It’s been quite some time since the Morris Hills boys have won a cross country county championship — 8 years to be exact. But on October 25, the boys finally brought home the Fox Trophy, named after the legendary Morris Hills coach Frank Fox, who went on to coach in the olympics for Team USA. The Fox trophy was finally brought home by the boys after they won the Morris County Cross Country Championships where they averaged 16:19.22 on the 5,000m course (3.1 miles) at Greystone Park.  This was the 4th fastest average in course history and the fastest 5-man team average by a public school in course history.

In recent years, the boys have found much success on the track, but something seemed to be missing during cross country season every fall, when the races are much longer. Most of the team’s success this year is attributed to the tremendous summer that the boys put in, starting their summer training near the end of June and building their way up to running 50 or more miles a week.

Senior Captain Alex Pai credited the team’s dedication and focus during the hot summer months.

“This year we brought it up a notch. We were constantly together as a team, working towards common goal. We were also able to get younger guys to train hard all summer. We set a precedent for future summer training too.”

During the race, Alex Pai placed 3rd in 15:52.20, leading the charge for Morris Hills as he narrowly missed the school course record by 3 seconds. Michael Creighton, Nalin Chopra, and Matt Morena each also placed in the top 15, running 16:14.66, 16:18.52 and 16:21.40 respectively, and junior Daniel Rivera ran a huge personal best of 14 seconds, finishing in 16:49.32. Morris Hills’ other varsity runners, Mike Morena and Sean Bruseo, also helped the Morris Hills effort by running 17:02.30 and 17:03.55. Meet rules are simple: the team with the lowest 5-man score (each runner’s place in the race represents his score) wins. Morris Hills won the title handily with a team score of 57-89 over runner-up Delbarton

“I had faith in the team and in the plan, and it allowed me to go fast,” Rivera explained.

Best of luck to the boys as they continue their journey in the state tournament in the coming weeks and aim for even bigger titles. Go Scarlet Knights!