At the end of the cross country season, Tigers Carmel Ohring (’20) and Will Hawkins (’19) were selected to receive the First Team All-County Award. This award is given to athletes selected by all the county coaches as the “best in Bergen County.” Depending on the sport, a certain number of people are selected. There were 45 football athletes, 16 soccer athletes, and 10 cross country athletes who won the county award.

Ohring expressed that this is something he will always keep with him. “Personally, I think it is a great honor and something I will always have. It’s nice to be recognized by people other than your family, coaches, and teammates. Being selected out of the entire county as one of the county’s best is something I am proud of.”

“I’m gonna be honest, All-County status wasn’t really on my mind until it was brought to my attention at the very end of the season. I knew it existed. I think I was just more focused on other things like racing well,” said Ohring. At the beginning of the season, winning the award was not on the minds of these two athletes. All they wanted was to run some good races and medal at their meets. But they got way more than that. Hawkins expressed that it had to be one of the best feelings. “Prior to the official meeting where the all-county roster is chosen my coach had told us that he was pretty sure that at least 1 of us would get the honor but wasn’t sure if we both would. When he texted us after the meeting I was really excited to be able to share this honor with my teammate.”

Getting this award wasn’t all fun and games, though; it took some hard work. As many track athletes hang up the track spikes and get ready to relax in June, it’s quite the opposite for cross country athletes. According to these two, they only have about two weeks after the track season ends and then they get right into cross country training. “Summer training is the most important part to a successful season. Burns, our cross country coach, commonly says that ‘cross country is a summer sport and you just race in the fall.’ We train from the middle of June all the way until when our season ended in November.” According to Ohring, the total mileage of the whole season from June to November is exactly 907 miles.

Both athletes have spent a lot of time and dedication to the sport. Hawkins has been on a track team since the first grade and Ohrig since freshman year. Of course, they both have more goals to accomplish before the end of their high school career. After missing the school record by 1 second, Hawkins hopes to break the track school record for the 3200 meter run and hopefully place at state sectionals. For Ohrig, cross country is constantly on his mind, even though the next season is in a while. He hopes to break 16 minutes in the 5k and win the Bergen County Meet of Champions. After spending the majority of their time to running, it will never get old for Ohrig and Hawkins. With the indoor and outdoor track season still to come, they have a lot more training to do and a lot more personal records to break.