The Freshman Boy’s Cross Country Team was dominant throughout its season this year, consistently placing first in multiple different meets. The roster excelled in their current state and mostly went unchanged going into the winter track season. The freshmen have represented the power of Chatham and showcased their strengths. This was made most apparent, however, with the Morris County Cross Country Championships, where Chatham won first place at forty four points, beating Delbarton by exactly eighteen.
The Freshman Girl’s showed a similar story, with Chatham’s Katie O’Neill (at 18 minutes and 32 seconds) and Carly Booth (at 18 minutes and 49 seconds) taking first and second for the Freshman Girls Cross Country Race respectively.
The success was led by multiple Chatham Cross Country prodigies, all of whom have consistently ranked top-tier in every race. The combined result of this, as well as Chatham’s great coaching work from Patrick Barry and Nicholas DeSantis, ultimately lead to a successful season.
One of the most prominent Jake Fortuna, is currently a freshman at CHS. He has consistently scored big for the team (along with other names such as Jack Tapper, Nyle Sabih, Jack Davenport, Ryan Roskell, Aidan Johnson, and Patrick Grosso filling up the top spots). These star-runners have lead Chatham to various wins over some other tough schools. Fortuna finished the race at a time of 14 minutes and 18 seconds, just behind Jack Tapper’s impressive 14 minutes and 3 seconds, taking both third and second in the race respectively.
I reached out to Jake for comments on his experience running for this team, and in a rather relaxed manner, this is what he had to say:
Q: Do you have any people you look up to in sports?
A: My inspiration in sports would probably have to be Matt Doherty (Mega-Matt) [Freshman at CHS] and Sam Ellis. They are my inspirations.
Q: What do you admire most about them?
A: They always grind out practice no matter the circumstances. Additionally, Mega Matt always pushes me to work as hard as I possibly can at all times. Sam Ellis (Sommy Boy) also pushes me to work hard, he is a true inspiration for me.
Q: What would you say is the highlight in your sports experience?
A: The highlight of my experience would have to be when I ran my personal best 5 kilometer during this year’s cross country season.
Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring athletes?
A: My advice to other athletes would be to work as hard as you can every day during practice.
Thank you, Jake, for some great insight. He is a charismatic freshman that has consistently shown his prowess in Cross Country, and is a prominent competitor in the Winter Track season, and people should take his advice about working hard to achieve greatness.
We hope the best for the Chatham Cross Country Team, and with winter track looking to be a repeat of dominance, this year’s impressive results give us a taste of what’s to come.