GOA Cross Country at the SEC Championship

By Alexander Lefkowitz ‘25
On Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, Golda Och Academy’s Roadrunners Cross Country Team competed in their first meet of the year: The Super Essex Conference Championship Meet at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ. 
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The Boys Varsity Team won second place in the Division Championship amongst three other teams and together the boys and girls teams earned six individual medals. The Roadrunners set school records for medals won in a meet and had the best overall finish Golda Och Academy Cross Country has had in recent years.
The Roadrunners raced against 34 boys and eight girls representing 11 member high schools of the Super Essex Conference. Participating high schools included: Barringer, Central, East Side, Golda Och Academy, Malcolm X Shabazz, Newark Collegiate Academy, Newark Tech, Science Park, University, Weequahic and West Caldwell Tech.
The conditions of the route and the weather were ideal for a mid-distance October run, with dry ground and temperatures in the mid to high sixties. 
The Roadrunners who ran in the meet were freshmen Shayne Cytrynbaum, Ari Jacobs, Alex Lefkowitz and Jesse Schiffman, sophomore Joseph Askin and juniors Amanda Brody, Sophie Fischer, Elias Kishelev, Daniel Schiffman, Talia Silbermann and Rafael Turtetsky. 
All of the Roadrunners ran strong races. Three of the eight Boys Varsity Team members medaled placing sixth, seventh and tenth. Golda Och Academy’s top finisher for Boys Varsity, freshman, Jesse Schiffman, brother of team captain Daniel Schiffman, placed sixth overall in the 3.2-mile race with a time of 20:10.10. 
Regarding the team’s overall performance, Daniel Schiffman said, “It was nice to see our work pay off, but our success as a team was more important than any individual performance.”
Golda Och’s top finisher for Girls Varsity, junior Talia Silbermann, placed first in the 3.2-mile race with a time of 27:49.10. This was Silbermann’s first season on the Cross Country Team. A knee injury put Silbermann’s soccer career on hold, so she decided to join cross country while she recovered.
“It was my first race since I left soccer and cross country helped with my endurance and ability to persevere,” Silbermann said.
All three Girls Varsity Team members medaled including, Girls Varsity Captain, junior Sophie Fischer, who finished with a time of 34:05.70.
During the race, Coach Chris Troyano was stationed at the one-mile mark and had posted other team members at the two-mile mark to tell racers their times to help with pacing. He then moved near the finish line to cheer his runners on for the final stretch.
Coach Troyano built a strong team, which only continues to improve. Troyano leads his hard-driving practices which include both speed and endurance training almost every day after school as well as on many Sundays.
In discussing the next cross country season, Jesse Schiffman said, “I am looking forward to next year as we will all be returning, looking to get better.”
During the season, Daniel Schiffman had many members of the team practicing both at practice and for out-of-school practices. He drives the team to improve and truly believes that every member of the team has great potential and can achieve their goals.
Schiffman said, “Right now we are a cohesive, hardworking team and we were able to have some success, but the best is yet to come. All of us can get so much better and I’m very excited for next season.”