While the Pascack Valley Cross Country Team has had its success in the past, this year’s team solidified itself as one of the greats: not only in Pascack Valley’s extensive running history but also as one of the most accomplished PV teams of all time.

Coaches John Murtaugh (Murt), Brian Koch, and Russ Grier anticipated this senior group’s success after seeing its freshman year performance.

“Freshman year they came in, and it was pretty much the same group of guys [that we had this year],” Murt said. “They did well with the freshman year, and in the back of all of the coaches’ minds was ‘wow I wonder if we can continue this.’”

The group exceeded the coaches’ goals. The boys won the Bergen County Group B Championship and the Boys North 1, Group 2 Sectional Title for the first time since 1992.

The group was mostly comprised of seniors, with only a few underclassmen sprinkled throughout; the leadership of the seniors was integral to the team’s eventual success. 

Senior Michael Pizzella recounted runs throughout the offseason during which he encouraged younger guys like Patrick Kurtz and Marc Monti to understand what it meant to work as a team.

“We weren’t goal oriented, and I think that’s the beauty of how this unfolded,” Coach Murt said.

Although Cross Country is considered an individual sport, the team aspect is prevalent among runners. Coach Murt stresses the importance of training with one another and pushing one another to be the very best.

“When we did [summer and fall] workouts, we ran as a pack of seven,” Murt said. “They were like a pod of fish moving around. They did that in the big races, and that’s [where] the pack mentality came [into play.]”

The main senior group consisted of five seniors: Michael Pizzella, Jay Ramirez, Conner Oates, Aaron Ng, and Chris Martino. Two underclassmen were sprinkled into the mix: Patrick Kurtz and Marc Monti. 

Kurtz describes coming into the new atmosphere as daunting but manageable, and he takes the challenge head-on.

“It started pretty rough. I wasn’t running that much because I had shin splints, but I kept on sticking with the pack and trying to improve and overall train harder,” Kurtz said. “Eventually, I saw some results.”

Pizzella not only praises Kurtz’s ability to cross the finish line but also his character and personality. 

“Pat is a very easy guy to mesh with. He just loves the sport so much, and it was easy [to gel with him],” Pizzella said. “Pat was ready to listen and learn, and he was just a fun guy to have around.”

Building up to the sectional race, the team had momentum after winning the Bergen County Group B Championship. During the time before the sectional match, Murt encouraged the runners to value their bodies and health, trying to ensure they would continue to prevail towards the end of the season. 

During the race, team members recalled pivotal moments that clutched the victory for the boys. Pizzella remembers seeing Conner Oates, Aaron Ng, and Chris Martino start catching guys toward the end, which pushed Valley closer and closer to the title. 

For Ramirez, this year was his “comeback year.” 

“I was catching up to Mike again, which I hadn’t done since freshman year,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez recalls a metaphor Coach Murtaugh uses for the team.  Murt thinks about the boys as a flock of geese. Typically, geese fly in a V-shape, and there is one goose who is in the front, leading the two packs. When that goose gets tired, he swaps places with another. 

“That [flock of geese] is kind of like us,” Ramirez said.

The anticipation of waiting to hear whether or not the team had won the sectional title was an event of its own. The boys did not know whether or not they were going to be in first or second place due to Lakeland’s team being very close behind. 

“You could hear a pin drop when they were announcing it,” Murt said. 

When the boys heard that Lakeland had placed second—meaning they had placed first and were the sectional title winners—it was pure joy. 

“I was like ‘Oh my God!’” Murt said. 

The local newspaper predicted that Valley would come in fifth, behind top teams like Lakeland and Indian Hills; this prediction only fueled the fire for the boys.

 Murtaugh says this sectional title was not an isolated action.

“It’s the culture of distance running here at Pascack Valley. We watch out for each other, and we care for each other,” Murt said. 

The Pascack Valley distance running connection, which extends after graduation, is what Murt and the team value more than trophies. 

Despite receiving attention from college running programs, Ramirez wants to take a year off of cross country running. He hopes to possibly continue running in the future. 

Pizzella plans to run at Lehigh University, a D1 program in the Patriot League. 

“I am gonna take this thing as far as I can go,” Pizzella said. 

Kurtz, who will be returning as a senior on the team, hopes to be a guiding factor for some of the younger members—teaching them the tradition of the Pascack Valley distance team. 

“I want to get some people that will give it their best,” Kurtz said. 

The combination of the effort from both the coaches and the runners elicited the team’s success, resulting in the program’s second sectional title: the first in 30 years.