Angelina Colavita has a little whiteboard above her bed. “Anytime I have a goal in mind, I write it there, and it stays there until I hit it,” said the sophomore distance runner, who on Nov. 15 was Barnegat High School’s first girl ever to compete in the NJSIAA Cross Country Meet of Champions. “I wrote Meet of Champs on it back in September. It will stay there for the next two years.” Now a pioneer for girls cross country at Barnegat High School, the South Jersey Group 2 runner-up placed 43rd among the best in the state in what was just her third time trekking through the daunting course of Holmdel Park and her first time in the season finale. “I just wanted to beat my time from last week,” she said of the 19: 41 she recorded at Holmdel to finish 14th in the Group 2 race. “That was the main goal, and then to really push myself after the bowl. I didn’t want to fade after getting through it. I wanted to finish strong and I did that, much better than I did last week.” After getting up into the middle of the pack as the runners approached the opening climb into the woods, Colavita maintained a steady pace through the first 2 miles. Once through the vaunted “bowl” a portion of the course that has done in hundreds of runners over the years, especially those not too familiar with the course the young Bengal cruised into the last mile with room to maneuver. “I don’t know if there’s a typical way to prepare for Holmdel Park,” said Barnegat coach Bob Klaslo. “The biggest thing was to just have fun, enjoy the experience. But Angelina stayed up where I thought she’d be through the middle of the race and then finished really strong. Her last mile was better than the one she ran last week, and that’s what we wanted to see.” Exiting the woods for the final 300 meters, Colavita looked strong and, interestingly, wasn’t far behind Ocean County champion Ivy Slavinski who ran away from Colavita and everybody else at Ocean County Park a month earlier as she motored down the stretch toward the finish line. Lawrence’s Izzy Meth finished 37th, clocking a time of 19: 11, while Audubon’s Riley Fayer crossed the line in 19: 13, Columbia’s Keira Monagle ended in 39th at 19: 14, a second ahead of Slavinski, who trotted through the finish chute the same time as Montville’s Gabriella Pelov and Union Catholic’s Eden Solorzano, officially in 41st and 42nd, respectively. Colavita was right behind them in 19: 16, a 25-second improvement. By comparison, Ocean Township (Monmouth County) sophomore Leah Starkey, who won the Shore Conference title in October, registered a blistering time of 17: 15 to edge Union Catholic’s Paige Sheppard (17: 17) for the state title. Union Catholic’s Cayleigh Kaiser was third in 17: 45. “The big difference between last week and this week was that I had so many people in front of me that I could focus on and stay with,” Colavita said. “And because I just ran this course last week, I think the fear of this course was a lot less. I really want to have a lot of fun and enjoy the whole experience, and I had fun once the bowl was finished. I wasn’t dying. But really, this was magical. It was amazing. I was running with so many amazing girls, and I can’t wait to do it again.” Klaslo said Colavita is the type of athlete who doesn’t sit back and wait for things to happen. “I’ve coached her long enough to know that if she sets her mind to something, she’s going to do it,” he said. “Her goal was to make it here, and she did it. I have no doubt about her potential. This season, she never took her foot off the gas. She took care of herself and stayed healthy, and as long as she can do that, the sky’s the limit. She has a high ceiling.” David Biggy.
https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/barnegat-sophomore-places-43rd-in-first-meet-of-champions/
Barnegat Sophomore Places 43rd in First Meet of Champions
