Jeffrey Perrella

Jeffrey Perrella faced the same dilemma that many talented track stars
who also play soccer, confront. While the sport the world calls football was his first love, he had shown such prodigious talent on the track as a sophomore last spring that it seemed inevitable that he make the switch to cross country.

“I had strong winter and spring seasons and decided I'd try my hand
at cross country. I wanted to see if I had what it takes to race 5000
meters of hills and trails,” said Perrella.

Westfield Track and Cross Country Coach Jack Martin and Perrella couldn’t be happier with the results so far.

In his first month at his “new” sport Perrella has established himself as a major contender for the Union County title and a strong challenger for what should be a wide open Group IV race.

In his first race October 2, at the Holmdel course where the state championships will be held next month, Perrella started slowly, but finished strong to win the B Division race in an impressive time of 16:30.

This came on the heels of two other winning performances the second of which was the Stewart Memorial at Warinanco Park where he pulled away from more experienced runners like Dale Taylor of North Hunterdon and Josh Davis of Phillipsburg over the final 600 meters to win the A race in 16:38.

Martin has been pleasantly surprised that Perrella has experienced success so quickly in a sport that often punished newcomers. “Experience plays a big part in cross country. Runners need to gain familiarity with
courses. Jeff has done that quickly,” said Martin, a veteran of over 30 years in coaching.


For his big win at Holmdel Perrella used a strategy more appropriate to one who had been running races there a long time.
"I was way back at the top of the first hill, but I knew I had time and started catching guys on the down hills," Perrella said. "Then I caught the leaders in the bowl and just kept pushing until I got the lead."

Although Westfield is essentially flat compared to most New Jersey towns, Perrella has been able to develop his hill running talent just by going out the front door of his house.

“I live at the bottom of Lawrence Avenue, so I am pretty much
surrounded by hills. When I go running on my own, I often find
myself running up and down hills, so I am used to hill running. It
seems very natural to me,” said Perrella.

Perrella’s summer training consisted of going for long slow easy jogs with friends and teammates. At one point he was doing double sessions and got up to 90 miles a week. His big race of the summer came when he ran 16:08 at the Westfield Downtown 5K Pizza Extravaganza, bettering his time the previous year by over a minute.

The groundwork for Perrella’s huge leap to the forefront really started last winter when he had more modest track goals after playing soccer.
“I began winter track last year with a goal to break 4:30
in the mile. I worked hard at it until I finally got it at the Meet of Champions (MOC) at Princeton. It felt good to have a whole season of work pay off like
that, but what keeps me going is that I just like to push myself, and
it seems the harder I push, the faster I go. So it is really PR's that
push me, not medals, “said Perrella.

The switch from soccer, while seemingly obvious now, is not one made by every high school athlete.
“Kids need to come upon those decisions through experience. I guess he realized that he could compete at a higher level in cross country,” said Martin.

Ironically enough, Martin at one time coached freshman soccer.
While Perrella and Martin agree that cross-country is the better complement to track success than soccer, Perrella doesn’t downplay soccer’s’ value. Sounding like a veteran coach, Perrella explains it this way:

“Soccer and Cross Country will both make you faster on the track
come spring, but a different kind of fast. Cross Country will give you
a strong aerobic base which you can use to really tire out opponents,
while soccer will give you more leg speed, turnover, and helps you
bounce back when fatigued,” said Perrella.


The Union County championships figures to come down to a stirring four runner battle between Perrella and teammates Joe McKenney and Kevin Brown of Cranford and Andrew Catalano of Roselle Catholic who have taken turns defeating each other this fall. All except Catalano are underclassmen promising Union County track fans another great year of races in 2005-6.

“I really don't know the strengths or weaknesses of opposing
runners. I simply know my strengths and my weaknesses, and I know what
I have to do so that I can use each to my advantage,” said Perrella.

Perrella has become the team leader of a veteran Westfield squad that includes seniors Rob Broadbent and Jeff Gorski and juniors Jay Hoban and
Kris Kagan and ranks in the top twenty in the state. Their one loss was to Cranford.

His favorite event on the track is 1600 meters. “It is the
perfect middle ground between sprinters and long distance runners. It
is a combination of long grueling ones, and break neck sprint
workouts, “said Perrella, almost making it sound like fun.


Perrella should easily better his personal records from last year which were 4:25 in the 1600, 9:32 in the 3200 and 15:38 in the 5K. He is also hoping to get below 1:55 in the 800.

Martin, who has coached many great runners, thinks Perrella has the ability to be mentioned in the same sentence among his best that have established school records that are very close to the state records for each event. Elmuccio’s 800 record is 1:50.9, Sheehan’s mile record is 4:10 and Jacob’s two-mile mark is 9:13.
“At this point he would be similar to (state champion) Sheehan and Jacob. Matt had a bit more speed than the others. All of them are tough competitors,” said Martin.

Like so many other young runners Perrella considers US running legend Steve Prefontaine his role model.” I read his biography and I saw the movies, and that got me really motivated for track last year. Steve Prefontaine's story really made me want to work hard and run faster

Although he is still a junior Perrella has already thought ahead to colleges and lists running power Villanova as one of his top choices.
“I’d like to attend one that has strong academics “for
a man who knows nothing is hardly a man at all.” I forget who said
that, but it is one of my favorites,” said Perrella.
In addition to being a top student, Perrella also belongs to an alternative rock band where he plays the electric bass, guitar, and also dabbles in the mandolin.”


Despite his status as one of the top runners in the state, Perrella finds it hard to forget soccer.
“I still like to kick the ball around with friends and I like to play football, basketball, wiffleball, you know, all the essentials,” said Perrella.