Allentown’s record-setting distance runner Caroline Ticse leads a solid group of seniors on this year’s deep cross country team. Ticse hopes to reach the NJSIAA Meet of Champions in that sport as she did during the past indoor season.

Caroline Ticse, who set Allentown High School records for the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in track, is looking forward to the upcoming cross country season. Her goal is to make the Meet of Champions in November. JEFF GRANIT staff Ticse, who switched fall sports from soccer to cross country last season, has bolstered the enthusiasm of coaches Jacqueline Mulryne and Ray Britton, who came aboard as co-coaches for the fall sport after coaching the girls during the outdoor season. The season opens Sept. 14 with a Colonial Valley Conference quadrangularmeet with West Windsor-Plainsboro North, West Windsor-Plainsboro South and NottinghamatVeterans Park in Hamilton. Conference meets will be held there, at Mercer County Park in West Windsor and at Washington’s Crossing in Hopewell. Britton commended the team’s senior leadership.

“Everything is going really great,” said Ticse of the team. “I think we have a great team going out. We do have senior leadership. A lot graduated but the ones back are stepping up and are great friends and leaders, and the underclassmen are coming along, too.”

Ticse, an honors student who has been in the top 10 in her class academically and who is on the school’s honors societies in science, English and French, is looking to pursue a career in medicine in college. She has unofficially visited Brown University, R.I., Lehigh University, Pa., Harvard University, Mass., and Villanova University, Pa., and is also looking to visit Lafayette College, Pa., and Loyola University, Md., in the weeks ahead.

“She’s good,” said Britton, who coached at Hightstown for 17 years before moving over to Allentown two years ago. “When the girls worked out in the heat, she was like a running machine. She’s a really great kid who works hard every day.”

Britton said he found that with the entire group.

“They were pretty good about coming to every workout,” said Britton, since the seniors were running the practices until the official start on Aug. 30. “They’re dedicated. I’m amazed how nice these kids are and I’ve taught and coached in a few places. They do what I tell them they should do on their own and have been doing a good job.”

Ticse set school records outdoors in the 1,600 at 5:29 in the Mercer County meet as a sophomore and 3,200 meters in 11:36 in the NJSIAA sectionals last year before her season ended in the Group III championships. In the MOC indoors earlier this year, Ticse recorded a 5:21.01 in the 1,600 that was short of a medal but surpassed the school record she held previously at 5:23.05. Ticse also won her heat as the No. 3 seed for that heat in the 3,200, but the other heat had many of the fastest qualifiers as she ended up 13th out of 42 runners overall with a time of 11:28.72. It was shy of the school indoor record in that event that she also holds in 11:26.52.

Ticse was the top runner on her team last fall during the cross country season and ended her season in the NJSIAA Group III championships. She would not blame the breath-defying hills of Holmdel Park’s course as the reason for an uneventful effort that day after she blazed the Thompson Park course a week earlier in the South Jersey sectionals for a sixth-place time of 19:32. Her top time was 19:05 in the South Jersey Open invitational at Delsea.

“I was happy with my cross country season, considering it was my first year and I made it to groups [championship] and hope to go all the way [to MOC] this year,” said Ticse. “I try to be consistent all the way through but I have been working hard on having a strong kick.”

Ticse is pointing toward bigger things this year that could help her team in many big meets, including the CVC Patriot championships on Oct. 12 at Mercer County Park and the Mercer County championships on Oct. 29 at Washington’s Crossing.

“The girls did not expect to come on as strong as they did in workouts,” said Britton. “But when you look at Robbinsville, Hopewell and the West Windsor-Plainsboro schools, it’s a strong conference, but I think we’ll do well. I don’t know if we’ll make the states but the girls want to work hard. Once the weather breaks [cooler], we’ll start running well.”

Bridget Meloro, who also is a fine high jumper, is one of the promising seniors, along with Katie Smith, Brittany Ferriola and Audrey Miller. Junior Danielle Rivas and sophomores Julie Scesney and Heather Murphy also earned Britton’s praises. Two freshmen also are expected to make the roster, to contribute and ensure a competitive showing in the future by the Redbirds.