Rebels gain momentum in Metro Suburban meet

The Ridgewood cross country teams participated in the Metro Suburban Conference meet Oct. 15 at Elmwood Park and gained some momentum heading into postseason competition.

Katherine Rola paced the Rebels in the girls race, finishing the course in 22 minutes, 43 seconds.

Other top performers for the Rebels were seniors Lisette Lopez and Dagmara Kocon, who finished with a time of 24:00 and 24:20 respectively. Liza Zaitsava clocked in at 24:17.

Junior Alex Sanchez led the boys with a personal record time of 18:06. Junior Steven Wrobel ran the course in 18:49, senior Dan Dougherty completed it in 20:12 and Gerardo Huerta finished with a time of 21:47.

“As a team we did pretty well overall for conference and some of our kids set a personal best for the course,” said head coach Gina Ciangi.

In JV girls’ conference race, freshman Jade Golaz finished in 26:37 in just her third cross country race.

In the freshman/sophomore race, Dan Ciszewski finished with a time of 27:33 and Rich Crotty ran the course in 36:56. The conference meet marked just the third race of the season for Ciszewski and Crotty.

In the open race, senior Marcin Czop finished in 25:00 in just his third career race.

Prior to the conference meet, the Rebels competed in the 18-team Elmwood Park Invite on Oct. 6 and had a solid performance.

Rola finished the race in 40th place (out of 88 runners) with a time of 22:01 while sophomore Kathy Barnas finished in 59th place with a time of 23:00.

On the boys’ side, Sanchez brought 42nd place (out of 73 runners) with a time of 18:59 and Wrobel finished with a time of 19:32. Doherty completed the course in a time of 19:59.

“We did well considering the heat threw us all for a loop,” Ciangi said.

Next up for the Rebels is the Class 2A Mather Regional on Oct. 22 at Legion Park.

“Even though the season is nearing a close, I’m still seeing the kids continually improving and we have high hopes for regionals,” Ciangi said. “The season has been going very well but I attribute that to the fact that our kids have been working harder than ever before. Our kids have pulled pretty respectable times (at Legion Park) in the past.”

The Rebels hope to have a strong showing in regionals and be well represented in sectionals on Oct. 29.

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