NHS cross-country teams look to overcome obstacles

The Nutley High School cross-country teams face a challenging season.
The Raiders lost Pat Roche and Dana Principe to graduation. Both runners won the Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division boys’ and girls’ individual titles respectively.
“They will be almost impossible to replace,” said NHS head coach Gerald Ryan. “It is going to be tough to duplicate the success of last year.”
The girls’ team faces another challenge in which it was shifted into the highly-competitive SEC-American Division due to its recent success. They will be competing against the top teams in the SEC, including Millburn, Livingston and West Orange.
Both boys’ and girls’ teams have been running on their own during captains’ practices since the last week of June.
The boys will be led by senior captain Shariff Lochan, who earned first-team All-SEC-Liberty Division honors last fall. In addition, seniors Hye-Sung Gehring and Mieszko Strozek bring experience to the team. Junior Kevin Robinson, who was second-team All-SEC-Liberty last fall, should continue to succeed due to his work ethic, said Ryan.
First-year runners who should help the team include senior Christian Parigi and freshmen Dragos Stemate and Carlos Hernandez.
“If some of these first-year runners work out, the boys should be successful in the SEC-Liberty Division,” said Ryan.
Meanwhile, the girls will be led by senior captain Miki Tananka, who was first-team All-SEC-Liberty Division last fall. Other returning first-team SEC runners include senior Lianne Rossi and sophomore Katie Marano. The girls also return second-team All-SEC-Liberty Division seniors Laura Andrews and Shoko Okabe and junior Kim Lu.
First-year runners who could help provide depth for the team include sophomores Ann Margaret Conca, Yuko Okabe and Tessa Daidone.
“The girls return the core of last season’s SEC-Liberty Division championship team and if they are able to stay healthy, they should have another successful season,” said Ryan.
The season opens for both teams on Saturday at the Roxbury Invitational.
Their SEC season opens on Tuesday in Branch Brook Park. The boys will be running against Caldwell and Newark East Side and they have crossover meets against Solomon Schechter and Verona. The girls open up their SEC meets against Millburn and Verona and they will run crossover meets against Newark Central and Newark Academy.