The nerve-racking Meet of Champions was held June 4th, 2025 at Merrill Park. The top 7 runners from the Woodbridge Township School District middle schools were competing in an exhilarating race. The competition’s purpose was to find the best school at running cross country and each of the runner’s placement of the 35 total participants. The event was also aimed at having fun and seeing how much the runners have improved from the first meet.
The Cross Country team at Fords had practices every Monday to Wednesday from late March till May 28, 2025. They had won most of their meets up until the Meet of Champions, which it has all been leading up to.
Two 6th grade students at Fords who are on the Cross Country team also had some things to say. Sixth grader Eesa who actually came 2nd in the meet says, “Once I got out of the bus the whole season comes down to this and it’s do or die from there. At first, I was in the middle of the 35 runners and I was about 6th or 7th place, and I knew that I had to wait for the guys in front of me to make one wrong step so I could push to run in front of them. Towards the end of the race I saw my friends and family and this is where I put all my heart into the race. I wasn’t really focused on what they were saying because I had the mindset that until I finish the race, I need to focus on my breathing and the flow. When I got 2nd, I had a feeling of growth and I was proud of myself because I was able to push myself that hard. I knew that we would’ve gotten 3rd because our 2nd runner didn’t even get to finish the race. It was a good moment because all the coaches and principles were there and the vibe was really fun.”
6th grader Yashmit says, “In my mind I was thinking ‘are we gonna be able to do this?’, before the race started. I was very nervous while the official was lining us up. As soon as the official shot the gun, I started running. When the first corner came, I fell all the way down to last place. Then when I saw my family, they were the ones who motivated me. At the hills is where I really started to slow down. Then I thought of one of my affirmations, if I start something Im’a finish all the way and Im’a finish as hard as I can. At the end there was a kid in front of me. I saw his sister cheering for him, and she thought that it was demotivating me but I beat the kid and finished as hard as I could. When they were calling the schools to see what place they finished, when they called Avenel Middle school I was so relieved that we weren’t 5th. Then, when they called Woodbridge 4th, I had a glimpse of hope that we might be 1st, but unfortunately we were called next. Mr. Zammit was proud of us because he wanted us to get top 3. One of our top runners even got injured towards the end, otherwise we could’ve got second, but the most important part is that he is ok. It was a great experience.”
Even though Fords Middle School got 3rd of the 5 schools, it was still a great experience for all the runners and they could learn from it and become better. Overall the runners weren’t sore about their placement and had a lot of fun throughout the season.
