On Sunday, October 23, 2011 the Our Lady of Hope Regional School Cross Country competed in the South Jersey Catholic Cross Country League Championships at Timber Creek Park.  OLOH competed against five other area schools including Christ the King, Resurrection Catholic, Good Shepherd, St. Mary’s of Williamstown, and St. Peters of Merchantville.

Races were organized according to boys and girls, and by division, with separate races run for Senior Boys and Girls (7^th and 8^th graders), Junior Boys and Girls (5^th and 6^th graders) and Cadet Boys and Girls (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th graders).  Medals were awarded to the top five finishers, with the top five finishers counting towards an overall boy’s and girl’s team champion.  While this team was expected to feature many veterans from the prior two cross country seasons, and the veterans performed well, the younger runners also emerged with great performances and hope for success in the future.  Brian Boligitz won the Senior Boys race setting a new course record and the league record time at 9 minutes 45 seconds for the 1.55 mile course.  Jack Brogan, a newcomer to running and cross country, placed an impressive 10^th overall and improved his season best time by over 20 seconds.

Julianna Walsh placed fifth in the Senior Girls division in what was probably the toughest and most competitive race of the day, with Kimberly Wolstenhome, Julia Esposito, Molly Gallagher, Morgan Cieslik and Madison Santore all running excellent races.  Perhaps the grittiest race of the day went to Brenna Wolstenhome who charged from 10^th place at the half way mark to finish a strong second place in the junior girls division, claiming the second fastest time for a girl OLH runner on the day.  Miranda Zevallos and Victoria Goldschmidt turned in excellent performances for 5^th and 6^th places in the division, both making substantial improvements over their prior best times.

Nicky Mahon placed a fine sixth place in the junior boys division, Robert Montgomery improved on his best time of the year by over 3 minutes, and Jason Meredith show continued improvement and excellent effort.  The cadets brought even more surprises with Vincent Goldschmidt, a first grader, placing fourth in the Cadet Division, running against 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th graders and Michael Montgomery improving his time by over 3 and ½ minutes from earlier in the season.

OLOH finished third in each of the boys and girls championships, but the day will truly be remembered for the team work, perseverance, and how the team developed over the season from novices into promising runners.