Girls' Cross Country
Veteran coach Mike Parker leads the cross country teams for his second-straight season this fall.
Parker experienced tremendous success in his first season at the helm, leading the boys' squad to back-to-back third place finishes at the Prep Championships and at the Non-Public B Group Championships to close out the year.
Parker has an extraordinary background in interscholastic athletics. He was the head cross country coach at Eisenhower School where his teams won the group title 12 out of his 15 years at the helm. At the varsity level, he has coached soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, track and cross country and has been part of numerous conference, group, and state championship programs.
“My goal is to teach, and put into practice, the conversion of work plus time devotion, into self-improvement and pride,” he says. “There is nothing in the world you can’t do and this formula should work well for the GSB athlete who is goal-focused and driven to success.”
Prior to coaching, Parker served as a multi-sport athlete in high school and that is where he found his passion for distance running. He graduated from East Stroudsburg University where he majored in Exercise Science. He went on to serve as a physical education teacher in Roxbury Township schools for over 30 years.
Middle School
The coed cross country team is a great way for students to meet new classmates and build up their running endurance before advancing to the Upper School level. This program also allows the students to get used to the home cross country course that is used by the varsity teams.
Coach Parker
Program History
The girls’ cross country program has emerged as one of the top distance running teams in the area and in New Jersey. The team has claimed three conference titles (2008, 2015, 2016) and has also won two Prep B Championships (2011, 2012) to go along with a Non-Public B State Championship in 2011. With the squad finishing runner up in their division last fall, the Knights look to maintain their recent stretch of success.
Levels:
Varsity, JV, MS
Conference/affiliations/tournaments:
Mountain Division of Skyland Conference, NJISAA-Prep B Championships, and Somerset County Interscholastic Athletic Association
Meet Sites:
Home Winds course and main campus