Farrell, Marino pace Woodstown to its first county XC sweep since 2011

WOODSTOWN – After dutifully following the leaders for three years waiting for his turn, David Farrell has finally become the leader of Woodstown’s cross country pack and has embraced the role and all of its responsibilities.

Where once he was climbing in the pack behind two or three talented seniors, he’s the one bringing them along now. He was right where he was supposed to be Wednesday, leading the Wolverines across the line to win the Salem County Cross Country boys race and lead them to the team championship.

Farrell ran the 5K course at Salem Tech in 16:38.89. Woodstown won the team title for the third year in a row, placing all five counters in the top 10 and trimming runner-up Salem Tech by 13 points.

Abby Marino ran away with the girls race despite battling seasonal stuffiness, winning in 18:51.24, a time that was five seconds faster than the PR she ran finishing second at the Osprey Invite two weekends ago and nearly two and a half minutes ahead of race runner-up Sawyer Slad of Pennsville. It was more than a minute faster than her winning time a year ago at Schalick.

She also led the Wolverines to their first girls team title since 2015, edging Schalick in what became a head-to-head team competition by 13 points and ending the Cougars’ seven-year stranglehold on the crown.

It was the first time since 2011 the Wolverines swept both team county titles.

In his first three years in the program, Farrell was always among the Wolverines’ top runners, but in the pecking order of things he was always a follower. As a freshman, he was behind Karson Chew and Jake Marino. As a sophomore it was Chew, Marino and Cole Lucas, and then last year it was back to Chew and Marino. Always a vital cog, even to the decorated 4×800 relay team in the spring, but always deferring to the captains.

With all of them now gone, he was now the alpha and felt the county title was within his grasp, but always cognizant of his responsibility.

“It sort of felt like the team was handed over to me, like I have to be responsible now,” Farrell said. “Being a captain is a little different. I was always with those guys and they were always pushing me (to succeed), so I’m doing the same thing to rest of the team.

“(Coach Steve New) said a team is only as good as its captain allows it to be. That requires whoever is captain to uplift the rest of the team. I want to see them do well, so I try to push them every day. The biggest difference is now I’m the one getting asked the questions, so I have to know those things more and lead the team. Every other race before this I would just look at our captain. I’d try to stick to them. Now I’m trying to push the other guys.”

New never doubted Farrell had the wherewithal to assume the leadership position. 

“Dave puts all the work in, so I’m not worried about that,” New said. “That kid works his tail off. You don’t have to worry about him ever putting in the necessary work to get the job done, so I’m not concerned about his training ever and he’s a smart kid. He understands how to race. He’s been in so many high-pressure situations this past winter on that 4×8 that like any race he comes to now it’s almost lower pressure even though it’s just on him. He knows how to handle it. He knows how to deal with it. He’s battle tested.

“He knew what he needed to do. He was around hard workers when he came in. He’s a hard worker himself. I don’t think it was a difficult transition for him because he works so hard on his own anyway. Getting him to run hard is not a challenge.”

And New thinks the senior still has more to show. He sometimes goes out a little more conservative than the coach would like and the day he goes out fast New is convinced “he’s going to light it up.” 

On Wednesday he led a group of off the start line as the Wolverines tried to pack run early to establish control. About a mile into the race Farrell figured he could take it from there and proceeded to stretch it out. He still finished 32 seconds ahead of runner-up teammate Pacey Hutton.

Marino, meanwhile, just didn’t feel good all day, but nothing was going to keep her from going to the start line and give it all she had. It was simply, as always, a case of mind over matter – if she didn’t mind, it didn’t matter.

She broke out early and was never threatened. Her lead was so large for so long, she was appreciative of the coaches and teammates finding her at various points on the course to offer encouragement and keep her engaged. She admitted if they weren’t there she would’ve sat back a lot more.

“The temperature change has been rough,” she said. “I really couldn’t breathe through my nose the whole race. It definitely didn’t feel good. It made it super hard, but it’s more of a mental (challenge) than anything. If you believe you can do it, you can do it. I have a job to do and I’m going to do it to my best ability.”

All in all, it was a day that put her beliefs in competition to the test and confirmed her approach to the sport.

“If you put your mind to it, you can do anything, especially cross country along with a lot of other sports,” she said. “It’s all mental and once you realize if you believe in yourself you can really push your limits so much more.”

Salem County Championship