It’s usually very difficult for any team to win a major championship without its top performer.
Ask the Los Angeles Lakers if they would have won the NBA title without LeBron James. Just see if the Kansas City Chiefs would have had a prayer to win the Super Bowl last February without their main man Patrick Mahomes. And could the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series last month without the incomparable Mookie Betts? No way.
The St. Peter’s Prep cross country team headed to the Hudson County Track Coaches Association cross country championships last Saturday at Stephen Gregg Memorial Bayonne County Park, knowing full well that the Marauders had to race without their standout runner Edwin Klanke, the defending race champion.
Klanke, the brilliant senior who is ranked among the top three runners in the entire state, has been battling slight injuries and wants to be fully healthy for the NJSIAA state sectional championships next week.
So Klanke decided to sit out the HCTCA meet in order to stay fresh and injury free the remainder of the season.
But the Marauders really didn’t seem to miss Klanke one bit. In fact, the Marauders totally dominated without their leading runner.
With senior Rodolfo Sanchez leading the way, romping home in 15:43.70, the Marauders almost made it a complete clean sweep of the event, easily outdistancing McNair Academic by a whopping 47-point margin.
The Marauders’ team score of 15 – a perfect score in terms of cross country – set the new HCTCA record for lowest team score, breaking the mark of 18 that the Marauders posted last year with Klanke running.
It also was the fourth straight title and eighth time in the last nine years that the Marauders won the event.
The Marauders displayed total domination, with their full lineup of seven runners finish among the top eight, with only Ruben Gonzalo of Union City, the third-place finisher, upsetting the Prep parade.
Sanchez’s teammate and fellow senior Ethan Blackwelder finished second to Sanchez, staying with Sanchez until the final strides around the running track when Sanchez pulled away to win by four seconds. Blackwelder crossed the line in 15:47.90.
The two Marauders were an incredible 50 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Gonzalo was third, followed by Marauders Jack Sipperly in fourth (16:39.60), Jack Glynn in fifth (16:41.80), Alex Schimmel in sixth (16:47.80), Patrick McCabe in seventh (16:54.10) and Teddy McCarthy in eighth (16:59.10). Only Schimmel and McCarthy are sophomores. The rest of the Marauder militia is comprised of seniors.
Two McNair Academic runners rounded out the top 10, namely Harshith Samayamantula – try saying or spelling that name 10 times fast — in ninth and Adam Abushanab in tenth.
Sanchez knew that Klanke was not going to run all week, so that meant he had to lead the way if the Marauders were going to maintain their total reign of terror.
“We’re a deep team,” Sanchez said. “Of course, it’s easier for us when we have our friend and teammate running. I think we look at the county meet as a way for us to build up our confidence.”
The race came on the heels of perhaps the Marauders’ worst overall performance in recent memory at an invitational event at Garret Mountain Reserve in Woodland Park.
“It was extremely disappointing,” Sanchez said. “So it was important for us to bounce back strong.”
Blackwelder, who went on to win the Jersey City championship two days later at Lincoln Park, knew that the Marauders were going to be a force to be reckoned with at the HCTCA championships.
“There was no fooling around,” Blackwelder said. “We made sure we came to take care of business.”
Blackwelder said that he tried to stay with Sanchez at the county meet, but much to no avail.
“Going up the last hill, I knew I had to make my move,” Blackwelder said. “We were going back and forth all race, but I couldn’t catch him [Sanchez] this time. It was fun running with him the whole race.”
St. Peter’s Prep head coach Chris Caulfield made a point of reminding his senior runners that it was the last time most of them would get the chance to compete at Bayonne County Park, their own personal stomping grounds for the last four years.
“This was their last hurrah,” Caulfield said. “They spent a lot of time on this course.”
Caulfield said that he personally enjoyed watching Sanchez and Blackwelder duel throughout the race.
“Ethan and Rodolfo push each other,” Caulfield said. “We knew that they could push each other here. I think without Edwin we have the ‘next man up’ mentality and that definitely works.”
It certainly worked once again for the Marauders – even without their top runner, who has already returned to action, competing at the Jersey City championships. Klanke has an excellent chance of winning his final meet before heading off to the University of Pennsylvania next fall.
Needless to say, it’s been a great run – pardon the pun – for the Marauders, one only enhanced by a county championship captured without the team leader.
Jim Hague can be reached via e-mail at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com, follow Jim on Twitter @ogsmar and listen to the Hudson County Sports Podcast, brought to you weekly by Stan’s Sports Center, 528 Washington Street in Hoboken, on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to this week’s guest, namely former North Bergen High School standout, former Hudson Reporter Male Athlete of the Year recipient and former Chicago Bears tight end Evan Rodriguez.
