Oratory produced a strong showing at the Union County Championship Meet at Warinanco Park. Varsity was led by Michael Cantaluppi who not only beat his personal Warinanco record by 30 seconds but came close to beating the school course record (16:47). He ran the 5150 meter race in 16 minutes and 51 seconds and finished 16th overall. He was followed by his teammates who did a solid job packing together the entire race. The order was: Fernando Aviles (17:43), Addison Drone (17:43), Corey Vita (17:49), Casey McKee (17:53), Eric Rhines (17:56), and Brendan Mooney (17:58) respectively. The Varsity Squad improved their times drastically from last week and finished with 7th in the county. The team’s average also was the best in OP history at counties with a 17:36 average. The varsity race was won by Christopher Heckelman of Summit who was in dead heat with Nate Papachristos of Union Catholic (who attempted to win with a dive into the finish line and shocking the crowd). Westfield, whose fastest runner finished fourth overall, won the meet.

Junior Varsity did very well too, placing 5th overall in counties and likely would have been in fourth if seniors were scored (OP placed fourth last week in conferences vs the county). Freshman Aidan Watkins led the JV Rams with 18:32. Mark Trella, Kevin dePoortere, Chris Kelly, Jack Sula, Chris Kraemer, and Mark Miyashiro all followed respectively. The JV’s team average was better by almost a minute from last week thanks to the guys who drastically improved their times.

Coach McCrystal commented on the team’s performance by saying, “It’s weird, I don’t think I have ever been so satisfied with a seventh place finish. However, our top seven today really displayed a great act of fortitude and camaraderie. What was done was fantastic.”  The team is looking to build on their momentum from Counties at CTC’s where they will face competition from other Catholic schools. It will also be the last meet for JV.