By Sean Dooley ’24
RAMSEY, NJ There are very few high school sports teams who work harder than Don Bosco Prep’s Cross Country Team. Under the coaching of Bosco veteran Coach Kilduff, the team managed to remain undefeated in the County, winning its first County Championship in 7 years.
A few months ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with Senior Paul Maguire to discuss the outstanding accomplishments made by the team this year. “We lost the County Champs last year, and as a team we had the collective goal to show the County we’re better than them,” said Maguire. Paul is the fastest Cross Country athlete to compete for Don Bosco Prep since 2016, and he is the 7th fastest of all time. He is also the 35th fastest Cross Country runner in the Northeast, and he has achieved All-County 3 times and All-North Jersey twice for Cross Country. To no one’s surprise, Maguire plans to continue his athletic career in college. When we talked a few months ago, Maguire mentioned that he had gotten offers from Buffalo, Boston College, NJIT, Charleston University, and Clemson. Only time will tell where we will get to see Paul Maguire compete next, but I can confidently say that this will not be the last we see of him.
While Maguire made great strides this past season, he was certainly not alone in his accomplishments. In addition to Paul, the Varsity Cross Country team consisted of Junior Ryan LoCicero, Senior Thomas Petrie, Senior Brenden Klemm, Senior Colin Hall, Sophomore Luke O’Brien, and Freshman Owen Hickey. These young men worked assiduously every practice, running miles upon miles each and every day. Being a member of the Cross Country Team at Don Bosco Prep requires extreme discipline and determination to be the best. It is now evident that each athlete on the team possessed these qualities, as every member of the Varsity team beat his personal record during this season’s races.
While Don Bosco Prep’s Varsity Cross Country Athletes have achieved the seemingly impossible, it would be a disservice to undermine the achievements made by the JV team. Bosco’s JV harriers had a great season as well, winning most of their races during the season. Junior John Paul Hart and Sophomore Brenden Lynsky won multiple races for the team this year, as well as Luke O’Brien, before he was bumped up to Varsity later in the season.
Overall, Bosco’s Ironmen demolished the competition in the 2022 Cross Country season, and it couldn’t have been done without the hard work and determination of each and every one of these athletes. One can only imagine what accomplishments these athletes will make in the future, but I can expect great strides from these Ironmen.