Championship season. A time where we separate the men from the boys, and the wheat from the chaff.

The 2015 boys cross country team has rounded out the regular season with a final record of 2-3.

Certainly, this has not been the defending league champions best season, however, let’s take a look back through the season to see where this leaves the team mentally going into the post-season. 

It all started on September 8, the boys started out the season strong as they defeated both Bergenfield, 16-44, and Teaneck, 18-41. This meet was at Garret Mountain, which is considered to be the most difficult course. Regardless, the Indian’s best runner, Jeff Roberts, finished first overall, then followed by John Coyle who finished second overall, then Evan Jones who finished third overall. Impressive performances came from John McGrath who finished 6th overall, and Luke Denbeaux who came in 9th, both Bergenfield and Teaneck could not handle 5 runners in the top 10, and PV looked good to start off the season.

The next meet was on September 12 at Darlington Park, this is where the remainder of the meets would be throughout the regular season. However, this meet was not a dual, which therefore did not affect the team’s record in any way. In spite of this, the Indians did not perform well at all as Jeff Roberts finished 5th, and the closest PV runner to him came in 21 spots later, at a disappointing 26th overall.

One week later, the Indians took on Tenafly in a dual meet. With a very good performance from Jeff Roberts who finished 1st overall again, and Evan Jones and John Coyle finishing 8th and 9th, the boys were optimistic. However, the Tenafly runners ran well and PV was defeated 41-30. The boys now had a 2-1 record.

Once again at Darlington, Pascack Valley ran against Old Tappan, a very talented team. Even with the Jeff Roberts, John Coyle, and Evan Jones finishing in the top 10, Old Tappan won by a large margin, the final score being 41-18. As predicted, Old Tappan ran very well and scored an outstanding and very hard to beat 18. In addition, Roberts injured his foot, taking him out of the next two meets.

The boys then visited at a course that they only run once a year. Holmdel, the home of the Shore Coaches Invitational. Once again PV did not meet its expectations. The Indians definitely missed Roberts as they finished 20th out of 25 teams. John Coyle placed the highest for the boys at a disappointing 69th place.

Last but not least, PV ran against Demarest, a team that defeated Old Tappan. In cross country, an underdog is very unlikely, and PV lost by a big margin once again. Roberts did not run in this meet either, and John Coyle finished 1st for PV and 5th overall, followed by Evan Jones at 9th overall, and then John McGrath at 10th. 

Jeff Roberts has missed the past two meets, but will be returning right when the team needs it the most, the league championship meet.

With the potentially lethal combination of Jeff Roberts, John Coyle, and Evan Jones, and barring good performances from John McGrath and Luke Denbeaux, PV has a chance at winning the title for the second year in a row.

This Week: Valley travels to Darlington on Thursday to run in the Big North Championships.