,” Seminara agreed. 

The following Shore Coaches Invitational Meet would take the team to the infamous Holmdel race course, widely regarded as the hardest course in the whole state, with its infamous hill nicknamed “the bowl”. The boys team secured ninth place among 31 teams, while the girls team made their way to third among 23 teams. The Big North Conference Championships back at Darlington saw the boys and girls teams dominate, with each team securing first place in their respective meets. Both LRHS teams are the current conference champions. 

The next meet was at the home course at Lakeland as it was the team’s senior night, with Lakeland easily winning this invitational. However, the meets after the home meet were the most important ones. First, at the county championships at Garret, the boys’ team secured second place and the girls’ team took the coveted first place title, with a notable performance by freshman Mollie Horevay who took first place in the race.

Both teams moved on to Sectionals, also at Garret Mountain, where both teams got second place in their races, advancing them to Group Finals which took the team back to the much-dreaded Holmdel course. The boys’ team would place eighth in the race, with the girls’ team placing fourth. This concluded the season for all but Horevay, who was chosen to run at the Meet of Champions where she placed 55th in the meet out of over 200 runners. 

Overall, this season was very successful for the team as whole, seeing both of the teams place far and many across the team improving drastically. 

Looking ahead, senior Hope Walker shared some advice for her younger teammates advising them to “enjoy all of the little moments you have together with the team because the season goes by so incredibly fast. Appreciate your teammates and use them to push you through races.”